Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 100
Reading 1 Zec 9:9-10
Thus says the LORD:Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion,
shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king shall come to you;
a just savior is he,
meek, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass.
He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim,
and the horse from Jerusalem;
the warrior’s bow shall be banished,
and he shall proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14
R. (cf. 1) I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.or:
R. Alleluia.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Reading 2 ROM 8:9, 11-13
Brothers and sisters:You are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Consequently, brothers and sisters,
we are not debtors to the flesh,
to live according to the flesh.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die,
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,
you will live.
Alleluia Cf. Mt 11:25
R. Alleluia, alleluia.Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Mt 11:25-30
At that time Jesus exclaimed:“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
Being a Christian means that we should be promoters of peace, love, and tranquility. God so loved us that He sent His only Son so that we could obtain eternal life through the forgiveness of sins and the reestablishment of a relationship with Him. Nothing bad comes from God and that means that there is good within all of us. Whatever faults that we may have or whatever we have done in our lives that does not exemplify this goodness is something that we created through our free will and must be overcome if we are to experience that good. God does not want us to do bad things or to sin because it is not within the vision of His Creation to do so and it is ultimately unhealthy for us; not being in our best interests. He does indeed know better because He is our God. Peace, love, and tranquility are byproducts of a relationship with God because these things are purely good and perfect in comparison to that which is opposite: conflict, hate, and chaos. Even though we might be attracted to the opposite because of Original Sin doesn’t mean that we should focus on these things even though they may give us immediate pleasure or satisfaction. In the end they will lead to our death because they are bad and they are opposite of what God wants for us. God knows what is best for us and what He knows is that peace, love, and tranquility are best.
The Prophetic Readings from the Book of Zechariah promise the restoration of everything through the Coming of Our Savior Jesus Christ. Everything through Jesus would be corrected with His coming. This correction can be seen through a proper relationship with Him. Even though He was present throughout eternity with the Father and the Holy Spirit it is the Word becoming flesh that the prophet focuses on. With the Revelation of the Son all in God’s creation have been invited to an experience of the Revelation of the Son within our lives and our spirituality. Every moment in our lives becomes an opportunity to be exposed to this revelation and enables us to become receivers of everything that has been promised: an end to conflict, a state of grace, and an experience of spiritual calmness settling within us. All of this encompasses an indescribable love from which we can do all things in unison with our God. What we have corrupted will be restored through right relationship.
Through our willingness to receive what is being offered two different choices are then presented. It can be argued that we have experienced the first choice already and it has brought us dissatisfaction and now there is only one obvious path and that is to respond to the Revelation of Jesus Christ and live that experience to the fullest. God has offered and it is up to us to receive what is being offered while letting it influence our lives. The Apostle Paul reminds us that being with Christ means that we are in the spirit and not in the flesh. This is an indication that when we receive Christ then the road that we took before is one that is no longer going to be traveled. Is it closed? No but when we are influenced by the spirit the attraction of that road fades away as a result. Being in the spirit is not the end of the journey but only the beginning and receiving the Revelation of Jesus Christ means we have Jesus Christ as an advocate and He will aid us on this journey; insure that our experience with God will blossom. He goes on to say how we owe nothing to this world and do not have to die as a result of living in this world. Instead, living in the spirit guarantees us a life beyond the corporal failings of this world. We have the choice of an earthly life with an earthy death or a spiritual life that lasts forever. When presented in these terms the choice appears to be obvious.
