Mass Reading & Meditation for August 22, 2013 + Saint of the Day St. Rose of Lima Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1RU 1:1, 3-6, 14B-16, 22 Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land; so a man from Bethlehem of Judah departed with his wife and two sons to reside on the plateau of Moab. Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women, one named Orpah, the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion died also, and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband. She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab because word reached her there that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her. Naomi said, “See now! Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god. Go back after your sister-in-law!” But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” Thus it was that Naomi returned with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Responsorial PsalmPS 146:5-6AB, 6C-7, 8-9A, 9BC-10 R. (1b) Praise the Lord, my soul! Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD, his God, Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. R. Praise the Lord, my soul! The LORD keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets captives free. R. Praise the Lord, my soul! The LORD gives sight to the blind. The LORD raises up those who were bowed down; The LORD loves the just. The LORD protects strangers. R. Praise the Lord, my soul! The fatherless and the widow he sustains, but the way of the wicked he thwarts. The LORD shall reign forever; your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia. R. Praise the Lord, my soul! GospelMT 22:34-40 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Meditation: Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14-16, 22 Saint Rose of Lima, Virgin “But Ruth stayed with her.” (Ruth 1:14) From almost the time they can talk, children start to negotiate. “If I eat my dinner, will I get dessert? If I clean my room, can I go to the park?” The trend doesn’t stop there, however. As they grow up, enter the job market, and go into business, the question remains, “What do I get?” But look at today’s readings. Ruth’s commitment to Naomi and Jesus’ command to love God and neighbor are not about what we get or even what we feel. In fact, Jesus’ model for relationships turns that idea on its head, and the question becomes, “What can I give?” Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law are not always the best of friends. Add racial and religious differences to the mix, and it can become even more complicated! But in this long-ago and faraway place, Ruth made a choice that exemplifies the committed love that Jesus describes in the Gospel reading. Ruth left her family, her homeland, and even her faith behind to commit herself to the care of someone who had just suffered the loss of her husband and both her sons. Later in this story, we will see how Ruth’s decision to stay with her friend transformed Naomi’s bitterness to rejoicing. Ruth caught the attention of Boaz, and it was only a matter of time before Naomi was holding her grandson in her lap. In Jewish law, this is even more significant, since it meant the continuation of her husband’s name and his line. And that name and line are vital to Israel’s history: Ruth had the honor of becoming great-grandmother to King David! At his inaugural Mass, Pope Francis said that looking upon every man and woman “with tenderness and love is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds.” This is what Ruth did for Naomi, and it is what God is inviting us to do as well. Every time we express love or kindness or even a little compassion, we spark hope in another person. So today, make a special effort to look at the people around you with love. Your choices can change history in ways you might never know or imagine. “Lord, teach me to love all of the people you put around me with all my heart.” Psalm 146:5-10; Matthew 22:34-40 St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617) The first canonized saint of the New World has one characteristic of all saints—the suffering of opposition—and another characteristic which is more for admiration than for imitation—excessive practice of mortification. She was born to parents of Spanish descent in Lima, Peru, at a time when South America was in its first century of evangelization. She seems to have taken Catherine of Siena (April 29) as a model, in spite of the objections and ridicule of parents and friends. The saints have so great a love of God that what seems bizarre to us, and is indeed sometimes imprudent, is simply a logical carrying out of a conviction that anything that might endanger a loving relationship with God must be rooted out. So, because her beauty was so often admired, Rose used to rub her face with pepper to produce disfiguring blotches. Later, she wore a thick circlet of silver on her head, studded on the inside, like a crown of thorns. When her parents fell into financial trouble, she worked in the garden all day and sewed at night. Ten years of struggle against her parents began when they tried to make Rose marry. They refused to let her enter a convent, and out of obedience she continued her life of penance and solitude at home as a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic. So deep was her desire to live the life of Christ that she spent most of her time at home in solitude. During the last few years of her life, Rose set up a room in the house where she cared for homeless children, the elderly and the sick. This was a beginning of social services in Peru. Though secluded in life and activity, she was brought to the attention of Inquisition interrogators, who could only say that she was influenced by grace. What might have been a merely eccentric life was transfigured from the inside. If we remember some unusual penances, we should also remember the greatest thing about Rose: a love of God so ardent that it withstood ridicule from without, violent temptation and lengthy periods of sickness. When she died at 31, the city turned out for her funeral. Prominent men took turns carrying her coffin. Comment: It is easy to dismiss excessive penances of the saints as the expression of a certain culture or temperament. But a woman wearing a crown of thorns may at least prod our consciences. We enjoy the most comfort-oriented life in human history. We eat too much, drink too much, use a million gadgets, fill our eyes and ears with everything imaginable. Commerce thrives on creating useless needs on which to spend our money. It seems that when we have become most like slaves, there is the greatest talk of “freedom.” Are we willing to discipline ourselves in such an atmosphere? Quote: “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into fiery Gehenna” (Matthew 18:8–9). Patron Saint of: Americas Florists Latin America Peru Philippines South America -- Have a Blessed Day
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 13:33:59 +0000
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