Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 10-25-05

October 25, 2005
Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Psalm: Tuesday 46

Reading I
Rom 8:18-25

Brothers and sisters:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing
compared with the glory to be revealed for us.
For creation awaits with eager expectation
the revelation of the children of God;
for creation was made subject to futility,
not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it,
in hope that creation itself
would be set free from slavery to corruption
and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;
and not only that, but we ourselves,
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
we also groan within ourselves
as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
For in hope we were saved.
Now hope that sees for itself is not hope.
For who hopes for what one sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 126:1b-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6

R. (3a) The Lord has done marvels for us.
When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.
Then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those that sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.
Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
R. The Lord has done marvels for us.

Gospel
Lk 13:18-21

Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like?
To what can I compare it?
It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.
When it was fully grown, it became a large bush
and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”

Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took
and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”

From: Romans 8:18-25

Christians are Children of God (Continuation)

[18] I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth
comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

[19] For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the
sons of God; [20] for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its
own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; [21] because
the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain
the glorious liberty of the children of God. [22] We know that the whole
creation has been groaning in travail together until now; [23] and not
only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the
Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of
our bodies. [24] For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is
not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? [25] But if we hope for what we
do not see, we wait for it in patience.

Commentary:

18. "Who is there then", St Cyprian comments, "who will not strive to
attain so great a glory, by making himself God's friend, to rejoice
immediately with Christ, to receive the divine rewards after the pains
and sufferings of this life? If it is glorious for soldiers of this world
to return to their fatherland victorious after defeating the enemy, how
much greater and more pleasing glory will there not be, once the devil is
overcome, to return victorious to heaven [...]; to bear with one the
trophies of victory [...]; to sit at God's side when he comes to judge,
to be a co-heir with Christ, to be made equal to the angels and to enjoy
with the Patriarchs, with the Apostles and with the Prophets the
possession of the Kingdom of heaven [...]. A spirit secure in these
supernatural thoughts stays strong and firm, and is unmoved by the
attacks of demons and the threats of this world, a spirit strengthened by
a solid and confident faith in the future [...]. It leaves here with
dignity and confidence, rejoicing in one moment to close its eyes which
looked on men and the world, and to see God and Christ! [...]. These are
the thoughts the mind should have, this is how it ought to reflect, night
and day. If persecution finds God's soldier prepared in this manner,
there will be no power capable of overcoming a spirit so equipped for the
struggle" ("Epist. ad Fortunatum", 13).

19-21. To make his point more vividly St Paul, in a metaphor, depicts the
whole of creation, the material universe, as a living person, groaning in
pain impatiently waiting for a future event, raising its head, straining
to see something appear on the horizon.

The material world is indeed, through God's design, linked to man and his
destiny. "Sacred Scripture teaches that man was created 'in the image of
God,' as able to know and love his Creator, and as set by him over all
earthly creatures that he might rule them, and make use of them, while
glorifying God" (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 12). The futility to
which creation is subject is not so much corruption and death as the
disorder resulting from sin. According to God's plan material things
should be resources which enable man to attain the ultimate goal of his
existence. By using them in a disordered way, disconnecting them from
God, man turns them into instruments of sin, which therefore are subject
to the consequences of sin.

"Are we of the twentieth century not convinced of the overpoweringly
eloquent words of the Apostle of the Gentiles concerning the 'creation
(that) has been groaning in travail together until now' and 'waits with
eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God', the creation that'
was subjected to futility'? Does not the previously unknown immense
progress--which has taken place especially in the course of this
century--in the field of man's dominion over the world itself reveal--to
a previously unknown degree--that manifold subjection 'to futility'?
[...] The world of the previously unattained conquests of science and
technology--is it not also the world 'groaning in travail' that 'waits
with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God'?" (John Paul II,
"Redemptor Hominis", 8).

Reestablishment of the order willed by God, bringing the whole world to
fulfill its true purpose, is the particular mission of the Holy Spirit,
the Giver of Life, the true Lord of history: "'The arm of the Lord has
not been shortened.' God is no less powerful today than he was in other
times; his love for man is no less true. Our faith teaches us that all
creation, the movement of the earth and the other heavenly bodies, the
good actions of creatures and all the good that has been achieved in
history, in short everything, comes from God and is directed toward him.

