Daily Reflections

Psalm 94:18-19

Your love, O LORD, sustains me.
– In the midst of all my troubles,
Your consolation gladdens my soul.

As we share abundantly in Christ’s suffering,
so through Christ we share abundantly in His consolation.
– In the midst of all my troubles,
Your consolation gladdens my soul.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Eighth Sunday After Pentecost (Traditional)

St Apollinaris, Bishop, Martyr (Traditional)

St. Liborius, Bishop, Confessor (Traditional)

Saint Bridget of Sweden, Widow 

Christ’s parables that we hear today make this conjoined point: God in his Providence will use even the apparent evil that attends us in life to some perfecting purpose. Out of our littleness, our emptiness, our nothingness, God’s greatness will flower in an astonishing way. The parables verify that our God is the God “who cares for every thing” (Wisdom 12:13,16-19) every situation, every circumstance, every moment. God shows His might precisely when His “sovereign power is questioned”. It is easy to despair of our weakness and thus give way to it. Yet if we pray with real Faith, “Your power is there”. “The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness.”

TRADITIONAL:

We have received the mercy of God and we are the children of God, since we may say in all truth “our Father.” God has given us Life, therefore we must do His holy Will.

Epistle: Romans (8:12-17)

The Apostle of the Gentiles, St. Paul, reminds us of our divine worship.

Gospel: (Luke 16: 1-9)

Parable of the unjust steward, reminding us of our duties, for we are the children of light, who must not be outdone by the children of this world in zeal.

SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN, WIDOW

St. Bridget was born of the Swedish royal family, in 1304. In obedience to her father, she was married to Prince Ulpho of Sweden, and became the mother of eight children, one of whom, Catherine, is honoured as a saint. After some years she and her husband separated by mutual consent. He entered the Cistercian Order, and Bridget founded the Order of Saint Saviour, in the Abbey of Wastein, in Sweden. In 1344 she became a widow, and thenceforth received a series of the most sublime revelations, all of which she scrupulously submitted to the judgment of her confessor. By the command of Our LORD, Bridget went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and amidst the very scenes of the Passion was further instructed in the Sacred mysteries. She died in 1373.

SAINT APOLLINARIS, BISHOP, MARTYR

St. Apollinaris was the disciple of St. Peter, who preached the Gospel at Ravenna, Italy. Possibly one of the seventy-two disciples of Jesus mentioned in Luke 10, from Antioch to Ravenna, as it’s first Bishop. His preaching of the Good News was so successful that the pagans there beat him up and drove him from the city. The importance of the See of Ravena in the Sixth Century brought about an attempt to exalt that See unduly. On this account we have in the Mass today the voice of St. Peter recommending the pastors of the Church to avoid the spirit of domination and pride, and the words of the Gospel teaching the lesson of humility. St. Apollinaris after a cruel scourging and exile was martyred at Ravenna in 79 A.D. The great cathedral of that city is dedicated to him.

ST. LIBORIUS, BISHOP & CONFESSOR

St. Liborius was the fourth bishop of Le Mans, France. He was renowned for the miracles which he wrought on behalf of those suffering from stone; his name was added to the Calendar by Pope Clement XI, who suffered with this dangerous malady and was cured by the intercesion of the saint. He died about the year 397.

From the prayers attributed to Saint Bridget
(Oratio 2: Revalationum S. Brigitae libri 2, Romae 1628, pp. 408-410)

A prayer to Christ our Saviour

Blessed are You, my LORD Jesus Christ. You foretold Your death and at the Last Supper You marvellously consecrated bread which became Your precious Body. And then You gave it to Your apostles out of love as a memorial of Your most holy Passion. By washing their feet with Your holy hands, You gave them a supreme example of Your deep Humility.

Honour be to You, my LORD Jesus Christ. Fearing Your Passion and Death, You poured forth blood from Your innocent body like sweat, and still You accomplished our redemption as You desired and gave us the clearest proof of Your love for all men.

Blessed may You be, my LORD Jesus Christ. After You had been led to Caiaphas, You, the judge of all men, humbly allowed Yourself to be handed over to the judgment of Pilate.

Glory be to You, my LORD Jesus Christ, for the mockery You endured when You stood clothed in purple and wearing a crown of sharp thorns. With utmost endurance You allowed vicious men to spit upon Your glorious face, blindfold You and beat Your cheek and neck with cruelest blows.

Praise be to You, my LORD Jesus Christ. For with the greatest patience You allowed Yourself like an innocent lamb to be bound to a pillar and mercilessly scourged, and then to be brought, covered with blood, before the judgment seat of Pilate to be gazed upon by all.

Honour be to You, my LORD Jesus Christ. For after Your glorious body was covered with blood, You were condemned to death on the Cross, You endured the pain of carrying the Cross on Your sacred shoulders, and You were led with curses to the place where You were to suffer. Then stripped of Your garments, You allowed Yourself to be nailed to the wood of the Cross.

Everlasting honour be to You, LORD Jesus Christ. You allowed Your most holy mother to suffer so much, even though she had never sinned nor ever even consented to the smallest sin. Humbly You looked down upon her with Your gentle loving eyes, and to comfort her You entrusted her to the faithful care of Your disciple.

Eternal blessing be Yours, my LORD Jesus Christ, because in Your last agony You held out to all sinners the hope of pardon, when in Your mercy You promised the Glory of Paradise to the penitent thief.

