2022년 8월 22일 연중 제21주간 월요일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
제1독서
테살로니카 2서. 1,1-5.11ㄴ-12
1 바오로와 실바누스와 티모테오가
하느님 우리 아버지와 주 예수 그리스도 안에서 살아가는
테살로니카 사람들의 교회에 인사합니다.
2 하느님 우리 아버지와 주 예수 그리스도에게서
은총과 평화가 여러분에게 내리기를 빕니다.
3 형제 여러분, 우리는 여러분 때문에
늘 하느님께 감사를 드리지 않을 수 없습니다.
또 그렇게 하는 것이 당연합니다.
여러분의 믿음이 크게 자라나고
저마다 서로에게 베푸는 여러분 모두의 사랑이 더욱더 커지고 있기 때문입니다.
4 그래서 우리는 여러분이 그 모든 박해와 환난을 겪으면서도 보여 준
인내와 믿음 때문에, 하느님의 여러 교회에서 여러분을 자랑합니다.
5 이는 하느님의 의로운 심판의 징표로,
여러분이 하느님의 나라에 합당한 사람이 되게 하려는 것입니다.
사실 여러분은 하느님의 나라를 위하여 고난을 겪고 있습니다.
11 우리 하느님께서 여러분을 당신의 부르심에 합당한 사람이 되게 하시고,
여러분의 모든 선의와 믿음의 행위를 당신 힘으로 완성해 주시기를 빕니다.
12 그리하여 우리 하느님과 주 예수 그리스도의 은총에 따라,
우리 주 예수님의 이름이 여러분 가운데에서 영광을 받고,
여러분도 그분 안에서 영광을 받을 것입니다.
복음
마태오 23,13-22
그때에 예수님께서 말씀하셨다.
13 “불행하여라, 너희 위선자 율법 학자들과 바리사이들아!
너희가 사람들 앞에서 하늘 나라의 문을 잠가 버리기 때문이다.
그러고는 자기들도 들어가지 않을 뿐만 아니라,
들어가려는 이들마저 들어가게 놓아두지 않는다.
(14)·15 불행하여라, 너희 위선자 율법 학자들과 바리사이들아!
너희가 개종자 한 사람을 얻으려고
바다와 뭍을 돌아다니다가 한 사람이 생기면,
너희보다 갑절이나 못된 지옥의 자식으로 만들어 버리기 때문이다.
16 불행하여라, 너희 눈먼 인도자들아!
‘성전을 두고 한 맹세는 아무것도 아니지만,
성전의 금을 두고 한 맹세는 지켜야 한다.’고 너희는 말한다.
17 어리석고 눈먼 자들아! 무엇이 더 중요하냐?
금이냐, 아니면 금을 거룩하게 하는 성전이냐?
18 너희는 또 ‘제단을 두고 한 맹세는 아무것도 아니지만,
제단 위에 놓인 예물을 두고 한 맹세는 지켜야 한다.’고 말한다.
19 눈먼 자들아! 무엇이 더 중요하냐?
예물이냐, 아니면 예물을 거룩하게 하는 제단이냐?
20 사실 제단을 두고 맹세하는 이는
제단과 그 위에 있는 모든 것을 두고 맹세하는 것이고,
21 성전을 두고 맹세하는 이는 성전과 그 안에 사시는 분을 두고 맹세하는 것이며,
22 하늘을 두고 맹세하는 이는
하느님의 옥좌와 그 위에 앉아 계신 분을 두고 맹세하는 것이다.”
August 22, 2022
Memorial of The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Reading 1
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians
in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters,
as is fitting, because your faith flourishes ever more,
and the love of every one of you for one another grows ever greater.
Accordingly, we ourselves boast of you in the churches of God
regarding your endurance and faith in all your persecutions
and the afflictions you endure.
This is evidence of the just judgment of God,
so that you may be considered worthy of the Kingdom of God
for which you are suffering.
We always pray for you,
that our God may make you worthy of his calling
and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose
and every effort of faith,
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you,
and you in him,
in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (3) Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
For great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
awesome is he, beyond all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are things of nought,
but the LORD made the heavens.
R. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Gospel
Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men.
You do not enter yourselves,
nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You traverse sea and land to make one convert,
and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna
twice as much as yourselves.
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say,
‘If one swears by the temple, it means nothing,
but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.’
