Readings & Reflections with Cardinal Tagle’s Video: Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time C & Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary September 8,2019
Christ makes this revelation: “If anyone comes to me without hating wife and children, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Saint Paul demonstrates the depths of his discipleship in sending back to Philemon the beloved Onesimus, whom Paul cherishes as “my child, my own heart.” The Lord wants to give us a grace that exceeds even the love of a parent, a spouse, or a child. The kind of detachment that Jesus calls for in the Gospel today creates the desire that disposes us to receive all that God is eager to give us. Since “the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns,” the Lord insists that we carry our own cross. For that cross separates us from anything that conforms us to our own inadequate ideas and measures, so that we can follow Christ faithfully.
AMDG+
Opening Prayer
“Lord, may your love consume me and transform my life that I may truly desire nothing more than life with you. Help me to count the cost and to joyfully embrace the cross for your sake.” Amen.
Reading 1
Wis 9:13-18b – Who can conceive what the Lord intends?
Who can know God’s counsel,
or who can conceive what the LORD intends?
For the deliberations of mortals are timid,
and unsure are our plans.
For the corruptible body burdens the soul
and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
And scarce do we guess the things on earth,
and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;
but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?
Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?
And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.
The word of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17
R. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Reading II
Phmn 9-10, 12-17 – Receive him no longer as a slave but as a beloved brother.
I, Paul, an old man,
and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment;
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
so that he might serve me on your behalf
in my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.
Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave
but more than a slave, a brother,
beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
as a man and in the Lord.
So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.
The word of the Lord.
Gospel
Lk 14:25-33 – Anyone of you who does not renounce all possessions cannot be my disciple.
Bishop Robert Barron’s Homily: The Cost of Discipleship click below:
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Reflection 1 – Counting the cost
Dr. Scott Hahn’s reflection: Listen Here
Like a king making ready for battle or a contractor about to build a tower, we have to count the cost as we set out to follow Jesus.
Our Lord today is telling us upfront the sacrifice it will take. His words aren’t addressed to His chosen few, the Twelve, but rather to the “great crowds” – to “anyone,” to “whoever” wishes to be His disciple.
That only makes His call all the more stark and uncompromising. We are to “hate” our old lives, renounce all the earthly things we rely upon, to choose Him above every person and possession. Again He tells us that the things we have – even our family ties and obligations – can become an excuse, an obstacle that keeps us from giving ourselves completely to Him (see Luke 9:23-26, 57-62).
Jesus brings us the saving Wisdom we are promised in today’s First Reading. He is that saving Wisdom.
Weighed down by many earthly concerns, the burdens of our body and its needs, we could never see beyond the things of this world, could never detect God’s heavenly design and intention. So in His mercy He sent us His Spirit, His Wisdom from on High, to make straight our path to Him.
Jesus himself paid the price for to free us from the sentence imposed on Adam, which we recall in today’s Psalm (see Genesis 2:7; 2:19). No more will the work of our hands be an affliction, no more are we destined to turn back to dust.
Like Onesimus in today’s Epistle, we have been redeemed, given a new family and a new inheritance, made children of the father, brothers and sisters in the Lord.
We are free now to come after Him, to serve Him – no longer slaves to the ties of our past lives. In Christ, all our yesterdays have passed. We live in what the Psalm today beautifully describes as the daybreak of His kindness. For He has given us wisdom of heart, taught us to number our days aright. – Read the source: https://stpaulcenter.com/reflections/counting-the-cost-scott-hahn-reflects-on-the-23rd-sunday-in-ordinary-time
Reflection 2 – His unconditional love
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
The Cross is a turning point in man’s history where God made a way for man to have a lasting relationship and fellowship with Him. In one awesome, indescribable moment of love and mercy on the Cross, salvation came upon mankind.
Today’s gospel speaks about the cross… our cross and how we should handle our very own cross. God’s cross was founded on unconditional LOVE. It was on the Cross that His incomprehensible and unconditional love saved man from eternal death and condemnation.
Today we are all asked to HATE those we love and to carry our own crosses with joy. Jesus placed great importance in loving and being loved by parents and friends but today’s gospel scenario finds Him saying that if we have to come to Him, we must “HATE” our father, mother, wife , children, brothers and sisters, implying that no one and NOTHING should have greater priority in our lives but HIM. Jesus meant that all relationships of love are gifts from God but we are NOT supposed to make gods out of those whom we love. Jesus did not stop here as said further: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple… anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”
Thus we are all instructed to love God above all and His people like ourselves if we have to live a life that will be in complete harmony to all of God’s commandments. It is only our deep love of God which will enable us to follow Jesus and accept the high cost of being His disciple and carry our cross.
Loving God is being firm and steadfast in our faith despite the stormy winds of life as we joyfully take up our cross and follow Jesus and unconditionally surrender our all to Him.
Loving God means being humble and true. Loving God is committing our lives to Him and continuously removing our masks and pretensions and facing life without regard for its difficulties but only on the prospect of doing His will Loving God is carrying our cross by dying to self, taking ridicule with love and patience, honestly rejoicing with the success of another while one’s needs which are far greater are in desperate circumstances, receiving correction and reproof from one of less stature and humbly submitting to it without any resentment within one’s heart.
Carrying our cross with peace and joy in our hearts is the only way we can be called disciples of Christ.
Today we need to carry our cross the way Jesus carried His, and make it truly the turning point of our arduous journey to our heavenly home.
Direction
In our love for God, consider discipleship in Christ no matter what the cost may be.
Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, give me the grace and the strength to renounce my pride so that I may be able to pick up my cross and follow You and be a faithful disciple of Jesus. In His Name I pray. Amen.
Reflection 3 – The Cost of Being a Disciple
Today (September 8) is the birthday of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Let us learn the lessons from the life of Mary as Pope Benedict XVI said: “Mary learned from Jesus! From her very first “fiat” (Lk 1:38), through the long ordinary years of the hidden life, as she brought up Jesus, or when at Cana in Galilee she asked for the first sign, or when finally on Calvary, by the Cross, she looked on Jesus, she ‘learned’ him moment by moment. Firstly, in faith and then in her womb, she received the Body of Jesus and then gave birth to him. Day after day, enraptured, she adored him. She served him with solicitous love, singing the Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55) in her heart… Let Mary guide you ‘learn’ Jesus. Keep your eyes fixed on him. Let him form you” (May 26, 2006).
Let us also learn from St. Lucy of Sicily, a young noble woman who lives in the time of the Dioclesian persecution. Her father died when she was a child and she was very close to her mother, Eutychia. At the shrine of St. Agatha of Catania, Lucy had a dream in which Agatha assured her that her mother would recover from serious illness. Eutychia was miraculously healed and agreed to give up her plans for Lucy’s marriage. Lucy vowed then and there to die a virgin and to give all her worldly goods to the poor and follow the Lord Jesus. Her acts of charity distressed her fortune-hunting fiancé, who denounced her as a Christian to the authorities. She was condemned to be despoiled in brothel, but not even a team of oxen could move her from the place where she stood; she survived an attempted burning at the stake; and, praising God all the while, she was dispatched by a sword in the throat. At some juncture in these proceedings she plucked out her eyes and made a present of them to her suitor, who had always admired them. Finally, her throat was cut and she bled to death in 304 A.D. St. Lucy promised to them: “I shall cause believers in Christ to see the power of martyrdom, and from nonbelievers I shall remove the blindness caused by their pride.”
In the Gospel (Lk 14:25-33) Jesus asked his disciples to make clear that nothing should take first place in their lives over God. Jesus knew that the way of the cross was the Father’s way to glory and victory over sin and death. He counted the cost and said ‘yes’ to his Father’s will and freely accept death on the cross for our salvation. He calls his disciples to take up their cross and follow him (Mt 16:24) for Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example so that we should follow in his steps ((1 Pt 2:21). How about us? Look at St. Lucy’s example. She is our model of being a disciple of Jesus. Her way of the cross involves sacrifice of laying down her life for Jesus’ sake and for the eternal life of peace and happiness with God (Lk 18:18ff). What compels you to put God first in all you do? For more reflection on Our Cross by Archbishop Fulton Sheen click this link: http://www.pagadiandiocese.org/2014/05/16/archbishop-fulton-sheen-our-cross/
Reflection 4 – Say Yes!
The Gospel readings these past Sundays form a thematic trilogy. Two Sundays ago, the Lord told us to strive to enter the narrow gate. Being narrow, it involves not only great effort, but also bending down low. So, in last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus taught us of the absolute necessity of the virtue of humility. But one thing more is needed. The narrow gate will not allow us to bring in any extra baggage. So, this Sunday, the Lord tells us: “Unless you renounce all your possessions, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” And to make sure we are admitted, we have to show the distinctive sign of membership, namely, the cross: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow after me cannot be my disciple.”