Eternal praise be to You, my LORD Jesus Christ, for the time You endured on the Cross the greatest torments and sufferings for us sinners. The sharp pain of Your wounds fiercely penetrated even to Your blessed soul and cruelly pierced Your Most Sacred Heart till finally You sent forth Your spirit in peace, bowed Your head, and humbly commended Yourself into the hands of God Your Father, and Your whole body remained cold in death.

Blessed may You be, my LORD Jesus Christ. You redeemed our souls with Your Precious Blood and most holy Death, and in Your mercy You led them from exile back to Eternal Life.

Blessed may You be, my LORD Jesus Christ. For our salvation You allowed Your side and heart to be pierced with a lance; and from that side Water and Your Precious Blood flowed out abundantly for our redemption.

Glory be to You, my LORD Jesus Christ. You allowed Your blessed body to be taken down from the Cross by your friends and laid in the arms of Your most sorrowing mother, and you let her wrap your body in a shroud and bury it in a tomb to be guarded by soldiers.

Unending honour be to You, my LORD Jesus Christ. On the third day You rose from the dead and appeared to those You had chosen. And after forty days You Ascended into Heaven before the eyes of many witnesses, and there in Heaven You gathered together in Glory those You love, whom You had freed from hell.

Rejoicing and eternal praise be to you, my Lord Jesus Christ, who sent the Holy Spirit into the hearts of your disciples and increased the boundless love of God in their spirits.

Blessed are You and Praiseworthy and Glorious for ever, my LORD Jesus. You sit upon Your Throne in Your Kingdom of Heaven, in the glory of Your Divinity, living in the Most Holy Body you took from a virgin’s flesh. So will you appear on that last day to judge the souls of all the living and the dead; You who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever. Amen.

The Patience of the Master

Despite the nervous scramble of the servants when they discover weeds growing in His field, the Master of the house Himself does not appear the least disconcerted by this sudden report of sabotage. He immediately knows who has sown the weeds, and the calmness of His reaction hints that, even before He sowed His wheat, He must have realized the probability of such a hostile act occurring. Nevertheless, sow it he did…. But the real surprise comes at the Master’s reaction when the servants, overcome by anxiety, want to dash into the field and pull out the weeds on the spot. Rather than becoming obsessed like them with the presence of evil, the serene farmer…does not think that the power of the weeds to choke is superior to the power of the wheat to grow and thrive….

An abstract conception of “evil” can trigger in us a reckless compulsion to purge our world prematurely (literally so: before the time of ripeness), according to our own notions of purity and impurity. We always assume, of course, that we are ourselves among the pure, the children of the light, and that we are therefore born purifiers; and yet our very compulsion to purify at all costs bespeaks an ignorance of the essential, which is Life and its growth, and also betrays an interior fear of contamination. Rather than abiding secure in my identity as son of the Kingdom and one born of God, I seek to eradicate what I most fear for myself, what I fear is perhaps already lurking within me.

The Master, by contrast, reacts with Prudence and Patience in the face of evil. While the fanatical servants want to destroy in the name of purification, the wise LORD wants to preserve, in the name of Life. His ultimate objective is to save as much as possible for the harvest. The fact that there is disharmony, vitiation, in the Field of the Church and of the world is apparent to all, but only the LORD of the field and of the harvest can see beyond the confused present state of things. The disciples are prompt to take purgation (and, hence, God’s jJudgement) into their own hands. But only on God’s explicit command may they intervene radically in the stage of the world, when and as He orders. Until the time of the harvest at the end of the age, it is their business to preach the Gospel of repentance, both to themselves and to the world. Jesus’ explicit commands to them have nothing to do with judging and purging. Quite on the contrary, His last words to them would be: Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations (Mt 28:19).

Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis

Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, now known as Father Simeon, is a Trappist monk. He is the author of Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word, a four-volume commentary on Matthew’s Gospel. [From Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word: Meditations on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Volume Two (Chapters 12-18)

DAILY MEDITATION 

“The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light“ [Gospel].  Do you live a life on a natural plane, sinking in a human and worldly way. They regard as happy those who have the money to buy the pleasures and owners of life, who are respected by their fellow men, and have influential positions in society. Guided by such a worldly attitude of mind, they strive to obtain wealth, prosperity, and honour, and live only according to the dictates of the temporal interests. They are symbolized by the unjust steward of the Gospel. But those who have received the spirit of sonship, the Baptized, and the confirmed, are determined and guided in their actions and thoughts by the Spirit of God. In the power of the Holy Ghost, dwelling and working within them, they mortify the deeds of the flesh, avoid sin, and shun this worldly spirit and it works. The spirit of sonship is the spirit of love, a childlike love of the Father. Wherever this love has taken possession of the soul, it subdues natural and earthly thoughts, considerations, and motives.

Such a soul is filled with the light of God; it records the value of things, according to the principle of face, and according to the teaching, and the example of Christ. Those who plays the confidence in the flesh, in their education and knowledge, their character, the faculties, and their efficacy, are trained by the spirit, so that they can see with Saint Paul: “The things that were gain to me, the same I have counted as loss for Christ. Furthermore, I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my LORD; for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ and may be found in Him“  [Phil 3:7–9].

Revelation 1:5-6; Ephesians 5:2

Christ loved us, and poured out His Blood
to free us from our sins.
– He has made of us a kingdom of priests.

Live then in love, even as Christ loved us
and gave Himself up for us.
– He has made of us a kingdom of priests.

“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.” – Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen