Sunday, October 26, 2014: (THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME) Readings for today: Exodus 22:20-26 / 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10 / Matthew 22:34-40:
Readings from: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102614.cfm (Pics from elsewhere on the internet)
Reading 1 - A reading from the book of Exodus (Exodus 22:20-26):
Thus says the LORD:
"You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,
I will surely hear their cry.
My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;
then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.
"If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people,
you shall not act like an extortioner toward him
by demanding interest from him.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge,
you shall return it to him before sunset;
for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body.
What else has he to sleep in?
If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."
Responsorial Psalm - (Psalm "I love you, Lord, my strength"):
Video From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuJkFdQeno8
Lyrics From: http://oddwalkministries.com/oddblog/lyrics-audio/walk-away-different-lyrics-audio/i-love-you-lord-my-strength-ps-18/
Words and Music by Shannon Cerneka
Re: I love you Lord, I love you Lord, I love you Lord my strength.
1. I love you, O Lord my strength,
O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
Re: I love you Lord, I love you Lord, I love you Lord my strength.
2. My God, my rock, my refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the Lord, I exclaim, and I am safe from my enemies.
Re: I love you Lord, I love you Lord, I love you Lord my strength.
3. The Lord lives and blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great vict’ries to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed
Re: I love you Lord, I love you Lord, I love you Lord my strength.
© 2008, GIA Publications, Inc.
Reading 2 - A reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10):
Brothers and sisters:
You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake.
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord,
receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit,
so that you became a model for all the believers
in Macedonia and in Achaia.
For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth
not only in Macedonia and in Achaia,
but in every place your faith in God has gone forth,
so that we have no need to say anything.
For they themselves openly declare about us
what sort of reception we had among you,
and how you turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God
and to await his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead,
Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
Gospel - A reading from the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew (Matthew 22:34-40):
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him by asking,
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
He said to him,
"You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
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10/26/2014 - St. Alphonsus Rodriguez (Feast Day: October 30) (1533-1617): I relate to this saint. Rather than lose 3 beloved family member in 3 years, I lost 3 dogs in one year; business was poor for him...my finances struggle; he learned the discipline of prayer and meditation, as I have; often encountered difficulties and temptations, check; however, I can only hope to one day cope with feeling God is distant, and deal with other difficulties by reaching out to other hurting people, and not withdrawing into a shell of self-pity or bitterness. This saint had the grace to do the opposite of what I'd do.
From: http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1184&calendar=1
October 30
St. Alphonsus Rodriguez
(c. 1533-1617)
Tragedy and challenge beset today’s saint early in life, but Alphonsus Rodriguez found happiness and contentment through simple service and prayer.
Born in Spain in 1533, Alphonsus inherited the family textile business at 23. Within the space of three years, his wife, daughter and mother died; meanwhile, business was poor. Alphonsus stepped back and reassessed his life. He sold the business and, with his young son, moved into his sisters’ home. There he learned the discipline of prayer and meditation.
Years later, at the death of his son, Alphonsus, almost 40 by then, sought to join the Jesuits. He was not helped by his poor education. He applied twice before being admitted. For 45 years he served as doorkeeper at the Jesuits’ college in Majorca. When not at his post, he was almost always at prayer, though he often encountered difficulties and temptations.
His holiness and prayerfulness attracted many to him, including St. Peter Claver, then a Jesuit seminarian. Alphonsus’s life as doorkeeper may have been humdrum, but he caught the attention of poet and fellow-Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins, who made him the subject of one of his poems.
Alphonsus died in 1617. He is the patron saint of Majorca.
Comment:
We like to think that God rewards the good even in this life. But Alphonsus knew business losses, painful bereavement and periods when God seemed very distant. None of his suffering made him withdraw into a shell of self-pity or bitterness. Rather, he reached out to others who lived with pain, including enslaved blacks. Among the many notables at his funeral were the sick and poor people whose lives he had touched. May they find such a friend in us!