Being in the spirit with Jesus Christ tends to simplify of our lives and makes our daily choices in our lives easier. Jesus reminds us of this through His prayer to the Father in the Gospel reading today. He thanks the Father for revealing all things to the “little ones” while keeping them hidden from the wise and learned. This is a reoccurring theme throughout the Gospels where He points to the children as an example where others should follow. It is the innocence of the children and their willingness to trust that we are told to embrace. The openness of children to see goodness and to be good out of love is something that we are urged to strive for. It is easier to be open then try to resist and weigh what should be completely obvious. In this case it is Jesus and who He is in relation to the Father and to the Holy Spirit. As we advance in years we may gain wisdom and knowledge but this same wisdom and knowledge is nothing in comparison to the Revelations of God. We have the ability to get in the way of our own understanding by applying human principles to that which is God. Children do not have that problem. Peace, love, and tranquility are actual principles that are obvious and easy to understand. It is about being good and it is actually pretty simple when you keep them in their basic form. There is need to look deep into these things or make them more complicated. Simplicity and keeping it basic is the key.
Being promoters of peace, love, and tranquility leads directly to a relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ. Jesus is inviting us into that relationship and promises that as a result our lives will become easier. What Jesus has to offer is easier and better. A direct result of that is our lives becoming easier and better. It is impossible for any of us to have or discover a different way that is better because He is our God. It would be complete foolishness not to listen to our God who loves us completely and wishes the best for us. Listening to Jesus insures that we will make the right choices, improve our lives, and experience peace, love, and tranquility daily.
Deacon Tom
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS
As Christians we must remember that we are Children
of the Spirit and not of the flesh. The Holy Spirit dwells within us and has
the capability of bringing us closer to God in a beautiful, loving
relationship. Yes, we are made of bone and flesh but we do not have to be ruled
by it. We have been given a choice and have been shown a better way through the
revelation of Jesus Christ. Created by God, the Holy Spirit, the Love of God,
has been resting within us, waiting to be fueled by our thought and actions. Recognition
of its presence is the first step to revelation and a new life within the Holy
Trinity. It is an open invitation that we have to accept. We are presented with
a choice: Do we claim our birthright as Children of God or do we continue to
ignore Him who formed us and gave us life?
Our daily lives are filled with stress and anxiety.
Most of this is created by our own actions and decisions. We set material goals
for ourselves then spend large amounts of time and energy trying to pursue
things that, in the end, really don’t matter that much. Yes, they might bring
us a level of happiness in the short term but will no doubt leave us empty and
wanting more. This is what happens when we pursue desires of the flesh. We
partake in earthly desires that have an expiration date. We pursue that which
will soon pass away. What we think we have gained is actually lost as soon as
we grab a hold of it. Embracing that which is material in nature leaves us with
a hunger that is never satisfied. This hunger always threatens to consume us
and eventually destroy us.
Focusing on our spirituality positions us to receive
the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Piety,
Fortitude, Counsel, and Fear of God. It is with these gifts that we are then
able to break the chains of the flesh and be lifted up to a higher awareness of
ourselves and of God. We will be able to discern what is truly good and bad for
us. We will also have the strength to overcome the obstacles to a new life and
experience the true joy of what God really wants for us. Jesus invites us into
this existence with a promise: He will give us rest from all the chaos and
confusion that envelopes our lives. What was a confusing, frustrating life will
melt away and reveal a pathway to perfection through Him. What was a
rollercoaster ride with ups, downs, twists, and turns becomes a straight
pathway to purpose and love.
God is the triumphant warrior, the Lord of
Everything. There is no true battle or war when it comes to Him. He is already
victorious because of who He is: Our Creator and Our Father. What we need to do
is stop trying to fight Him and what He wants for us. We do not know better. We
do not know what is best for ourselves. We need to become like little children
again and approach Him with innocence and unconditional love. We can then be
comforted and cared for like the children that we are. The Children of God.
Deacon Tom
Come to me, all you who labour and are
burdened,
and I will give you rest.”
and I will give you rest.”
The immediate text before, he gets a little bit angry at them. He says, “Why are you not listening?”
But then he suddenly, instead of being upset and annoyed, he turns back again and he says to them, “You know, the things that have been done here, if they were done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have come back and repented and turned their lives around and come back to the Lord.”
And he looks at them. And I suppose they all look back at him and say in their hearts, “Show me that you’re very special.”
