January 28, 2020 Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church

2020년 1월 28일 연중 제3주간 화요일

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

제1독서

 사무엘기 하. 6,12ㄴ-15.17-19
그 무렵 12 다윗은 기뻐하며 오벳 에돔의 집에서 다윗 성으로
하느님의 궤를 모시고 올라갔다.
13 주님의 궤를 멘 이들이 여섯 걸음을 옮기자,
다윗은 황소와 살진 송아지를 제물로 바쳤다.
14 다윗은 아마포 에폿을 입고,
온 힘을 다하여 주님 앞에서 춤을 추었다.
15 다윗과 온 이스라엘 집안은 함성을 올리고 나팔을 불며,

주님의 궤를 모시고 올라갔다.
17 그들은 다윗이 미리 쳐 둔 천막 안 제자리에 주님의 궤를 옮겨 놓았다.
그러고 나서 다윗은 주님 앞에 번제물과 친교 제물을 바쳤다.
18 다윗은 번제물과 친교 제물을 다 바친 다음에
만군의 주님의 이름으로 백성에게 축복하였다.
19 그는 온 백성에게, 남녀를 가리지 않고 이스라엘 모든 군중에게
빵 과자 하나와 대추야자 과자 하나,
그리고 건포도 과자 한 뭉치씩을 나누어 주었다.
그 뒤 온 백성은 저마다 자기 집으로 돌아갔다.

 

복음

 마르코. 3,31-35
31 그때에 예수님의 어머니와 형제들이 왔다.
그들은 밖에 서서 사람을 보내어 예수님을 불렀다.
32 그분 둘레에는 군중이 앉아 있었는데,
사람들이 예수님께 “보십시오, 스승님의 어머님과 형제들과 누이들이
밖에서 스승님을 찾고 계십니다.” 하고 말하였다.
33 그러자예수님께서그들에게, “누가내어머니고내형제들이냐?” 하고반문하셨다.
34 그리고 당신 주위에 앉은 사람들을 둘러보시며 이르셨다.
“이들이 내 어머니고 내 형제들이다.
35 하느님의 뜻을 실행하는 사람이 바로 내 형제요 누이요 어머니다.”

January 28, 2020

Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church

Daily Readings — Audio

Daily Reflections — Video

http://www.usccb.org/bible/ 

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

Reading 1 

2 Sm 6:12b-15, 17-19

David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom
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 house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD
with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn.
The ark of the LORD was brought in and set in its place
within the tent David had pitched for it.
Then David offered burnt offerings 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.

Responsorial Psalm

 Ps 24:7, 8, 9, 10

R. (8) Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in!
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Who is this king of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle.
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in!
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Who is this king of glory?
The LORD of hosts; he is the king of glory.
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!

Gospel

 Mk 3:31-35

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
"Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you."
But he said to them in reply,
"Who are my mother and my brothers?"
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
"Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God

is my brother and sister and mother."

http://evangeli.net/gospel/tomorrow

 «Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to me»

Fr. Josep GASSÓ i Lécera
(Ripollet, Barcelona, Spain)

Today, we find Jesus surrounded by a crowd of people in both a very concrete and compromising scene. Jesus' closer relatives had arrived from Nazareth and Caphernaum. But, seeing so many people around, they chose to wait outside and send for him instead. The crowd tells him: «Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you. He replied, «Who are my mother and my brothers?» (Mk 3:31).

Jesus' answer is by no means a rejection towards his relatives. Jesus just moved away from them to follow the divine call and now, He also means that, intimately, He has given them up too: not because of lack of feelings or scorn of his family ties, but because He completely belongs to God the Father. Jesus Christ actually lived what He precisely expects from his disciples.

Jesus has chosen a spiritual family instead of his earthly one. He looks over the heads of those sitting next to him and says: «Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to me» (Mk 3:34-35). In other places of his Gospel, Saint Mark mentions Jesus glancing around too.

Is Jesus trying to tell us his only relatives are those who listen to him attentively? Of course not! His relatives are not those who listen to him but those who listen to and abide by God's will: it is those who are his brother, his sister, his mother...

Jesus is exhorting those sitting there —and everybody else— to enter their hearts in spiritual communion with him by abiding with the Divine Will. At the same time, however, He also praises his mother, the Virgin Mary, who is always blessed for having believed.

