2022년 10월 23일 연중 제30주일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
제1독서
집회서.35,15ㄴ-17.20-22ㄴ
15 주님께서는 심판자이시고, 차별 대우를 하지 않으신다. 16 그분께서는 가난한 사람을 차별하지 않으시고, 부당한 대우를 받은 사람의 기도를 들어 주시리라. 17 그분께서는 고아의 간청을 무시하지 않으시고, 과부가 쏟아 놓는 하소연을 들어 주신다.
20뜻에 맞게 예배를 드리는 이는 받아들여지고, 그의 기도는 구름에까지 올라가리라. 21 겸손한 이의 기도는 구름을 거쳐서 그분께 도달하기까지 위로를 마다한다.
그는 지극히 높으신 분께서 살펴 주실 때까지 그만두지 않으니, 22 그분께서 의로운 자들의 송사를 듣고 판결해 주신다. 주님께서는 머뭇거리지 않으신다.
제2독서
티모테오 2서.4,6-8.16-18
사 랑하는 그대여, 6 나는 이미 하느님께 올리는 포도주로 바쳐지고 있습니다. 내가 이 세상을 떠날 때가 다가온 것입니다. 7 나는 훌륭히 싸웠고, 달릴 길을 다 달렸으며, 믿음을 지켰습니다. 8 이제는 의로움의 화관이 나를 위하여 마련되어 있습니다. 의로운 심판관이신 주님께서 그날에 그것을 나에게 주실 것입니다. 나만이 아니라, 그분께서 나타나시기를 애타게 기다린 모든 사람에게도 주실 것입니다.
16나의 첫 변론 때에 아무도 나를 거들어 주지 않고, 모두 나를 저버렸습니다. 그들에게 이것이 불리하게 셈해지지 않기를 바랍니다. 17 그러나 주님께서는 내 곁에 계시면서 나를 굳세게 해 주셨습니다. 나를 통하여 복음 선포가 완수되고, 모든 민족들이 그것을 듣게 하시려는 것이었습니다. 그리고 나는 사자의 입에서 구출되었습니다.
18주님께서는 앞으로도 나를 모든 악행에서 구출하시고, 하늘에 있는 당신 나라에 들어갈 수 있게 구원해 주실 것입니다. 그분께 영광이 영원무궁하기를 빕니다. 아멘.
복음
루카가 전.18,9-14
그때에 9 예수님께서 스스로 의롭다고 자신하며 다른 사람들을 업신여기는 자들에게 이 비유를 말씀하셨다. 10 “두 사람이 기도하러 성전에 올라갔다. 한 사람은 바리사이였고, 다른 사람은 세리였다.
11 바리사이는 꼿꼿이 서서 혼잣말로 이렇게 기도하였다. ‘오, 하느님! 제가 다른 사람들, 강도짓을 하는 자나, 불의를 저지르는 자나, 간음을 하는 자와 같지 않고, 저 세리와도 같지 않으니, 하느님께 감사드립니다. 12 저는 일주일에 두 번 단식하고, 모든 소득의 십일조를 바칩니다.’
13그러나 세리는 멀찍이 서서 하늘을 향하여 눈을 들 엄두도 내지 못하고, 가슴을 치며 말하였다. ‘오, 하느님! 이 죄인을 불쌍히 여겨 주십시오.’
14내가 너희에게 말한다. 그 바리사이가 아니라, 이 세리가 의롭게 되어 집으로 돌아갔다. 누구든지 자신을 높이는 이는 낮아지고, 자신을 낮추는 이는 높아질 것이다.”
October 23, 2022
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Daily Mass : https://www.youtube.com/c/EWTNcatholictv
: https://www.youtube.com/c/DailyTVMass
Reading 1
Sir 35:12-14, 16-18
The LORD is a God of justice,
who knows no favorites.
Though not unduly partial toward the weak,
yet he hears the cry of the oppressed.
The Lord is not deaf to the wail of the orphan,
nor to the widow when she pours out her complaint.
The one who serves God willingly is heard;
his petition reaches the heavens.
The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds;
it does not rest till it reaches its goal,
nor will it withdraw till the Most High responds,
judges justly and affirms the right,
and the Lord will not delay.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23
R. (7a) The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the Lord hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;
no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Reading II
2 Tm 4:6-8, 16-18
Beloved:
I am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not onl y to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.
At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf,
but everyone deserted me.
May it not be held against them!
But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
so that through me the proclamation might be completed
and all the Gentiles might hear it.
And I was rescued from the lion's mouth.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat
and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.
To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Gospel
Lk 18:9-14
Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
"Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity --
greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.'
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Psalm response: The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Both our first reading today and our Gospel reading clearly indicate that God looks past the heroic and successful, those who think that they are the beautiful people, to pour his love on the underdogs, the unsuccessful, the disposable people. At first glance, however, that doesn’t seem to be what the Lord is doing: the poor remain poor, the sick continue to be sick, and those suffering injustice are still being ground under – and often enough at the hands of “good Catholics” or even at times the Church itself.
After all the time since Jesus came and began working with us humans through a Church of human beings guided by the Spirit, we still have those “poor” among us, just as Jesus foretold. If God loves the little ones, why doesn’t he do more for them? Shouldn’t we see some results?
It may well be because the Church Jesus established is a Pilgrim People, always trying to get closer to God by our prayer and the lives that flow from that. And that is good, if we accept that God loves us as we do our earnest best to be his and not because we achieve clear and enduring results. But, and this is a big but, we are also active members of Christ’s Mystical Body: if God is actively loving the world he is in a sense using our hearts, and if he is solving the world’s problems he is using our minds, and if he is feeding and healing and lifting up the poor he is using our hands – and we, as a group, do not do as well at all that as we would wish. The question still remains then: if God is at work through us, why doesn’t he reach better results?