But then Jesus never lets them go. Why?
Because the thing that makes him hook up with everyone — the ones who deny him, the ones who maligned him, the ones that say he’s a fraud (and all through his ministry, he runs into them), all the ones who want this and the ones who want that, and the ones more interested in many things, but none of them seem to be interested in him, in him and the one thing that marks the Messiah — the Messiah is in love. The Son of God is in love.
And he loves them all: the nice ones, the ones who listen, the ones who gather around him and make him feel welcome. But he, also, deep down inside, his feeling is of great love for the ones who walk away, the ones who even curse him and, ultimately, the ones who crucify him.
It is Jesus’ love that makes all life possible.
Peguy says, “All life begins with tenderness.” And it’s true that Jesus teaches people with great tenderness, not because they deserve it, but because he needs to be this way, because the Messiah cannot not love.
Everybody is stuck with what they are. We are sinners, and we go about doing good, but also sinning. Jesus only does good, only forgives, only cares, only reaches out. And he’s God.
And why is he so busy at it?
It’s because he wants us to feel and understand the great happiness that comes with openly and wholeheartedly taking in the great and grand love of God Himself. “Our hearts will never rest until they rest in thee,” says St Augustine to God.
And so it is that Jesus is kind of caught in a great problem. What does he do when they finally have their way and nail him to a cross, and it’s all over, and the spear goes through his side?
And, before it goes through his side, the one thing he says… He looks up at his Father and what does he say? “Destroy them”? No. He says, “Father, you must forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
He even gives an excuse: it’s not their own fault, they’re just kind of lost and wandering in the darkness, they don’t know where to turn, they have their own little agendas inside them and, no matter how often they fail, they still think that surrendering to you, Almighty Father, to surrender to you is a mistake, it must be something else.
And so it is that Jesus shows us how to love. You can’t love and take back.
I can’t stand listening to those songs where the singer is moaning and groaning, wanting love, wanting this, wanting that, wanting up, wanting down. And Jesus has told us, if you’re looking for love, don’t wait. It’s never going to come to you. What passes is a few moments of surcease, as they say, but true love is what Jesus does.
And what does Jesus do? He gives. He gives and he gives and he gives. People reject him and he doesn’t care, he still loves them. And he gives and he gives and he never takes back.
And what he says to all of us: “You must learn that it is in the giving you feel love, it is in the giving you are healed, it is in the giving that you are saved.” And when you turn to, “I want mine and I want it now,” you’re destroying yourself.
And that’s why he keeps loving. Because you’re not hurting him, you’re not rejecting him. He’s not walking away kind of upset that he’s not wondrously acceptable.
He knows that you’ve got to learn from him or you’ll never learn what life is. You’ll never know what it means to live. You’ll be caught in the back roads of nonsense and self-pity and all these other things that we use as substitutes for love.
But not Jesus. And that’s why he’s the Messiah. Because he doesn’t take, he only gives.
Are we supposed to be like that? Of course.
Many years ago, I was teaching in the seminary in Hong Kong and I was teaching the deacons and they were about to be ordained. And deacons about to be ordained are very enthusiastic. And, of course, I’m an old cynic from Brooklyn, so I tried my best to maintain their incredible positive outlook at the time.
And one of the men, who you know very well but I’m not going to tell you who it is, one of the seminarians, he was saying …
In about the two weeks after ordination I met him in the hallway and I said (I’ll give him a false name), “Harry, how are you doing?”
And he said, “Father Hanly, when I stood and knelt at that altar with my head down and I was filled with joy and I was filled with peace and I gave my whole life to Him, it was a wonderful moment.” And then he stops. “And now, three weeks later, each day, I take a little back.” You understand? “I take a little back.”
When we hear these idealistic stories, we must remember they’re for ideal people who do not exist. We exist with what we are and happily. We do sin and we do fall away and we do have all these annoying habits, otherwise we’d never experience God’s love. God doesn’t love someone who needs no love.
