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The Word today, W26B

  • Writer: Admin
    Admin
  • Sep 27, 2024
  • 3 min read

Updated: Sep 27, 2024



September 30 - October 05, 2024


St Jerome, priest, doctor, exegete


Job 1:6-22 The great story of Job begins today. Notice: (i) Satan is not the later devil, but a very cheeky member of the heavenly court; and (ii) there is something quite formulaic about Job’s reaction, a devotional façade, soon to be torn away.


Luke 9:46-50 Our Gospel today addresses two issues never that far away: ambition and jealousy. Two unpleasant relatives!


St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, virgin and doctor


Job 3:1-3,11-17,20-23 Job is the great book which “tells it like it is” and perhaps chapter 3 captures this best of all. The bitter experience of unjust suffering leads to searing expression of innocence and despair. At times, the writing is quite savage.


Matthew 18:1-5, 10 The reading is special for the feast because it mentions the angels. In the culture, young children are not a symbol of innocence but rather of powerlessness.


The Holy Guardian Angels


Job 9:1-13, 14-16 Job, in a brief moment of more calm reflection, takes up the topic of the mystery of God’s mind and intentions. Something of this insight will find it way into the final message of the book.


Luke 9:57-62 The cost of discipleship—everything, in reality—is the focus of the several stories today. Jesus demands all or nothing.


Bl Columba Marmion, abbot


Job 9:1-13, 14-16 Job, in a brief moment of more calm reflection, takes up the topic of the mystery of God’s mind and intentions. Something of this insight will find it way into the final message of the book.


Luke 9:57-62 The cost of discipleship—everything, in reality—is the focus of the several stories today. Jesus demands all or nothing.


St Francis of Assisi, founder and friar


Job 38:1, 12-21, 40:3-5 Finally, God breaks his silence and his words are overwhelming—both as poetry and as theology. The radical incapacity of humans to scrutinise God is forcefully underlined and leaves Job gasping.


Luke 10:13-16 Prophets are not always comfortable people and in today’s Gospel Jesus points out the missed opportunities of several towns and village. It is vital not to leave us teaching in the past, of course. Would he say the same to us today?



Job 42:1-3, 5-6, 12-17 Job’s final answer is much discussed. It cannot mean he thinks he was wrong all along. Instead it must mean something like “I will suspend my case before the mystery.” The marvellous provision of “new” children is an ironic evocation of the lex talionis and an unexpected twist in the book of Job. After all, one set of children cannot be simply replaced by another!! It is just not human.


Luke 10:17-24 The central passage of this reading—the prayer of Jesus—is extraordinarily important. In some form, it goes back to the historical Jesus. Two consequences follow. First of all, Jesus was aware of a quite particular relationship with the Father and and his own role as revealer. Secondly, the wording of that role as revealer sounds uncannily like something from the Fourth Gospel and, indeed, may be one of the inspirations behind the language and ideas in John’s Gospel.


References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2024j, September 29). Twenty-sixth Sunday in ordinary time. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092924.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings/


 
 
 

The Word today, W25B

  • Writer: Admin
    Admin
  • Sep 20, 2024
  • 2 min read

Updated: Sep 27, 2024



September 23 - September 28, 2024


St Padre Pio


Proverbs 3:27-34 How should we behave towards our neighbours? This reading offers a range of advice and perhaps one teaching or other will resonate with my own experience.


Luke 8:16-18 Our Gospel offers some arresting, even disconcerting, sayings of Jesus.



Proverbs 21:1-6,10-13 Today, we hear a series of proverbs offering wisdom coming from reflection upon experience. Any one proverb would merit reflection and perhaps there is one that speaks to you today.


Luke 8:19-21 It is interesting that Luke, who has the fullest portrait of Mary, should include this intriguing passage.


St Finbarr, bishop


Proverbs 30:5-9 The prayer included in this reading is a surprise, but the reasons given are good. It comes down to moderation or, as a friend puts it, an “elegant sufficiency”!!


Luke 9:1-6 The Twelve are empowered to do exactly what Jesus did. Just like him, they are to depend on the providence of God and the kindness of strangers. Shaking off the dust is a prophetic gesture of judgement and rejection (cf. Luke 10:11; Acts 13:51; 18:6).


