August 10, 2019 Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr

2019년 8월 10일 성 라우렌시오 부제 순교자 축일

오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp 

제1독서

 코린토 2서. 9,6-10
형제 여러분, 6 요점은 이렇습니다. 적게 뿌리는 이는 적게 거두어들이고 많이 뿌리는 이는 많이 거두어들입니다. 7 저마다 마음에 작정한 대로 해야지, 마지못해 하거나 억지로 해서는 안 됩니다.
하느님께서는 기쁘게 주는 이를 사랑하십니다.
8 하느님께서는 여러분에게 모든 은총을 넘치게 주실 수 있습니다. 그리하여 여러분은 언제나 모든 면에서 모든 것을 넉넉히 가져 온갖 선행을 넘치도록 할 수 있게 됩니다. 9 이는 성경에 기록된 그대로입니다. “그가 가난한 이들에게 아낌없이 내주니 그의 의로움이 영원히 존속하리라.”
10 씨 뿌리는 사람에게 씨앗과 먹을 양식을 마련해 주시는 분께서 여러분에게도 씨앗을 마련해 주실 뿐만 아니라 그것을 여러 곱절로 늘려 주시고, 또 여러분이 실천하는 의로움의 열매도 늘려 주실 것입니다. 

 

복음

요한. 12,24-26
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
24 “내가 진실로 진실로 너희에게 말한다. 밀알 하나가 땅에 떨어져 죽지 않으면 한 알 그대로 남고, 죽으면 많은 열매를 맺는다. 25 자기 목숨을 사랑하는 사람은 목숨을 잃을 것이고, 이 세상에서 자기 목숨을 미워하는 사람은 영원한 생명에 이르도록 목숨을 간직할 것이다.
26 누구든지 나를 섬기려면 나를 따라야 한다. 내가 있는 곳에 나를 섬기는 사람도 함께 있을 것이다. 누구든지 나를 섬기면 아버지께서 그를 존중해 주실 것이다.”

August 10, 2019

Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr

Daily Readings — Audio

Daily Reflections — Video

http://www.usccb.org/bible/ 

Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass 

Reading 1

2 Cor 9:6-10
Brothers and sisters:
Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly,
and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver.
Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you,
so that in all things, always having all you need,
you may have an abundance for every good work.
As it is written:

He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.

The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food
will supply and multiply your seed
and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

 

Responsorial Psalm

112:1-2, 5-6, 7-8, 9

R. (5) Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
Blessed the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commands.
His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;
the upright generation shall be blessed.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
Well for the man who is gracious and lends,
who conducts his affairs with justice;
He shall never be moved;
the just one shall be in everlasting remembrance.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
An evil report he shall not fear;
his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is steadfast; he shall not fear
till he looks down upon his foes.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
Lavishly he gives to the poor, 
his generosity shall endure forever;
his horn shall be exalted in glory.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.

 

Gospel

Jn 12:24-26

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.

The Father will honor whoever serves me.”

http://evangeli.net/gospel/tomorrow

 

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

 

Lying in bed one night recently reviewing our day together, my wife read me a quote she had come across.  It went something like this:  “The central problem is not that you think too highly of yourself.  Nor is it that you think too lowly of yourself.  Instead, it is that you think constantly of yourself.”  (Wu-Hsin)  In one simple ｅxpression, the words articulated a challenge I find myself facing every day (not to mention every hour!) -- management of the ego.  I am not a psychologist, so I won’t attempt to describe the textures and contours of the ego and how it functions; but as a student of the human experience, I have had more than enough time to study and observe this very real part of my human condition.  Not only this, but I have found that the tug-of-war match between listening to my ego and listening to God or my heart is constantly going on...and it is exhausting!

Thankfully, spiritual teachers and mystics provide clear, and sometimes quippy, directives on how to let go of the taut rope so the ego goes stumbling out of the picture in order to direct my gaze fully toward God.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus wraps this message in a metaphor that surely would have made even more sense to his contemporaries living in an agrarian culture than it does to us urbanites today:

Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; 
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.  (JN 12:24)

When the ego is in charge, death or surrender or even abounding generosity feel threatening.  The ego much prefers fear, anxiety and control.  Our consumerist, capitalist culture has certainly made heaps of profit on this!  The message goes something like, “Wear/buy/eat/drive this (fill in the blank) and you will be happier!”  Jesus is completely flipping this on its head when he tells us that abundance comes not from control or consumption, but from letting go and allowing ourselves to be consumed (by God’s love).

The sufi mystic Rabi’a al-Basri said something similar to Jesus in the 8th century…

Ironic, but one of the most intimate acts
of our body is
death.

So beautiful appeared my death -- knowing who then I would kiss,
I died a thousand times before I died.

“Die before you die,” said the Prophet Muhammad.

Have wings that feared ever 
touched the sun?

I was born when all I once feared -- I could love.

