Thursday Saint of the Day, Mass Reading & Meditation for July 24, 2014 St. Sharbel Makhluf Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1JER 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13 This word of the LORD came to me: Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, Following me in the desert, in a land unsown. Sacred to the LORD was Israel, the first fruits of his harvest; Should any presume to partake of them, evil would befall them, says the LORD. When I brought you into the garden land to eat its goodly fruits, You entered and defiled my land, you made my heritage loathsome. The priests asked not, “Where is the LORD?” Those who dealt with the law knew me not: the shepherds rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after useless idols. Be amazed at this, O heavens, and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD. Two evils have my people done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that hold no water. Responsorial Psalm PS 36:6-7AB, 8-9, 10-11 R. (10a) With you is the fountain of life, O Lord. O LORD, your mercy reaches to heaven; your faithfulness, to the clouds. Your justice is like the mountains of God; your judgments, like the mighty deep. R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord. How precious is your mercy, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house; from your delightful stream you give them to drink. R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord. For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light. Keep up your mercy toward your friends, your just defense of the upright of heart. R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord. Gospel MT 13:10-17 The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and I heal them. “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” Meditation: Matthew 13:10-17 Saint Sharbel Makhlūf, Priest Why do you speak to the crowd in parables? (Matthew 13:10) Comedian Buddy Hackett used to quip, “My mother’s menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.” Today’s Gospel reading presents the same alternatives, but about something infinitely more important than food preferences. Will we take Jesus and his teaching or leave it? By this point in Matthew’s Gospel, those who have been listening to Jesus are making choices. The “leavers” refuse to repent; some are even plotting his death (Matthew 11:20-24; 12:14). The “takers” are opening their hearts to Jesus and his message. Yet these disciples are confused about his teaching style. Why not speak more directly? Why use parables? Jesus’ answer—“because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand” (Matthew 13:13)—highlights the deliberate rejection of the “leavers”; they have already blocked their ears and are now experiencing the consequences of this choice. Commenting on Jesus’ approach, St. John Chrysostom explains: “We ourselves do this all the time. When we see someone listening inattentively and can’t persuade him to listen at all, then all that remains is to be silent. If we continue, even his inattentiveness is aggravated. But for someone who tries to learn, we continue on and offer much.” So is Jesus giving up on those who reject what he offers, like Mother Hackett telling her kids to “take it or leave it”? Not at all! Jesus wants everyone to receive the good news of the kingdom. This is, in fact, why he speaks in parables. These surprising, often puzzling comparisons are teaching tools that can jolt people and provoke some thinking and changing. A shepherd who abandons the whole flock to search for one stray? A harvest of a hundredfold, when a yield of seven and a half was normal? These surprising stories suggest fresh, new possibilities about what God and his kingdom are like. And they invite everyone to respond accordingly. So come to Jesus’ table with a “take it” attitude, hungry for every word he offers. If you want to be nourished, “more will be given,” and you “will grow rich” in understanding (Matthew 13:12). “Jesus, your word is always new. By your Spirit, help me to be a generous receiver of your grace!” Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13; Psalm 36:6-11 St. Sharbel Makhluf (1828-1898) Although this saint never traveled far from the Lebanese village of Beka-Kafra, where he was born, his influence has spread widely. Joseph Zaroun Makluf was raised by an uncle because his father, a mule driver, died when Joseph was only three. At the age of 23, Joseph joined the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon, and took the name Sharbel in honor of a second-century martyr. He professed his final vows in 1853 and was ordained six years later. Following the example of the fifth-century St. Maron, Sharbel lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death. His reputation for holiness prompted people to seek him to receive a blessing and to be remembered in his prayers. He followed a strict fast and was very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. When his superiors occasionally asked him to administer the sacraments to nearby villages, Sharbel did so gladly. He died in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Christians and non-Christians soon made his tomb a place of pilgrimage and of cures. Pope Paul VI beatified him in 1965 and canonized him 12 years later. Comment: Blessed John Paul II often said that the Church has two lungs (East and West) and it must learn to breathe using both of them. Remembering saints like Sharbel helps the Church to appreciate both the diversity and unity present in the Catholic Church. Like all the saints, Sharbel points us to God and invites us to cooperate generously with Gods grace, no matter what our situation in life may be. As our prayer life becomes deeper and more honest, we become more ready to make that generous response. Quote: When Sharbel was canonized in 1977, Bishop Francis Zayek, head the U.S. Diocese of St. Maron, wrote a pamphlet entitled “A New Star of the East.” Bishop Zayek wrote: “St. Sharbel is called the second St. Anthony of the Desert, the Perfume of Lebanon, the first Confessor of the East to be raised to the Altars according to the actual procedure of the Catholic Church, the honor of our Aramaic Antiochian Church, and the model of spiritual values and renewal. Sharbel is like a Cedar of Lebanon standing in eternal prayer, on top of a mountain.” The bishop noted that Sharbels canonization plus other beatification cases prove “that the Aramaic Maronite Antiochian Church is indeed a living branch of the Catholic Church and is intimately connected with the trunk, who is Christ, our Savior, the beginning and the end of all things.” -- Have a Blessed Day
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 18:34:19 +0000
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