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

 

The Feast or Memorial of Thomas Aquinas, the “Angelic Doctor” of the Church had been set on March 7 for centuries.  With the renewal of the Liturgical Year following Vatican II, however, Thomas’ memorial for the Universal Church was moved to January 28 to keep it out of the Lenten Season. The Dominican Order continues to celebrate his memory on March 7. 

The Memorial of St. Thomas, allows special readings from the lectionary of the saints or the readings of the daily lectionary of ordinary time of the Church year.  The latter readings from Second Samuel and the Gospel of Mark fit remarkably well with any meditation on Thomas’ life.

The reading from Second Samuel focuses on the sacrifices of Thanksgiving which David offered to honor the Will of God made present in the manna (bread) that fed the Israelites in the desert. The sacrifices David offered as King were consumed by the people to make them capable of doing God’s will in their own time.

Christians understand a “sacrifice” to be a donation of one’s life (symbolically given) on behalf of praising God and accomplishing the work of God’s Kingdom.  Thomas’s gift of his intellectual life for the sake of the work of the Church of the 13th Century was remarkably effective because so humbly and completely given.

Thomas offered his whole life, his work, his insights – everything as a sacrifice of Thanksgiving, and his offering was accepted and transformed by God into a means of enabling humans to realize that God created our human gifts, especially reason, to be used in God’s service.  While his life and scholarship were time-bound, the methods he used and way he integrated multiple strands of thought into brilliant intercultural insight seems contemporary. 

When I reflect on Thomas’ scholarship, what stuns me about him is that his brilliant scholarship was accomplished on different topics at the same time to honor requests of Popes and Kings as well as his own superiors in the Dominican Order or dictated by the needs of the times.   On his regular work day, he would dictate, his insights and conclusions a paragraph or two each, for 3 or 4 books at a time on different topics, while he paced back and forth. He never seemed to lose his thought or his place in any of these different projects while he attended to another project.  His ability to read and translate several languages, and to serve as a spiritual director and school administrator while he was doing this scholarly work is simply astounding.  In our culture today, so fond of multi-tasking, I have not heard of anyone capable of these feats of intellectual focus and prowess.

While Thomas is often honored for his work with the writings of other brilliant philosophical and theological scholars, true to his Dominican heritage, Thomas was completely enamored of the Scriptural word.  Today’s Gospel from Mark places him squarely in the family of Jesus who announces that his mother and brothers and sisters are to be understood to be all those who hear the Will of God and do it with their whole hearts.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus says that the Father’s Will is his Bread to eat, so those who live out God’s Will become Bread for the world in multiple ways.  Thomas’s memorial neatly ties the readings together because Thomas’ offering of his gifts serves as bread or food for the intellect and the heart as David’s did in his sacrifice before the ark.   The Angelic Doctor’s writings feed our understanding and our desire to hear and follow Jesus as Thomas himself did.

 This is an offering fit for university scholars and a feast that a whole University can celebrate! 
“Blessed are you, O Lord, who have revealed the mysteries of the Kingdom to the little ones.”

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

THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

"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." �2 Samuel 6:17-18

When David brought the ark of God into Jerusalem, the people were blessed, and they continued to live in this best of blessings, for the Lord was in their midst in the most special way. In the new covenant, we have the fulfillment of the ark of God in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is not only the best of blessings but also the Blesser, God Himself. In the Eucharist, we have the most powerful, intimate presence of the Lord on the face of the earth. The Eucharist is a foretaste of heaven, for the Eucharist is Jesus, Who is God. By centering our lives on the Eucharist, we live lives of ultimate blessing. We move from grace to grace (Jn 1:16, RNAB) and from glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18). The blessing from the Eucharist is so awesome that we live in our Eucharistic Lord and He in us (Jn 6:56), for we eat His Flesh and drink His Blood when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion (Jn 6:53ff). The Eucharist is Life Himself (see Jn 14:6; 6:35). So those who live for their Eucharistic Lord are raised from the dead and live forever (Jn 6:54). Live for and in the Eucharist. Live in the Eucharistic blessing of abundant and eternal life.

Prayer: Father, use this book to lead many thousands to live the Mass daily.

