2020년 10월 14일 연중 제28주간 수요일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
제1독서
갈라티아서.5,18-25
형제 여러분,
18 여러분이 성령의 인도를 받으면 율법 아래 있는 것이 아닙니다.
19 육의 행실은 자명합니다.
그것은 곧 불륜, 더러움, 방탕,
20 우상 숭배, 마술, 적개심, 분쟁, 시기, 격분, 이기심, 분열, 분파,
21 질투, 만취, 흥청대는 술판, 그 밖에 이와 비슷한 것들입니다.
내가 여러분에게 이미 경고한 그대로 이제 다시 경고합니다.
이런 짓을 저지르는 자들은
하느님의 나라를 차지하지 못할 것입니다.
22 그러나 성령의 열매는 사랑, 기쁨, 평화, 인내, 호의, 선의, 성실,
23 온유, 절제입니다.
이러한 것들을 막는 법은 없습니다.
24 그리스도 예수님께 속한 이들은 자기 육을
그 욕정과 욕망과 함께 십자가에 못 박았습니다.
25 우리는 성령으로 사는 사람들이므로 성령을 따라갑시다.
복음
루카 11,42-46
그때에 주님께서 말씀하셨다.
42 “불행하여라, 너희 바리사이들아!
너희가 박하와 운향과 모든 채소는 십일조를 내면서,
의로움과 하느님 사랑은 아랑곳하지 않기 때문이다.
그러한 십일조도 소홀히 해서는 안 되지만,
바로 이러한 것들을 실천해야 한다.
43 불행하여라, 너희 바리사이들아!
너희가 회당에서는 윗자리를 좋아하고
장터에서는 인사받기를 좋아하기 때문이다.
44 너희는 불행하여라!
너희가 드러나지 않는 무덤과 같기 때문이다.
사람들이 그 위를 밟고 다니면서도 무덤인 줄을 알지 못한다.”
45 율법 교사 가운데 어떤 사람이 예수님께,
“스승님, 그렇게 말씀하시면
저희까지 모욕하시는 것입니다.” 하고 말하였다.
46 그러자 예수님께서 이르셨다.
“너희 율법 교사들도 불행하여라!
너희가 힘겨운 짐을 사람들에게 지워 놓고,
너희 자신들은 그 짐에 손가락 하나 대려고 하지 않기 때문이다.”
October 14, 2020
Wednesday of the Twenty-eight Week in Ordinary Time
Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass
Reading 1
Brothers and sisters:
If you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious:
immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry,
sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy,
outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness,
dissensions, factions, occasions of envy,
drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Against such there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh
with its passions and desires.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (see Jn 8:12) Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.
Gospel
The Lord said:
“Woe to you Pharisees!
You pay tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb,
but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God.
These you should have done, without overlooking the others.
Woe to you Pharisees!
You love the seat of honor in synagogues
and greetings in marketplaces.
Woe to you!
You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk.”
Then one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply,
“Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.”
And he said, “Woe also to you scholars of the law!
You impose on people burdens hard to carry,
but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them.”
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
I have written one of these online reflections before which integrated the childhood game “hide-n-seek.” Today’s readings have me reminiscing about another one we used to play, primarily in school, called “follow the leader.” Beyond teaching us the helpful social constructs of hierarchy and obedience, I have to believe it was also about exposing us to the important life lesson that to be a good leader you must also be a good follower, and that the two roles only work when in deep relationship with each other. Today’s readings have much to say about following and what, or who(!), it is that we are being invited to follow.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me. (JN 10:27)
In his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis implores church leaders to pastor their flocks in such a way that they have the “smell of the sheep” wafting from their garments. What is this about? It’s about radical accompaniment! Like Jesus, pastors (or anyone looking to live as Jesus did) must be in deep relationship with their flock in such a way that they rub off on each other. People are drawn to follow those who lead them to sources of life and safety. Always the student of human behavior, perhaps this was why Jesus used that palpable and relatable image of the “good shepherd” when referring to himself. Sheep know and trust their shepherd and shepherds know and love their sheep.
I heard a beautiful story recently told by famous long-distance, open-water swimmer Lynne Cox. She described a typical morning workout off the coast of California in the dark hours of morning when she was still in high school. She could sense a massive, ominous creature below her in the water...and it was following her. Understandably concerned, Cox headed back to the safety of the pier only to be told by onlookers there that the sea creature following her was a lost, baby gray whale frantically searching for its mother. Over the course of the next several hours, she remained in the water in order to give that nascent whale someone to follow until it could be reunited with its mother. Gratefully, mother eventually returned. Cox described in beautiful detail how mama approached her, remained for a bit of time as if expressing her gratitude and then swam off, baby in tow to rejoin their traveling pod. “Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.” When disoriented, that baby whale latched on to someone it felt would keep it safe and lead it to life. And that is exactly what Lynne Cox did!
Sometimes we too can feel disoriented, turned around and without our berrings. We lose sight of our true home. The resulting behaviors that emerge from our confusion might look similar to those St. Paul listed to the Galatians in today’s first reading: immorality...jealousy...acts of selfishness… Fortunately, God sends us our own version of Lynne Cox who will lead us back to the safety and life of God’s presence--Jesus.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me. (JN 10:27)
We look to Jesus and we see one exuding “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Gal 5:22-23) If we desire to have the same in our lives, we must rub shoulders with the shepherd and follow that leader.