And the ones who need love the most are the ones who fall away, who find themselves locked up, afraid, wondering what it’s all about, all these different things.
And we can be very cruel and nasty.
And the worst of us are probably the ones who think they never sin, because they hold back the love of God that is waiting for them to say, “Lord, I’m sorry.”
These are the magic words. Not that God hasn’t forgiven long before you even ask for it, because He’s God. God loves. He can’t delay this kind of thing. But the words, “I am sorry,” He knows is we opening the gates of our own heart so He can finally walk in.
If you want to remember today’s sermon, just think of just one word, okay? Our problem is to learn to be a giver and not a taker. That’s all: just to be a giver and not a taker.
Are you worried about nobody loving you? Are you worried about that you’re not accepted? Are you worried about you’re not going to climb high on the ladder?
Forget it. If people want to climb high on the ladder, help them. If people want to do this, that and the other thing, help them. Why? Because they’re people. Jesus doesn’t give up on them. You don’t have to give up on them.
But, if you want to touch God and feel the reality of God’s life and this wonderful world He has created for all of us, you’ve got to learn how to give.
And the more you give, the more you’ll understand. And the more you understand, the more you realise how much we need forgiveness.
Because when you go in that direction, all your little faults, all your little problems, seem to increase.
But so does this great feeling that you are with a God who is carrying you through all the difficulties
of life. And at times you feel that you are dropped, but He always catches you in time. At times you feel frustrated, but He’s always been there to smile at you.
Because as long as you keep the flame of gift in your heart, He knows that you two, He and you, will walk home into eternal life, together.
Father Hanly
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Such wonderful words from our Lord can only be understood if we are already living in the mystery of His salvation. If we are not living that mystery, then we will only get upset with God when we don’t get what we want in life.
The first reading today is from the Prophet Zechariah. In today’s passage we have the words which the New Testament saw fulfilled on Palm Sunday: “See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.” Even the Prophets recognized that the Savior to come would not be necessarily a political power or a person who exercised authority in the way to which people were accustomed. Instead, the Savior could come in humility, could be ugly, could be a person no one saw as special, etc.
The same is true for us today. So often we don’t want to listen to the words given us in Scripture, we don’t want to accept the teachings which have been handed down to us and we don’t really believe that God has reached into our world and become one of us. We really don’t want a God but prefer ourselves to be God in all.
The second reading comes from the Letter to the Romans. Here we listen to these words: “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” How difficult to put to death the deeds of the body! Our bodies want their own pleasure and our whole spiritual discipline insists that only an asceticism based in Jesus Christ will be able to subdue the desires of the body. Yet in our modern culture, the body is almost worshipped and certain no one really believes that the body should be denied any pleasure that it can have—as long as it harms no one else. This is our modern way of thinking and it is completely against the teachings of the Old and New Testament.
So we come to the Gospel today. In the Gospel of Matthew we find today this saying: “you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones.” As we grow in our faith and our commitment to the Lord Jesus, we know that fewer and fewer people will understand us. Following Jesus is truly counter cultural today and the values of Jesus are seen as anti-human.
Jesus condemns no one. On the other hand, Jesus invites us to live in certain ways and presumes that we understand that only certain ways of living bring true life to us. When Jesus promises us rest in Him, He does not promise us a long life, lots of riches, all kinds of pleasures, etc. Instead, Jesus is clear that the way to a full and complete life is through the cross. His yoke is easy and His burden is light only if we are willing to walk with him through suffering and death to life.
The Gospel is not always an acceptable way to live. Yet, once we embrace Jesus and begin to walk with Him, we do find that the cross is easy to bear because He is with us. Being yoked to Him makes all things possible.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip
From the second book of Samuel
David is anointed in Hebron as king of Judah
David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into one of the cities of Judah?”
