2021년 10월 7일 연중 제27주간 목요일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
제1독서
<보라, 화덕처럼 불붙는 날이 온다.>
말라키 예언서. 3,13-20ㄱ
13 너희는 나에게 무엄한 말을 하였다. ─ 주님께서 말씀하신다. ─
그런데도 너희는
“저희가 당신께 무슨 무례한 말을 하였습니까?” 하고 말한다.
14 너희는 이렇게 말하였다. “하느님을 섬기는 것은 헛된 일이다.
만군의 주님의 명령을 지킨다고,
그분 앞에서 슬프게 걷는다고 무슨 이득이 있느냐?
15 오히려 이제 우리는 거만한 자들이 행복하다고 말해야 한다.
악을 저지르는 자들이 번성하고 하느님을 시험하고도 화를 입지 않는다.”
16 그때에 주님을 경외하는 이들이 서로 말하였다.
주님이 주의를 기울여 들었다.
그리고 주님을 경외하며 그의 이름을 존중하는 이들이
주님 앞에서 비망록에 쓰였다.
17 그들은 나의 것이 되리라. ─ 만군의 주님께서 말씀하신다. ─
내가 나서는 날에 그들은 나의 소유가 되리라.
부모가 자기들을 섬기는 자식을 아끼듯 나도 그들을 아끼리라.
18 그러면 너희는 다시 의인과 악인을 가리고
하느님을 섬기는 이와 섬기지 않는 자를 가릴 수 있으리라.
19 보라, 화덕처럼 불붙는 날이 온다.
거만한 자들과 악을 저지르는 자들은 모두 검불이 되리니
다가오는 그날이 그들을 불살라 버리리라. ─ 만군의 주님께서 말씀하신다. ─
그날은 그들에게 뿌리도 가지도 남겨 두지 않으리라.
20 그러나 나의 이름을 경외하는 너희에게는
의로움의 태양이 날개에 치유를 싣고 떠오르리라.
복음
<청하여라, 너희에게 주실 것이다.>
루카. 11,5-13
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 5 이르셨다.
“너희 가운데 누가 벗이 있는데,
한밤중에 그 벗을 찾아가 이렇게 말하였다고 하자.
‘여보게, 빵 세 개만 꾸어 주게.
6 내 벗이 길을 가다가 나에게 들렀는데 내놓을 것이 없네.’
7 그러면 그 사람이 안에서,
‘나를 괴롭히지 말게. 벌써 문을 닫아걸고 아이들과 함께 잠자리에 들었네.
그러니 지금 일어나서 건네줄 수가 없네.’ 하고 대답할 것이다.
8 내가 너희에게 말한다.
그 사람이 벗이라는 이유 때문에 일어나서 빵을 주지는 않는다 하더라도,
그가 줄곧 졸라 대면 마침내 일어나서 그에게 필요한 만큼 다 줄 것이다.
9 내가 너희에게 말한다.
청하여라, 너희에게 주실 것이다.
찾아라, 너희가 얻을 것이다.
문을 두드려라, 너희에게 열릴 것이다.
10 누구든지 청하는 이는 받고, 찾는 이는 얻고,
문을 두드리는 이에게는 열릴 것이다.
11 너희 가운데 어느 아버지가 아들이 생선을 청하는데,
생선 대신에 뱀을 주겠느냐?
12 달걀을 청하는데 전갈을 주겠느냐?
13 너희가 악해도 자녀들에게는 좋은 것을 줄 줄 알거든,
하늘에 계신 아버지께서야 당신께 청하는 이들에게
성령을 얼마나 더 잘 주시겠느냐?”
October 7, 2021
Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass
Reading 1
Mal 3:13-20b
yet you ask, "What have we spoken against you?"
You have said, "It is vain to serve God,
and what do we profit by keeping his command,
And going about in penitential dress
in awe of the LORD of hosts?
Rather must we call the proud blessed;
for indeed evildoers prosper,
and even tempt God with impunity."
Then they who fear the LORD spoke with one another,
and the LORD listened attentively;
And a record book was written before him
of those who fear the LORD and trust in his name.
And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts,
my own special possession, on the day I take action.
And I will have compassion on them,
as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.
Then you will again see the distinction
between the just and the wicked;
Between the one who serves God,
and the one who does not serve him.
For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven,
when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,
And the day that is coming will set them on fire,
leaving them neither root nor branch,
says the LORD of hosts.
But for you who fear my name, there will arise
the sun of justice with its healing rays.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
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. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
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. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
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. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Gospel
Lk 11:5-13
"Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
"Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,"
and he says in reply from within,
"Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything."
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
"And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?"
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Today’s readings are extremely powerful and clearly present our relationship with our loving Creator. It never fails that the readings are just what I need and what can address the pain, the void, whatever may be going on. I don’t always see it the first time but then time goes on and it hits! The aha moment and it sinks in.
Today’s is that kind of reading – okay, sure, we have heard this before.
And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
One of the dearest people in the world to me is struggling as she faces the serious illness of husband. She is angry – feeling God has abandoned her. Why pray – no one listens. As my heart is breaking for her pain, I reviewed today’s reading. Clearly God is always there, and I feebly try to find the words to convey this to her. I think the challenge for most of us is understanding God’s time not our time. Of course, as we age, we experience more and more losses -- our friends, our career, some of our abilities, and the most difficult of all, our beloved spouses – some become bitter, angry, and full of despair, yet some find even more solace in their prayers. What makes the difference? How do we help them open their hearts to God and feel His presence?