Promise: "Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to Me." —Mk 3:35

Praise: Since the Thirteenth Century, Roman Catholic theology has been shaped and formed by St. Thomas. In fact, he is known as both the "Angelic Doctor" and "Prince of Catholic Theologians." St. Thomas wrote songs exalting the Eucharist.

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

 "Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister"

Who do you love and cherish the most? God did not intend for us to be alone, but to be with others. He gives us many opportunities for developing relationships with family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Why did Jesus, on this occasion, seem to ignore his own relatives when they pressed to see him? His love and respect for his mother and his relatives was unquestionable. Jesus never lost an opportunity to teach his disciples a spiritual lesson and truth about the kingdom of God. on this occasion when many gathered to hear Jesus he pointed to another higher reality of relationships, namely our relationship with God and with those who belong to God.

What kind of relationship does God want with us?
What is the essence of being a Christian? It is certainly more than doctrine, precepts, and commandments. It is first and foremost a relationship - a relationship of trust, affection, commitment, loyalty, faithfulness, kindness, thoughtfulness, compassion, mercy, helpfulness, encouragement, support, strength, protection, and so many other qualities that bind people together in mutual love and unity. God offers us the greatest of relationships - union of heart, mind, and spirit with himself, the very author and source of love (1 John 4:8,16).

What is the true nature of God's love?
God's love never fails, never forgets, never compromises, never lies, never lets us down nor disappoints us. His love is consistent, unwavering, unconditional, and unstoppable. We may choose to separate ourselves from him, but nothing will make him ignore us, leave us, or treat us unkindly. He will pursue us, love us, and call us to return to him no matter what might stand in the way. It is his nature to love. That is why he created us - to be united with him and to share in his love and unity of persons (1 John 3:1). God is a trinity of persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and a community of love. That is why Jesus challenged his followers and even his own earthly relatives to recognize that God is the true source of all relationships. God wants all of our relationships to be rooted in his love.

The Lord Jesus offers each one of us a personal relationship with himself
Jesus is God's love incarnate - God's love made visible in human flesh (1 John 4:9-10). That is why Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep and the shepherd who seeks out the sheep who have strayed and lost their way. God is like the father who yearns for his prodigal son to return home and then throws a great party for his son when he has a change of heart and comes back (Luke 15:11-32). Jesus offered up his life on the cross for our sake, so that we could be forgiven and restored to unity and friendship with God. It is through Jesus that we become the adopted children of God - his own sons and daughters. That is why Jesus told his disciples that they would have many new friends and family relationships in his kingdom. Whoever does the will of God is a friend of God and a member of his family - his sons and daughters who have been ransomed by the precious blood of Christ.

The Lord wants to transform all of our relationships so we can love as he loves
An early Christian martyr once said that "a Christian's only relatives are the saints" - namely those who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and adopted as sons and daughters of God. Those who have been baptized into Jesus Christ and who live as his disciples enter into a new family, a family of "saints" here on earth and in heaven. Jesus changes the order of relationships and shows that true kinship is not just a matter of flesh and blood. Our adoption as sons and daughters of God transforms all of our relationships and requires a new order of loyalty to God first and to his kingdom of righteousness and peace. Do you want to grow in love and friendship? Allow God's Holy Spirit to transform your heart, mind, and will to enable you to love freely and generously as he loves.

"Heavenly Father, you are the source of all true friendship and love. In all my relationships, may your love be my constant guide for choosing what is good and for rejecting what is contrary to your will."

Psalm 24:7-10

7 Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors!  that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is the King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!
9 Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors!  that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory!

Daily Quote from the early church fathers: The cross of Christ as victory, by Augustine of Hippo, 430-543 A.D.

"[Mary] did the Father's will. It was this in her that the Lord magnified, not merely that her flesh gave birth to flesh... When he said, 'Blessed are they who hear the Word of God and keep it' (Luke 11:28), he was in effect saying: 'My mother whom you have called blessed is blessed for the reason that she keeps the Word of God, not that the Word was made flesh in her and dwelt among us (John 1:14), but that she keeps the very Word of God through which she was made and which was made flesh in her." (excerpt from TRACTATE on JOHN 10.3.2)

  

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