The Lord replied to him, “Yes.” Then David asked, “Where shall I go?” He
replied, “To Hebron.” So David went up there accompanied by his two wives,
Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David also
brought up his men with their families, and they dwelt in the cities near
Hebron. Then the men of Judah came there and anointed David king of the
Judahites. David is anointed in Hebron as king of Judah
A report reached David that the men of Jabesh-gilead had buried Saul. So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them: “May you be blessed by the Lord for having done this kindness to your lord Saul in burying him. And now may the Lord be kind and faithful to you. I, too, will be generous to you for having done this. Take courage, therefore, and prove yourselves valiant men, for though your lord Saul is dead, the Judahites have anointed me their king.”
Abner, son of Ner, Saul’s general, took Ishbaal, son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim, where he made him king over Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and the rest of Israel. Ishbaal, son of Saul, was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned for two years. The Judahites alone followed David. In all, David spent seven years and six months in Hebron as king of the Judahites.
There followed a long war between the house of Saul and that of David, in which David grew stronger, but the house of Saul weaker.
Sons were born to David in Hebron: his first-born, Amnon, of Ahinoam from Jezreel; the second, Chileab, of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; the third, Absalom, son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah, son of Abital; and the sixth, Ithream, of David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.
RESPONSORY Genesis 49:10,8
The royal scepter shall not pass from Judah,
nor the kingly mace from between his feet.
— until the coming of the one I have promised you; he will be the desire of the nations.
Your brothers shall praise you;
your father’s sons shall bow down in worship before you.
— Until the coming of the one I have promised you; he will be the desire of the nations.
Second reading
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop
If I wanted to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop
If I wanted to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ
My brothers, we do not seek, nor should we seek, our own glory even among those whose approval we desire. What we should seek is their salvation, so that if we walk as we should they will not go astray in following us. They should imitate us if we are imitators of Christ; and if we are not, they should still imitate him. He cares for his flock, and he alone is to be found with those who care for their flocks, because they are all in him.
And so we seek no advantage for ourselves when we aim to please men. We want to take our joy in men – and we rejoice when they take pleasure in what is good, not because this exalts us, but because it benefits them.
It is clear who is intended by the apostle Paul: If I wanted to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. And similarly when he says: Be pleasing to all men in all things, even as I in all things please all men. Yet his words are as clear as water, limpid, undisturbed, unclouded. And so you should, as sheep, feed on and drink of his message; do not trample on it or stir it up.
You have listened to our Lord Jesus Christ as he taught his apostles: Let your actions shine before men so that they may see your good deeds, and give glory to your Father who is in heaven, for it is the Father who made you thus. We are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hands. If then you are good, praise is due to him who made you so; it is no credit to you, for if you were left to yourself, you could only be wicked. Why then do you try to pervert the truth, in wishing to be praised when you do good, and blaming God when you do evil? For though he said: Let your works shine before men, in the same Sermon on the Mount he also said: Do not parade your good deeds before men. So if you think there are contradictions in Saint Paul, you will find the same in the Gospels; but if you refrain from troubling the waters of your heart, you will recognize here the peace of the Scriptures and with it you will have peace.
And so, my brothers, our concern should be not only to live as we ought, but also to do so in the sight of men; not only to have a good conscience but also, so far as we can in our weakness, so far as we can govern our frailty, to do nothing which might lead our weak brother into thinking evil of us. Otherwise, as we feed on the good pasture and drink the pure water, we may trample on God’s meadow, and weaker sheep will have to feed on trampled grass and drink from troubled waters.
From the second book of Samuel
4:2-5:7
David is king over Israel; he captures Jerusalem
Ishbaal, son of Saul, had two company leaders named Baanah and Rechab, sons
of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the tribe of Benjamin. [Beeroth, too, was ascribed
to Benjamin: the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, where they have been resident
aliens to this day. Jonathan, son of Saul, had a son named Meribbaal with
crippled feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came
from Jezreel, and his nurse took him up and fled. But in their hasty flight, he
fell and became lame.] 4:2-5:7
David is king over Israel; he captures Jerusalem
The sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, came into the house of Ishbaal during the heat of the day, while he was taking his siesta. The portress of the house had dozed off while sifting wheat, and was asleep. So Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped past and entered the house while Ishbaal was lying asleep in his bedroom. They struck and killed him, and cut off his head. Then, taking the head, they traveled on the Arabah road all night long.