Amid all this, I had some serendipitous yet very soul-filling conversations with a colleague. It began with noticing some books that were being read and striking up a conversation and then some discussions about resources for students. Soon we were sharing views and experiences with God in our lives. She presented a beautiful thought about us in our myopic worlds sitting with a variety of puzzle pieces in our hands, studying them, trying to make sense of them and figure how they went together. However, different from when we put together a jigsaw puzzle looking at the picture on the cover of the box, for we have no picture to look, no way to know what the finished product should look like. Only God has the entire picture . . . we stumble and think we somehow can finish it yet when we let go and let God the pieces will fall into the right places. This brought us to a great discussion of TrusT. I shared what I have shared in reflections that TrusT begins and ends with the cross.
The next day, both filled from our conversations each left a token for the other with a note. I put a TrusT bookmarker in her mailbox and she gifted me with a lovely puzzle. I was still delighting in the conversation and my beautiful new puzzle when I picked my granddaughter up from school. She was excited to show me her latest creation, her initial made with a collage of puzzle pieces!! A coincidence? I think not, definitely a God Wink! How can I not feel that my God walks with me always?
So many songs to remind us, we are not alone (or in control of everything!)
Big Daddy Weave: I Know
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
THY WILL BE DONE?
“So I say to you: ‘Ask and you shall receive.’ ” —Luke 11:9
A good test to determine if we are praying according to God’s will or our own will is this: How do we respond when we don’t receive that for which we asked? If we become angry or upset, it may mean that we are praying for our own will to be done rather than God’s. For example, compare Jonah’s angry reactions with the docile response of Jesus (see Jon 4:1, 8-10; Mt 26:42).
The passage immediately preceding today’s Gospel reading is the Our Father (Lk 11:2-4). As Jesus teaches in the Our Father, we pray for God’s will to be done (Mt 6:10; Lk 11:2). In the verses immediately following the Our Father, He then tells us to ask persistently (Lk 11:8). Jesus says: “Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened” (Lk 11:9).
Little children do not hesitate to be persistent. It takes time for a little child to mature. A loving parent understands that the child is maturing, and that their requests start out being self-centered. The parent teaches the child how to ask by saying: “Now say Please...”, “Now say Thank You...”. Likewise, our heavenly Father teaches us over time how to pray and ask in faith, with persistence, and according to His will. Therefore, pray without ceasing (Lk 18:1) and persist in your prayer (Lk 11:8).
Prayer: Father, may I never grow weary of believing that You love everything about me. I trust that You are a loving, providing Father.
Promise: “For you who fear My name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” —Mal 3:20
Praise: Pope St. Pius V established the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary in thanksgiving for Mary’s answer to the many rosaries prayed for the victory of the Christian fleet over the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571.
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
What can we expect from God, especially when we recognize that he doesn't owe us anything and that we don't deserve his grace and favor? Jesus used the illustration of a late-night traveler to teach his listeners an important lesson about how God treats us in contrast to the kind of treatment we might expect from our neighbors.
The rule of hospitality in biblical times required the cooperation of the entire community in entertaining an unexpected or late-night guest. Whether the guest was hungry or not, a meal would be served. In a small village it would be easy to know who had baked bread that day. Bread was essential for a meal because it served as a utensil for dipping and eating from the common dishes. Asking for bread from one's neighbor was both a common occurrence and an expected favor. To refuse to give bread would bring shame and dishonor because it was a sign of in-hospitality - showing a lack of friendship and generosity.
God awakens us from sleep that we may ask and receive
If a neighbor can be imposed upon and coerced into giving bread in the middle of the night, how much more hospitable is God, who, no matter what the circumstances, is generous and ready to give us what we need. Augustine of Hippo reminds us that "God, who does not sleep and who awakens us from sleep that we may ask, gives much more graciously."
Ask, seek, knock - and it will be given
When you are in need who do you turn to for help? Jesus tells us that God is always ready to answer those who seek him and call upon him with expectant trust in his mercy and kindness. Jesus states very clearly and simply what we must do: Ask, seek, knock. God our heavenly Father waits upon us. Like a table waiter or friend who comes in the middle of the night, he is always ready to hear our plea and to give us what we need. Do you ask the Father with expectant faith and confident trust in his goodness? Do you seek his guidance and help in your time of need? Do you knock with persistence at his door of mercy and favor? If we treat our heavenly Father with indifference or neglect to ask with confident trust, we may miss the opportunity we have been given to receive his grace and favor and merciful help.
God gives more than we can ask or expect
In conclusion Jesus makes a startling claim: How much more will the heavenly Father give! The Lord is ever ready to give us not only what we need, but more than we can expect. He gives freely of his Holy Spirit that we may share in his abundant life and joy. Do you approach your heavenly Father with confident trust in his mercy and kindness?
Heavenly Father, you are merciful, gracious and kind. May I never doubt your mercy and love nor hesitate to seek you with confident trust in order to obtain the gifts, graces, and daily provision I need to live as your beloved child and constant friend.
Psalm 1:1-6
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Ask by praying, seek by proper living, knock by persevering, by Bede the Venerable, 672-735 A.D.
"Desiring that we arrive at the joys of the heavenly kingdom, our Lord and Savior taught us to ask these joys of him and promised that he would give them to us if we asked for them. 'Ask,' he said, 'and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.' Dearly beloved..., we earnestly and with our whole heart must ponder these words of our Lord. He bears witness that the kingdom of heaven is not given to, found by and opened to those who are idle and unoccupied but to those who ask for it, seek after it and knock at its gates. The gate of the kingdom must be asked for by praying. It must be sought after by living properly. It must be knocked at by persevering." (excerpt from HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 2.51.20)
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