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
THE SPIRIT AND THE CROSS
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.” —Galatians 5:24
If you have cancer in your body, you want to get rid of every cancer cell. Leaving behind even one cancerous cell might result in a future outbreak of cancer. If you have weeds in your lawn, you want to get rid of all of them. Leaving even one weed plant can result in the weeds returning in force.
Can we see that the sins of the flesh resemble cancer and weeds? Do we regard impurity in the same way? Do we think that we can just go ahead and watch this movie or have just this one weekend of “fun”? Or do we have the mindset of completely crucifying our flesh? (Gal 5:24; Gal 6:14) Before you answer these questions, spend at least one minute gazing at a crucifix. Jesus was serious about getting rid of sin. He suffered agony on the cross to atone for it.
Fr. Al Lauer, founder and long-time author of One Bread, One Body, said near the end of his life: “The more I say ‘No’ to myself, the more I say ‘Yes’ to the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit fights against temptation (Gal 5:17) and leads us to victory. Ask the Lord to fill you with the Holy Spirit (Lk 11:13).
Prayer: Jesus, nail me to the cross with You so I may never leave You in time of temptation. Fill me with the Holy Spirit that I may be faithful to You and be purified of all selfishness.
Promise: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s lead.” —Gal 5:25
Praise: In the Third Century, Pope St. Callistus oversaw and organized the first official public Christian cemetery. He is commemorated as a martyr in the earliest martyrology of the Church. He wrote: “The spirit of a strong and stable character strengthened by meditation endures.”
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
Why does Jesus single out the religious teachers and lawyers for some rather strong words of rebuke? The word woe can also be translated as alas. It is as much an expression of sorrowful pity as it is of anger. Why did Jesus lament and issue such a stern rebuke? Jesus was angry with the religious leaders because they failed to listen to God's word and they misled the people they were supposed to guide in the ways of God.
God's commandments are rooted in his love and care for us
The scribes devoted their lives to the study of the Law of Moses and regarded themselves as legal experts in it. They divided the ten commandments and precepts into thousands of tiny rules and regulations. They were so exacting in their interpretations and in trying to live them out, that they had little time for anything else. By the time they finished compiling their interpretations it took no less than fifty volumes to contain them! In their misguided zeal, they required unnecessary and burdensome rules which obscured the more important matters of religion, such as love of God and love of neighbor. They were leading people to Pharisaism rather than to God.
Do not lay heavy burdens on others
Jesus used the example of tithing to show how far they had missed the mark. God had commanded a tithe of the first fruits of one's labor as an expression of thanksgiving and honor for his providential care for his people (Deuteronomy 14:22; Leviticus 27:30). The scribes, however, went to extreme lengths to tithe on insignificant things (such as tiny plants) with great mathematical accuracy. They were very attentive to minute matters of little importance, but they neglected to care for the needy and the weak. Jesus admonished them because their hearts were not right. They were filled with pride and contempt for others. They put unnecessary burdens on others while neglecting to show charity, especially to the weak and the poor. They meticulously went through the correct motions of conventional religion while forgetting the realities.
Why does Jesus also compare them with "unmarked graves"? According to Numbers 19:16 contact with a grave made a person ritually unclean for seven days. Jesus turns the table on the Pharisees by declaring that those who come into contact with them and listen to their self-made instruction are likewise defiled by their false doctrine. They infect others with wrong ideas of God and of his intentions. Since the Pharisees are "unmarked", other people do not recognize the decay within and do not realize the danger of spiritual contamination. The Pharisees must have taken Jesus' accusation as a double insult: They are not only spiritually unclean themselves because they reject the word of God, but they also contaminate others with their dangerous "leaven" as well (see Luke 12:1).
Love lifts the burdens of others
What was the point of Jesus' lesson? The essence of God's commandments is love - love of the supreme good - God himself and love of our neighbor who is made in the image and likeness of God. God is love (1 John 4:8) and everything he does flows from his love for us. God's love is unconditional and is wholly directed towards the good of others. True love both embraces and lifts the burdens of others. Paul the Apostle reminds us that "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given us" (Romans 5:5). Do you help your neighbors carry their burdens? God gives each of us sufficient grace for each day to love as he loves and to lift the burdens of others that they, too, may experience the grace and love of Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus, inflame my heart with your love that I may always pursue what matters most - love of you, my Lord and my God, and love of my fellow neighbor whom you have made in your own image and likeness. Free my heart from selfish desires that I may only have room for kindness, mercy, and goodness toward every person I know and meet.
Psalm 62:1-2,5-8
1 For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly moved.
5 For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Binding heavy burdens on others, by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)
"Just as the scribes and Pharisees wickedly sat upon the throne of Moses, so do some in the church who sit upon the ecclesiastical throne. There are some in the church who have the right understanding of the law and pass it on correctly. They say what each person needs to do, but they themselves do not do it. Some of them lay heavy burdens upon the shoulders of men, but they won't even lift a finger to help. These are the ones the Savior is talking about when he says, 'Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of God' (Matthew 5:19). There are others, however, who sit on the throne, who act before they speak and speak wisely, restraining those who are disordered. They place merciful burdens on the shoulders of others. They themselves are the first to lift the heavy burden, for the exhortation of other listeners. It is these of whom the Lord speaks when he says, 'He who does so and teaches others to do so, this man will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.'" (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 9)
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