Blind fools, which is greater, the gold,
or the temple that made the gold sacred?
And you say, ‘If one swears by the altar, it means nothing,
but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated.’
You blind ones, which is greater, the gift,
or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it;
one who swears by the temple swears by it
and by him who dwells in it;
one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God
and by him who is seated on it.”
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Today, our first reading and our gospel passage present to us two 'ways', if you will. In the second letter to the Thessalonians, the community is praised because its faith flourishes ever more, and the love of every one of [them] for one another grows ever greater. Here is a community who has absorbed and is living Jesus' teaching. In contrast, in our gospel passage today Jesus admonishes the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy and misplaced values. This begs of us the question of what is at the heart of our belief. What is at the core of our followership of Jesus? Why do we do what we do? Or, more to the point, what is the 'what' we really ought to do?
Conveniently for us, today is the Memorial of The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which means we can look to Mary for our answer. Within the last couple of years, I ran across a collection of medieval songs from the 1300s known as the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat. Among them is one entitled 'Cuncti simus concanentes' that commemorates the Annunciation. Never one to seek out medieval music, this collection and, in particular, this song, affects me. For me, it musically encapsulates the incredible mystery and drama that unfolds in Mary's assent that changed the world forever. Mary, our Queen, made the choice to love and bring Jesus into the world. Much like Mary, the Thessalonians are loving one another, bringing Jesus to one another and to their community.
This love is really the 'what' that we are called to do. But too often we are distracted from it. Sometimes, like the Pharisees, we can become too focused on the gold and forget what makes the gold sacred. Our values can become misplaced. Imagine, for instance, if Mary had focused more on readying a proper crib fit for a king than readying her heart. No; Jesus, himself made that mere manger sacred.
Mary, Our Queen, pray for us that, like you, we may always ready our hearts to receive and give Jesus to one another in loving one another.
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
JUST SUFFERING
“You endure these as an expression of God’s just judgment.” —2 Thessalonians 1:4-5
When Christians suffer persecutions and trials, we often say we’re in spiritual warfare. We may even claim to be suffering redemptively, and many times this is the case. Nevertheless, Christians don’t always suffer for being Christians (see 1 Pt 4:15-16). Sometimes we Christians suffer for not being Christians. In that case, our suffering is not spiritual warfare, for we, not evil spirits, are “our own worst enemies.” Then we are not suffering redemptively, but justly. We are getting the wages of our sins (see Rm 6:23). We are being punished now to wake us up to our sinfulness so that we will not have to be punished on Judgment Day.
However, we don’t learn from being punished if we wrongly portray ourselves as innocent martyrs valiantly fighting the evil one and heroically suffering for righteousness’ sake (see Mt 5:10). One of Satan’s frequent tactics is to tempt a person to focus on him rather than on their own need for repentance. Thank God for martyrs, but not every suffering Christian is one. Many suffering Christians are downright obnoxious or, even worse, sinful. If we would face this, then we could repent of our sins and be true martyrs, that is, witnesses.
Ask Mary to lay bare the thoughts of many hearts, including your own (Lk 2:35). Then you will see your sufferings realistically and answer God’s call to repent.
Prayer: Father, may I take the plank out of my eye so as to see clearly enough to remove the specks from others’ eyes (Mt 7:5).
Promise: “We pray for you always that our God may make you worthy of His call and fulfill by His power every honest intention and work of faith.” —2 Thes 1:11
Praise: As prefigured in the Old Testament, the Queen Mother reigns with her Son, the King. “Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all” (Prv 31:29).
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
When the Lord Jesus knocks on the door of your heart are you ready to answer and receive him (Revelations 3:20)? The Lord offers each one of us an open door to the kingdom of God, but we can shut ourselves out if we ignore or reject his offer. What is the door to the kingdom of heaven? When Jacob fled from his brother Essau, who wanted to kill him for stealing his birthright (Genesis 27:41), Jacob sought refuge in the wilderness. There God pursued him and gave him a vision that both changed his life and the life of his people. As Jacob slept on a star-lit hillside God showed him a great ladder or stairway that extended from earth to heaven. This stairway was filled with a multitude of angels ascending and descending before the throne of God.