They brought the head of Ishbaal to David in Hebron and said to the king: “This is the head of Ishbaal, son of your enemy Saul, who sought your life. Thus has the Lord this day avenged my Lord the king on Saul and his posterity.” But David replied to Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite: “As the Lord lives, who rescued me from all difficulty, in Ziklag I seized and put to death the man who informed me of Saul’s death, thinking himself the bearer of good news for which I ought to give him a reward. How much more now, when wicked men have slain an innocent man in bed at home, must I hold you responsible for his death and destroy you from the earth!” So at a command from David, the young men killed them and cut off their hands and feet, hanging them up near the pool in Hebron. But he took the head of Ishbaal and buried it in Abner’s grave in Hebron.
All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said: “Here we are, your bone and your flesh. In days past, when Saul was our king, it was you who led the Israelites out and brought them back. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.'” When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron, King David made an agreement with them there before the Lord, and they anointed him king of Israel. David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years: seven years and six months in Hebron over Judah, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah.
Then the king and his men set out for Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the region. David was told, “You cannot enter here: the blind and the lame will drive you away!” which was their way of saying, “David cannot enter here.” But David did take the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David.
RESPONSORY Psalm 2:2, 6, 1
The kings of the earth rise up in revolt,
and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his anointed.
— I have enthroned my king on Zion, my holy mountain.
Why do the nations rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
— I have enthroned my king on Zion, my holy mountain.
Second reading
From the book Way of Perfection by Saint Teresa of Avila, virgin
Your kingdom come
When asking a favor of some person of importance would anyone be so
ill-mannered and thoughtless as not first to consider how best to address him
in order to make a good impression and give him no cause for offense? Surely he
would think over his petition carefully and his reason for making it,
especially if it were something specific and important as our good Jesus tells
us our petitions should be. It seems to me that this point deserves serious
attention. My Lord, could you not have included all in one word saying:
“Father, give us whatever is good for us?” After all, to one who understands
everything so perfectly, what need is there to say more?From the book Way of Perfection by Saint Teresa of Avila, virgin
Your kingdom come
O Eternal Wisdom, between you and your Father that was enough; that was how you prayed in the garden. You expressed your desire and fear but surrendered yourself to his will. But as for us, my Lord, you know that we are less submissive to the will of your Father and need to mention each thing separately in order to stop and think whether it would be good for us, and otherwise not ask for it. You see, the gift our Lord intends for us may be by far the best, but if it is not what we wanted we are quite capable of flinging it back in his face. That is the kind of people we are; ready cash is the only wealth we understand.
Therefore, the good Jesus bids us repeat these words, this prayer for his kingdom to come in us: Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. See how wise our Master is! But what do we mean when we pray for this kingdom? That is what I am going to consider now, for it is important that we should understand it. Our good Jesus placed these two petitions side by side because he realized that in our inadequacy we could never fittingly hallow, praise, exalt or glorify this holy name of the eternal Father unless he enabled us to do so by giving us his kingdom here on earth. But since we must know what we are asking for and how important it is to pray for it without ceasing and to do everything in our power to please him who is to give it to us, I should now like to give you my own thoughts on the matter.
Of the many joys that are found in the kingdom of heaven, the greatest seems to me to be the sense of tranquillity and well-being that we shall experience when we are free from all concern for earthly things. Glad because others are glad and for ever at peace, we shall have the deep satisfaction of seeing that by all creatures the Lord is honored and praised, and his name blessed. No one ever offends him, for there everyone loves him. Loving him is the soul’s one concern. Indeed it cannot help but love him, for it knows him. Here below our love must necessarily fall short of that perfection and constancy, but even so how different it would be, how much more like that of heaven, if we really knew our Lord!