She is saying in an equally poetic and powerful way what Jesus is saying.  “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.”  (JN 12:25)  

Alas, the tug-of-war match goes on.  That said, I continue relying on practices of Centering Prayer, a devotion to the Sacred Heart, deeply listening to the human in front of me, and being for and with others as tangible ways to resist the temptation to frustratingly flail at the other end of the ego’s rope so that, instead, I might free fall into the deep end of God’s radiance.

 http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp

SOW SO

"God can multiply His favors among you." �2 Corinthians 9:8

August is an expensive month. Vacations, picnics, entertainment, air conditioners, and school clothes don't come free. As we start to see the summer passing, many people feel so empty they try one more summer fling. And, of course, flings cost money. When we see our money ending before our summer ends, we try to cut corners. Usually we give God, His Church, and His work very little or nothing, and spend our money amusing ourselves. Consequently, most ministries, including this one, wonder each year if they'll survive the summer. God's Word tells us what to do in the summer crunch. It says: "He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. Everyone must give according to what he has inwardly decided; not sadly, not grudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9:6-7). Now is the time to take our little money and sow it for God's kingdom. "He will multiply the seed you sow and increase your generous yield" (2 Cor 9:10). If we expect a bountiful harvest, we must sow bountifully.

Prayer: Father, may it take faith to give what I give to Your kingdom.

Promise: "I solemnly assure you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit." —Jn 12:24

Praise: St. Lawrence, a deacon, exemplified courage as a martyr. Tradition tells us he was roasted to death on a gridiron. He taught that the sick, crippled, impoverished, and poor were the treasures of the Church.

 http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/

 "If it dies, it bears much fruit"

What can a grain of wheat tell us about life and the kingdom of God?  Jesus drew his parables from the common everyday circumstances of life. His audience, mostly rural folk in Palestine, could easily understand the principle of new life produced by dead seeds sown into the earth. What is the spiritual analogy which Jesus alludes to? Is this, perhaps, a veiled reference to his own impending death on the cross and his resurrection on the third day? Or does he have another kind of "death and rebirth" in mind for his disciples? Jesus, no doubt, had both meanings in mind for his disciples.

The image of the grain of wheat dying in the earth in order to grow and bear a harvest can be seen as a metaphor of Jesus' own death and burial in the tomb and his resurrection. Jesus knew that the only way to victory over the power of sin and death was through the cross. Jesus reversed the curse of our first parents' [Adam and Eve] disobedience through his obedience to the Father's will - his willingness to go to the cross to pay the just penalty for our sins and to defeat death once and for all. His obedience and death on the cross obtain for us freedom and new life in the Holy Spirit. His cross frees us from the tyranny of sin and death and shows us the way of perfect love. There is a great paradox here. Death leads to life. When we "die" to our selves, we "rise" to new life in Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to "die" to oneself? It certainly means that what is contrary to God's will must be "crucified" or "put to death". God gives us grace to say "yes" to his will and to reject whatever is contrary to his loving plan for our lives. Jesus also promises that we will bear much "fruit" for him, if we choose to deny ourselves for his sake. Jesus used forceful language to describe the kind of self-denial he had in mind for his disciples.

What did he mean when he said that one must hate himself?  The ｅxpression to hate something often meant to prefer less. Jesus says that nothing should get in the way of our preferring him and the will of our Father in heaven.  Our hope is in Paul's reminder that "What is sown in the earth is subject to decay, what rises is incorruptible" (1 Corinthians 15:42). Do you hope in the Lord and follow joyfully the path he has chosen for you?

"Lord Jesus, let me be wheat sown in the earth, to be harvested for you. I want to follow wherever you lead me. Give me fresh hope and joy in serving you all the days of my life."

Psalm 112:1-2,5-9

1 Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!
2 His descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
5 It is well with the man who deals generously and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice.
6 For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered for ever.
7 He is not afraid of evil tidings; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.
8 His heart is steady, he will not be afraid, until he sees his desire on his adversaries.
9 He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever;  his horn is exalted in honor.

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: The seed must die before being resurrected, by Irenaeus, 135-202 A.D.

"A cutting from the vine planted in the ground bears fruit in its season, or a kernel of wheat falling into the earth and becoming decomposed rises and is multiplied by the Spirit of God, who contains all things. And then, through the wisdom of God, it serves for our use when, after receiving the Word of God, it becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ. In the same way our bodies, being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time. The Word of God grants them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to this corruptible incorruption (1 Corinthians 15:53). This is so because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness (1 Corinthians 15:43; 2 Corinthians 13:4) in order that we may never become puffed up, as if we had life from ourselves, or become exalted against God with ungrateful minds." (excerpt from AGAINST HERESIES 5.2.3)

  

More Homilies

 August 10, 2017 Feast of Saint Lawrence, deacon and martyr