"The action of the Holy Spirit may pass unnoticed because God does not
reveal to us his plans, and because man's sin obscures the divine gifts.
But faith tells us that God is always acting. He has created us and
maintains us in existence, and he is leading all creation by his grace
towards the glorious freedom of the children of God" ([St] J. Escriva,
"Christ Is Passing By", 130).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: Luke 13:18-21

Parables of the Grain of Mustard Seed and of the Leaven

[18] He (Jesus) said therefore, "What is the Kingdom of God like? And
to what shall I compare it? [19] It is like a grain of mustard seed
which a man took and sowed in his garden; and it grew and became a
tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches."

[20] And again He said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
[21] It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of
meal, till it was all leavened."

Commentary:

18-21. The grain of mustard and the leaven symbolize the Church, which
starts off as a little group of disciples and steadily spreads with the
aid of the Holy Spirit until it reaches the ends of the earth. As
early as the second century Tertullian claimed: "We are but of
yesterday and yet we are everywhere" ("Apologeticum", 37).

Our Lord "with the parable of the mustard seed encourages them to have
faith and shows them that the Gospel preaching will spread in spite of
everything. The Lord's disciples were the weakest of men, but
nevertheless, because of the great power that was in them, the Gospel
has been spread to every part of the world" (St. John Chrysostom, "Hom.
on St. Matthew", 46). Therefore, a Christian should not be discouraged
if his apostolic action seems very limited and insignificant. With
God's grace and his own faithfulness it will keep growing like the
mustard seed, in spite of difficulties: "In the moments of struggle and
opposition, when perhaps `the good' fill your way with obstacles, lift
up your apostolic heart: listen to Jesus as He speaks of the grain of
mustard seed and of the leaven. And say to Him: `"edissere nobis
parabolam": explain the parable to me.' And you will feel the joy of
contemplating the victory to come: the birds of the air lodging in the
branches of your apostolate, now only in its beginnings, and the whole
of the meal leavened" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 695).

Catholic Culture

Collect:
Almighty and ever-living God, strengthen our faith, hope, and love. May we do with loving hearts what you ask of us and come to share the life you promise. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Recipes:

» Fruit Cobbler

Activities:

October 25, 2005

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week of Ordinary Time

Old Calendar: Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria, martyrs; Sts. Crispin and Crispinian (RM)

Before the reform of the General Roman Calendar today was the feast of Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria, a husband and wife who carried on an active apostolate among the noble families of Rome during the third century. When they were denounced as Christians, they underwent various tortures with great constancy, and they were buried alive in a sandpit in the year 283.

Today the Roman Martyrology remembers the martyrs Crispin and Crispinian, who died in the persecution of Diocletian by the sword. They were brothers, possibly twins, and cobblers. St. Crispin's day has been immortalized by Shakespeare's Henry V speech before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria

According to legend these two saints belonged to the nobility. Daria received baptism through the efforts of her husband Chrysanthus. In Rome they were instrumental in bringing many to the faith, for which cause they were cruelly martyred. Chrysanthus was sewn inside an ox's hide and placed where the sun shone hottest. Taken to a house of ill-fame, Daria was protected by a lion while she passed the time in prayer. Finally both were buried alive in a sand-pit and thereby together gained the crown of martyrdom (283). They were buried in the Jordan cemetery on the Via Saleria, Rome; at the same site were buried sixty-two soldiers who died as martyrs and also a group of faithful who had gathered together for the holy Sacrifice on the anniversary of saints' deaths but were cut down by the enemies of Christ. — Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

Patron: Eissel, Germany; Salzburg, Austria.

Symbols: Ox skin; sandpit.

Sts. Crispin and Crispinian

The Roman Martyrology includes these twin brother martyrs for this day. St. Crispin was a Roman noble and brother of Saint Crispinian with whom he evangelized Gaul in the middle 3rd century. They worked from Soissons, preached in the streets by day and made shoes by night. The group's charity, piety and contempt of material things impressed the locals, and many converted in the years of their ministry. They were martyred in Rome in 286 by torture and beheading, under emperor Maximian Herculeus, being tried by Rictus Varus, governor of Belgic Gaul and an enemy of Christianity. A great church was built at Soissons in the 6th century in their honor; Saint Eligius ornamented their shrine.