From the second book of Samuel
6:1-23
The ark of the covenant is brought to Jerusalem
David again assembled all the picked men of Israel, thirty thousand in
number. Then David and all the people who were with him set out for Baala of
Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which bears the name of the Lord
of hosts enthroned above the cherubim. The ark of God was placed on a new cart
and taken away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of
Abinadab, guided the cart, with Ahio walking before it, while David and all the
Israelites made merry before the Lord with all their strength, with singing and
with citharas, harps, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.6:1-23
The ark of the covenant is brought to Jerusalem
When they came to the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and steadied it, for the oxen were making it tip. But the Lord was angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died there before God. David was disturbed because the Lord had vented his anger on Uzzah. (The place has been called Perez-uzzah down to the present day.) David feared the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” So David would not have the ark of the Lord brought to him in the City of David, but diverted it to the house of Obededom the Gittite.
The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obededom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed Obededom and his whole house. When it was reported to King David that the Lord had blessed the family of Obededom and all that belonged to him, David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the City of David amid festivities. As soon as the bearers of the ark of the Lord had advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. Then David, girt with a linen apron, came dancing before the Lord with abandon, as he and all the Israelites were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn. As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.
The ark of the Lord was brought in and set in its place within the tent David had pitched for it. Then David offered holocausts and peace offerings before the Lord. When he finished making these offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. He then distributed among all the people, to each man and each woman in the entire multitude of Israel, a loaf of bread, a cut of roast meat, and a raisin cake. With this, all the people left for their homes.
When David returned to bless his own family, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has honored himself today, exposing himself to the view of the slave girls of his followers, as a commoner might do!” But David replied to Michal: “I was dancing before the Lord. As the Lord lives, who preferred me to your father and his whole family when he appointed me commander of the Lord’s people, Israel, not only will I make merry before the Lord, but I will demean myself even more. I will be lowly in your esteem, but in the esteem of the slave girls you spoke of I will be honored.” And so Saul’s daughter Michal was childless to the day of her death.
RESPONSORY See Psalm 132:8, 9; Psalm 24:7, 9
Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your power.
— May your priests be clothed with virtue and may your saints shout for joy.
Lift up your heads, O gates! Rise up, you ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in.
— May your priests be clothed with virtue and may your saints shout for joy.
Second reading
From a sermon on psalm forty-one addressed to the newly baptized by Saint Jerome, priest
From a sermon on psalm forty-one addressed to the newly baptized by Saint Jerome, priest
I will enter God’s marvelous dwelling place
These are the waters that the heart of the believer longs for, these are the waters that the heart of the newly baptized yearns for when he says: My heart thirsts for God, the living fountain. This is not a weak, faint desire to see God; rather the newly baptized actually burn with desire and thirst for God. Before they received baptism, they used to ask one another: When shall I go and see the face of God? Now their quest has been answered. They have come forward and they stand in the presence of God. They have come before the altar and have looked upon the mystery of the Savior.
Having received the body of Christ, and being reborn in the life-giving waters, they speak up boldly and say: I shall go into God’s marvelous dwelling place, his house. The house of God is the Church, his marvelous dwelling place, filled with joyful voices giving thanks and praise, filled with all the sounds of festive celebration.
This is the way you should speak, you newly baptized, for you have now put on Christ. Under our guidance, by the word of God you have been lifted out of the dangerous waters of this world like so many little fish. In us the nature of things has been changed. Fish taken out of the sea die; but the apostles have fished for us and have taken us out of the sea of this world so we could be brought from death to life. As long as we were in the world, our eyes looked down into the abyss and we lived in filth. After we were rescued from the waves, we began to look upon the sun and look up at the true light. Confused in the presence of so much joy, we say: Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, in the presence of my savior and my God.
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