Karl Rahner once noted that being a true Christian does not lie in reaching success; to the contrary it is a life of betrayal of our ideals and human hopes, of anything that we can measure. It is always, for our spiritual life as well as for what we endeavor in Christ’s name, a matter of leaving everything in God’s hands to perfect: God created us humans as radically imperfect beings, and he alone will bring that perfection to us. He writes straight with our crooked lines, but he loves our scribbles and scratches because it is us, his beloved children, who are offering them as our gift to him...
The Kingdom is not only a destination, it is a journey – a pilgrimage – and the true pilgrims are not those who ride in comfort but those who help the other pilgrims along the way.
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
CLOUD-PIERCING PRAYER-POWER
“The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds.” —Sirach 35:17
Are you in a fog? Is your mind cloudy and confused? Do you feel as if there’s heavy cloud-cover when you pray? Even if you are praying in the clouds, you can pierce the clouds, come out of the fog, and come into the light when you:
- serve God (Sir 35:16). Rejoice to be a slave of Jesus (Col 3:24) — to do His will, not yours.
- serve God willingly (Sir 35:16). Go beyond Sunday obligation and a minimalist, mediocre Christianity. “Everyone must give according to what he has inwardly decided; not sadly, not grudgingly, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7).
- become lowly (Sir 35:17). Repent of pharisaic arrogance (Lk 18:11), beat your breast, and pray: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Lk 18:13).
The lowly, willing servant of God has a love for God and a faith in Him that can shake and transform the world. The prayer of a servant of God “is powerful indeed” (Jas 5:16). Decide to become a lowly, willing servant of God. Pray with Mary: “I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say” (Lk 1:38).
Prayer: Father, do in me what You must in order to do through me what You will.
Promise: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on a merited crown awaits me; on that Day the Lord, just Judge that He is, will award it to me — and not only to me, but to all who have looked for His appearing with eager longing.” —2 Tm 4:7-8
Praise: “No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him; I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn 6:44). Alleluia! Thank You, risen Jesus.
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
How can we know if our prayer is pleasing to God or not? The prophet Hosea, who spoke in God's name, said: "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6). The prayers and sacrifices we make to God mean nothing to him if they do not spring from a heart of love for God and for one's neighbor. How can we expect God to hear our prayers if we do not approach him with humility and with a contrite heart that seeks mercy and forgiveness? We stand in constant need of God's grace and help. That is why Scripture tells us that "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6; Proverbs 3:34).
God hears the prayer of the humble
Jesus reinforced this warning with a vivid story of two people at prayer. Why did the Lord accept one person's prayer and reject the other's prayer? Luke gives us a hint: despising one's neighbor closes the door to God's heart. Expressing disdain and contempt for others is more than being mean-minded. It springs from the assumption that one is qualified to sit in the seat of judgment and to publicly shame those who do not conform to our standards and religious practices. Jesus' story caused offense to the religious-minded Pharisees who regarded "tax collectors" as unworthy of God's grace and favor. How could Jesus put down a "religious person" and raise up a "public sinner"?
Jesus' parable speaks about the nature of prayer and our relationship with God. It does this by contrasting two very different attitudes towards prayer. The Pharisee, who represented those who take pride in their religious practices, exalted himself at the expense of others. Absorbed with his own sense of self-satisfaction and self-congratulation, his boastful prayer was centered on his good religious practices rather than on God's goodness, grace, and pardon. Rather than humbling himself before God and asking for God's mercy and help, this man praised himself while despising those he thought less worthy. The Pharisee tried to justify himself before God and before those he despised; but only God can justify us. The tax collector, who represented those despised by religious-minded people, humbled himself before God and begged for mercy. His prayer was heard by God because he had true sorrow for his sins. He sought God with humility rather than with pride.
The humble recognize their need for God's mercy and help
This parable presents both an opportunity and a warning. Pride leads to self-deception and spiritual blindness. True humility helps us to see ourselves as we really are in God's eyes and it inclines us to seek God's help and mercy. God dwells with the humble of heart who recognize their own sinfulness and who acknowledge God's mercy and saving grace. I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit (Isaiah 57:15). God cannot hear us if we boast in ourselves and despise others. Do you humbly seek God's mercy and do you show mercy to others, especially those you find difficult to love and to forgive?
Lord Jesus, may your love and truth transform my life - my inner thoughts, intentions, and attitudes, and my outward behavior, speech, and actions. Where I lack charity, kindness, and forbearance, help me to embrace your merciful love and to seek the good of my neighbor, even those who cause me ill-favor or offense. May I always love as you have loved and forgive others as you have forgiven.
Psalm 34:2-3,17-19,22
2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and be glad.
3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
22 The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: The medicine of repentance, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"How useful and necessary a medicine is repentance! People who remember that they are only human will readily understand this. It is written, 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble' (1 Peter 5:5, James 4:6, Job 22:29, Proverbs 3:34). The Pharisee was not rejoicing so much in his own clean bill of health as in comparing it with the diseases of others. He came to the doctor. It would have been more worthwhile to inform him by confession of the things that were wrong with himself instead of keeping his wounds secret and having the nerve to crow over the scars of others. It is not surprising that the tax collector went away cured, since he had not been ashamed of showing where he felt pain." (excerpt from Sermon 351.1)
More Homilies'
October 27, 2019 Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