An open door to the throne of God
God opened heaven to Jacob, not only to give him a place of refuge and peace, but to offer him the blessing of dwelling in intimate friendship with the living God. God spoke to Jacob and renewed the promises which he had made to his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac, and now to Jacob and his descendants. God promised not only to bless and protect Jacob, but to make him and his descendants a blessing to all the nations as well. When Jacob awoke he exclaimed: "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven" (Genesis 28:17). God opened a door for Jacob that brought him and his people into a new relationship with the living God.
Jesus is the door to God's kingdom
Jesus proclaimed to his disciples that he came to fulfill the prophetic dream of Jacob in his very own person: "You will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man" (John 1:51). Jesus proclaimed that he is the door (John 10:8-9) and the way (John 14:6) that makes it possible for us to access heaven and God's very throne. But Jesus woefully warned the religious leaders and successors of Jacob that they were shutting the door of God's kingdom not only on themselves but on others as well. The word woe expresses sorrowful pity as well as grief and sadness.Why did Jesus lament and issue such a stern rebuke?
Don't be misled by wrong-headed teachers
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 teach and lead in the ways of God. They were blindly leading people to "pharisaism"- to their own ideas, rules, and practices which God did not intend or require - rather than to God's intention and way of life for his people. Jesus also chastised them for their hyprocisy - a hypocrite is an actor or imposter who says one thing but does the opposite. Jesus gave some examples to show how misguided they were in their thinking and practices.
In their zeal to win converts, the religious leaders required unnecessary and burdensome rules and practices which obscured the more important matters of religion, such as love of God and love of neighbor. And at the same time they made exceptions for themselves by devising clever ways to evade binding oaths and solemn promises which they had made to God. The Jews treated an oath made to God as a binding obligation that must not be broken under any circumstance, but the Pharisees found clever ways to evade their obligations when inconvenience got in the way. They forgot that God hears every word we utter (especially our oaths and promises) and he sees the intentions of our heart even before we speak or act.
God's ways and thoughts are different from ours
The scribes and Pharisees preferred their idea of religion to God's idea. They failed to lead others to God because they listened to their own ideas of what is true religion and they failed to understand the true meaning and intention of God's word. Through their own pride and prejudice they blindlyshut the door of their own hearts and minds to the truth of God's kingdom.
The prophets of the Old Testament had repeatedly warned God's people to seek the Lord and to put aside their own thoughts and ideas of religion in order to hear and understand God's mind and intentions for his people. The prophet Isaiah wrote,
"Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts...For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:6-9).
Seek God's kingdom first
How can we shut the door of God's kingdom in our own personal lives? We close it through stubborn pride, disobedience, and ignorance. Do you submit your mind to God's word or do you cling to your own thoughts and ideas of what is right, true, and good for you? Do you allow the world's way of thinking to form the way you think, act, and speak - or do you allow God's word of truth to form the way you think, act, and speak? Do you ignore God's word through indifference or lack of reflection on his word?
The Lord Jesus wants to speak to us each and every day - to help us grow in our knowledge and understanding of his love and truth. The Lord is knocking at the door of your heart - are you receptive and ready to listen to his voice as he speaks through his life-giving Word? God's kingdom is always present to those who seek him with a humble mind and a willing heart. The Lord invites us to pray daily, "May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10).
Lord Jesus, your word is life for me. May I never shut the door to your heavenly kingdom through my stubborn pride or disbelief. Help me to listen to your voice attentively and to conform my life more fully to your word.
Psalm 149:1-6,9
1 Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful!
2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker, let the sons of Zion rejoice in their King!
3 Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with timbrel and lyre!
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with victory.
5 Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats
9b This is glory for all his faithful ones. Praise the LORD!
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Shutting the Kingdom of Heaven, by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)
"There are those who dare to say that God is not good because of the curses in his law that he places against their sin. And yet the one who is truly the Son of God who gave that same law is also the same one who put blessings into the law. The same God who provides blessings for those who are saved in a similar way applies curses which he placed in the law against sinners. 'Woe,' he says. Woe to you and to those hearing these things who plead the God of the law and yet do not understand that these words were spoken by God in a kindly way. So we understand why Jesus said, 'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees.' They believe that it is in fact a good thing to pronounce these curses against sinners. They consider the arrangement of the law's curses to be a part of God's design. The chiding father frequently urges his advice on his son for his improvement - advice that may seem to be a curse. He does not wish the curses to be actualized, however, but rather he desires to avert him from even more such curses."(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 13)
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