This feast was immortalized by Shakespeare in his play Henry V, (Act 4, Scene 3). The king gave a rousing speech (called "Saint Crispin's Day) on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, fought on this day in 1415. (Read a synopsis of the battle.) The English, although outnumbered, soundly defeated the French. In England this was a religious holiday on which commoners and serfs got a day of rest.

Patron: Cobblers; glove makers; lace makers; lace workers; leather workers; saddle makers; tanners; weavers.

Symbols: Cobbler's last; shoe; shoemaker's tools; awl and knife saltire; millstones; flaying knives; rack.

A Voice in the Desert

Tuesday October 25, 2005 Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading (Romans 8:18-25) Gospel (St. Luke 13:18-21)

Saint Paul, in the first reading today, tells us that he considers the suffering of the present time to be nothing by comparison to the glory that is going to be revealed in us. This is a critically important point for us to understand because too many of us try way too hard to run away from every little bit of suffering that comes our way. It is kind of the American way to make sure that we do not ever have to suffer at all: “Just take a pill, that’ll take care of everything.” It is not that we should not try to get rid of our illnesses, but it is a matter of being able to accept suffering. As long as it is there, what are we going to do with it?

The fact of the matter is that in this life there is going to be suffering. No matter how hard we try, there are always new things that keep coming up. Just when doctors and scientists think they have overcome one thing, several new things pop up and there is more. What we have to be able to realize is what Saint Paul says, that creation has been made subject to futility. What we are trying to do all too often is make this world the end-all and the be-all. Thanks be to God, it’s not. If it were, we might as well be Jehovah’s Witnesses who think that we are going to stay in this world for the rest of eternity. How pathetic. God has something so much greater for us. What He has created here is beautiful, and in our humanness–even though it is far from perfect–we would like to just stay here. So He makes it futile, and therefore it gets to the point where we say, “I don’t want to be here for the rest of eternity. I want to go home; I want to go to heaven.” That is the whole point of it. If there were not some suffering, if creation was not made subject to futility, we would want to stay right where we are. It is just the human way. Even though there is something so much greater, we would be content with where we are at because we do not want to change it.

But God in His mercy has given us the means to look beyond this world, to look at the fact that everything in this world is going to pass away, that it is futile, that in this world it is a vale of tears and there is going to be much suffering in the lives of each and every one of us. It is that precisely which makes us realize there is something so much greater and there is something we can have hope for that is beyond this world, because there is not any hope in this world as it stands. There is hope for God’s grace to work in the world, but the world itself is not going to be able to do anything for us. It is passing away.

So we have that hope Saint Paul talks about, and creation itself, he tells us, awaits the revelation of the children of God. When Our Lord in the Gospel reading tells us that the kingdom of God is like the mustard seed that is planted or like the yeast that a woman put into the dough, it is something which starts out very small, it is something which is buried within, and then it grows. It is that way in our souls and it is also that way within the world. Once it is buried then we have to wait. Anyone who has ever made bread knows that you do not put the yeast in and then throw it right in the oven; you have to wait for it to rise. You do not plant a seed and then pick the fruit; you have to wait for it to grow. So too within ourselves and within the world, the kingdom of God is planted and it is growing and creation is awaiting the revelation of the children of God.

That revelation is soon to come, because as Saint Paul told us even 2,000 years ago, all creation is in travail like a woman in labor. As we have been watching, the labor pains are getting much more intense, the contractions are much closer together; the time is very soon for the revelation of the children of God. What we need to do is make sure that we are preparing a proper place. If you want the dough to rise, you have to keep it in a warm place. If you want the seed to grow, you have to water it, you have to fertilize it, and you have to take care of it. So too with the kingdom of God within. If we are not placing ourselves before the Lord in prayer then that seed cannot grow. There will be no fruit that is going to be borne because we are not watering it, we are not fertilizing it, we are not caring for it. We need to make sure that we are doing our part so that this kingdom of God is going to grow within us and the full revelation of the children of God is going to be recognized within each one of us.