Sts Cosmas and Damian, martyrs


Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 For the next three days, we hear from the book of Ecclesiastes. When read as a whole, it is a surprise to find this book in our Bible, because it is so pessimistic. Our reading today captures that in a reflection upon vanity of vanities. Remember, however, that vanity here does not mean self-regard (cf. selfies!) but rather futility / emptiness. The opening words could be well translated as “futility of futilities” or “the most futile.”


Luke 9:7-9 Herod, who is more curious about than really interested in Jesus, uses the various categories for understanding Jesus.


St Vincent de Paul, priest and religious


Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 This reading is sometimes chosen for funerals and you can see why. The wisdom within is somewhat static: this is just how things are and we must accept it.


Luke 9:18-22 The disciples repeat the common opinion, as we heard yesterday. But Jesus challenges them (and us) directly to go deeper.


St Laurence Ruiz and companions, martyrs; St Wenceslaus, martyr


Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8 Our final reading from Ecclesiastes is a poem…but about what? If you listen carefully, you will see it is about the dilapidation of old age. For instance, the strong men are our legs and the women who grind are our teeth. And so on.


The end of life is captured marvelously “before the silver cord has snapped, or the golden lamp been broken, or the pitcher shattered at the spring, or the pulley cracked at the well.”


Even though Ecclesiastes can be emotionally reserved, there is a pathos for the human condition in this poem.


Luke 9:43-45 Suffering is always bewildering, so the reaction of the disciples in this passage is perfectly understandable.


References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2024h, September 22). Twenty-fifth Sunday in ordinary time. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092224.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings/


 
 
 

The Word today, W24B

  • Writer: Admin
    Admin
  • Sep 13, 2024
  • 3 min read

Updated: Sep 27, 2024



September 16 - September 21, 2024


St Cornelius, bishop of Rome, and St Cyprian, martyrs


1 Corinthians 11:17-26,33 To understand this reading, it must be remembered that the Lord’s Supper was still part of an ordinary meal. The problem in Corinth was that social habits separating the rich and the poor “kicked in.” Paul is horrified, because such distinctions empty the sacrament of its meaning.


Luke 7:1-10 You may recognize in this appealing story a phrase we have come to use just before Holy Communion.


St Robert Bellarmine, bishop and doctor or St Hildegard of Bingen, virgin and doctor


1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-31 Divisions and factions are “normal” in the Christian community; this does not mean we should accept them as normative! All the gifts are needed, to make the community a living body.


Luke 7:11-17 You will notice the echoes of Elijah raising the widow’s son — all part of Luke’s portrait of Jesus as the prophet par excellence.



1 Corinthians 12:31-13:1 Our reading today is a Pauline tour-deforce in praise of love. It is often called a hymn to love and it is poetry. At the same time, we know that the core is profoundly true, reflecting what we know in our heart of hearts.


Luke 7:31-35 The tone of irritation may irritate (!) but it is perfectly understandable that Jesus might occasionally be just fed up with unstable expectations. It happens to us all!


St Januarius, bishop and martyr


1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Every Christian in Corinth believed Jesus was raised from the dead. Some of them, however, did not believe the dead would rise in Christ. Paul sets about persuading them, by first reminding them of the tradition they received, in which they stand.


Luke 7:36-50 Telling a story within a story can be very powerful. Jesus little “parable” of the debtor is hardly rocket science but in the context is immensely powerful. (It may be useful to repeat that the woman is question is not Mary Magdalen, contrary to popular tradition and writing.)


Sts Andrew Kim Taegon, priest, and Paul Chong Hasang, and their companions, martyrs


1 Corinthians 15:12-20 Paul’s argument calls for careful listening. In effect he is saying, if you say there is not resurrection at all, be careful because that will include Jesus! The arguments here are all logical and powerful.


Luke 8:1-3 Today’s very short reading is immensely significant. It is rare to see the women who accompanied Jesus given a profile. Mary Magdalene we know, of course, but the other figures remain a bit of mystery.


St Matthew, apostle and evangelist Very few critical scholars identify Levi, Matthew the apostle and the writer of the Gospel.


Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13 The readings are special for the feast. The first one from Ephesians reminds us of the variety of gifts needed in the community of faith, including the gift of teaching and writing.


Matthew 9:9-13 It is historically unlikely that the Matthew of this story was the author of the Gospel. Nevertheless, the story does go to the heart of the proclamation of Jesus, a proclamation of compassion, just as challenging today as in Jesus’ day.


References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2024f, September 15). Twenty-fourth Sunday in ordinary time. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091524.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings/


 
 
 
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