That revelation is going to be found in the fidelity of those who remain united with Christ in the midst of all the futility of this world. And the futility of this world is being shown more today than ever before. That futility is going to be demonstrated even more clearly, but the glorious freedom of the children of God is going to be clearly demonstrated within each and every person who is united with Christ. Those are the only two options: either be united with Jesus or go down with the futility of the world. It is one or the other. The time of travail is upon us, the time of birth is soon to come, and we need to make sure that we are going to stay the course, that we are not going to run away from the suffering, because the suffering of the present world is as nothing compared with the glory that will be revealed in each and every one of us.

* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.

The Word Among Us

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Meditation
Romans 8:18-25

We wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:23)

As we continue our three days of prayer to know God the Father more deeply (see yesterday’s meditation), it may be helpful to think about what it means to be adopted children of God. Many of us have a “Little Orphan Annie” picture of adoption: wistful waifs enduring a miserable life in an overcrowded orphanage hoping that someday ideal parents will whisk them away to a completely different life. We may have a similar view of salvation: We simply have to put up with the sufferings involved in having mortal bodies until the day when Jesus will liberate us for our true life in heaven.

Although many orphanages bear an uncanny resemblance to Annie’s, many other children—especially in the West—are adopted by relatives or foster parents with whom they have already shared a home for an extended period of time. For them, adoption is a legal recognition of the reality they have been living: a family that gives them unconditional love, dignified responsibilities, and opportunities for growth.

Our situation in Christ is much more like a good foster home than an orphanage from which we can’t wait to escape. Salvation isn’t simply a future reality. It is something we began to experience when we were joined to Christ in baptism and continue to experience as his life grows in us and among us.

How can we best prepare for adoption? By living as if we were already a full member of the family. That membership may be difficult to discern at times. Parents and children working through a spirited disagreement may not realize how much they value each other. People involved in a laborious task may forget how far they’ve already come or where they’re headed. And yet day after day, God is at work in us, not only calling us his children but longing to lavish his fatherly love upon all who turn to him. So take up your heritage today, and let his love flood your heart.

“Holy Spirit, I know that the life of Jesus is already at work in me. I know that you are already crying out ‘Abba! Father!’ deep within my heart. Help me to hear your voice and to live today as a full member of the family of God. All praise to you, Spirit of adoption!”

Psalm 126:1-6; Luke 13:18-21

One Bread, One Body

<< Tuesday, October 25, 2005 >>

Romans 8:18-25

Psalm 126

Luke 13:18-21

View Readings

"WAIT IN JOYFUL HOPE"

"Hoping for what we cannot see means awaiting it with patient endurance." —Romans 8:25

"In hope we were saved" (Rm 8:24). Jesus saved us by dying on the cross, and He saved us "in hope" (Rm 8:24). While dying "in agony" (Rm 8:22), Jesus could only see horrible suffering. He couldn't feel the presence of His Father, and cried out loudly to express His feeling of abandonment (Ps 22:2). "Hoping for what" He could not see, the glory of a reunion with His Father in heaven and the salvation of those who were presently killing Him, meant "awaiting it with patient endurance" (Rm 8:25).

As Father Al Lauer, the founder of this booklet, often proclaimed on these pages, Jesus is our only Hope, but He is the only Hope we need. Jesus hoped so perfectly that, in a sense, He was Hope incarnate. Are you trapped in a situation that seems hopeless? Jesus is your Hope. Are "the sufferings of the present" (Rm 8:18) overwhelming? Then compare them "with the glory to be revealed" (Rm 8:18) when we join Jesus, our "Hope of glory" (Col 1:27), in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). We must live with one foot in heaven (Col 3:1) and the other on earth (Mt 28:19; Jn 17:11). The best way we can live in hope is to go to Mass as often as possible. At Mass, "heaven is wedded to earth" (Easter Vigil Exultet). We eat at the banquet of the Lord while still on earth. Jesus "encourages those who are losing hope" (Sir 17:19). Are you losing hope? Go to Mass today, receive Hope, and "wait in joyful hope."

Prayer: Jesus, I know that hope does not disappoint (Rm 5:5). I will not sin against hope, but "rejoice in hope" (Rm 12:12).

Promise: "Those that sow in tears shall reap rejoicing." —Ps 126:5

Praise: Widowed twice, Margaret knows God still has a glorious plan for her life.

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