Being a Christian involves two basic movements: come and go. At all times, Jesus invites us: “Come to me! Follow me!” And after following him, he will send us on a mission: “Go, and proclaim the Good News!” In both movements, our reply should be “yes” so that God’s plan will be realized. God initiates the call, but we have the last word: “Yes!”
A mother of many children is having a hard time disciplining them. She thought of a reward system. She announced: “In this family the one who obeys me immediately and does exactly as he is told without any complaint will get a twenty-dollar reward at the end of the week.” But the youngest boy protested: “It’s not fair! Daddy will always win easily.” Definitely, his father was the man who always has the last word: “Yes!”
“Yes” is a word that is so easy to pronounce. But, in the Gospel this Sunday, Jesus advises us against being too hasty in our response. It would be totally embarrassing if we quickly say yes now, and later on we change our mind. This is why Jesus gave the two parables about prudence and foresight. A man planning to build a tower must calculate carefully if he has enough money and resources to finish the project. The king marching forward to wage battle with another king must also make sure he has enough men to win the battle. In both cases, careful study, planning and preparation are essentially needed.
When one decides to buy a house, he should not immediately sign the contract. Instead, he has first to evaluate his capacity to pay the down payment and the monthly amortization for the next thirty years. The same is true with the decision to follow Jesus. We must beforehand have an honest assessment of our capacity and willingness to pay the cost of discipleship.
In the first place, to say “yes” to Jesus means deliberately putting him as the center and the top priority of our life. This is what the Lord meant when he said: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father or mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Discipleship requires putting Jesus over and above our family, job, money, career, and even our life. A classic example of this is the sisters Venus and Serena Williams. They loved each other, but at one time they had to hate each other. It was at the 2001 US Open Tennis Championship. At that moment on the court, they hated each other, recognizing that the sister stands in the way to the prestigious US Open trophy. As Christians, are we willing to “hate” our loved one who obstructs us from attaining the trophy of eternal glory that Jesus offers?
Secondly, following Jesus requires that we bear our cross patiently. The cross is the key that opens the narrow door to God’s kingdom. Nowadays, many people reject the cross. They abhor sacrifice and sufferings, and would rather run after money, comfort and luxury. When big profit is before our eyes, will the virtue of honesty still be appealing to us? As the saying goes, “when money talks, the truth is silent.”
And finally, following Jesus demands total freedom from the things of this world. Life is a long and arduous journey to our eternal home. Carrying humungous loads on the road will surely slow us down and distract us from our goal. That is why Jesus insisted: “Unless you renounce all your possessions, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” But is it possible for us to let go of the things we hold so dear, things that we acquired through honest sweat and toil? It is never easy. That is why our cabinets are filled up with lots of personal things that we do not use anymore, and yet we are unwilling to let go due to “sentimental” reasons.
In essence, these three conditions are an invitation for us to an authentic love and worship of God by rejecting the three common forms of idolatry. The first idolatry is love of creatures. Jesus reminds us to love God more than our family and any human being. The second idolatry is love of money and material things. The Lord demands renunciation of these things. And the third is love of self, giving in to the temptations of comfort, luxury and pleasure. Jesus invites us instead to take up our cross and follow the way of self-sacrificial love.
The U.S. Marine Corps undergo the most rigorous training and discipline. This is to prepare them for the demands and dangers in the battlefield. They are inspired and guided by their motto, “Semper Fidelis” (Always Faithful). As Christians, we are the Marine Corps of Jesus – brave, determined and faithful until the end – “semper fidelis”. Our “yes” to Jesus ultimately means we are willing to pay the price of following him – even at the cost of our own life. A song by the Charismatic Movement beautifully expresses this: “I have decided to follow Jesus; no turning back, no turning back. The cross before me, the world behind me; no turning back, no turning back.” (Source: Fr. Mike Lagrimas, St. Michael the Archangel Parish, Amsterdam St., Capitol Park Homes, Matandang Balara, Quezon City)
Reflection 5 – Adopted into a New Family
Today’s reading point to the primal struggle of the human heart: either to rest content in our own selves or to open ourselves up to the glory of God. This stirring was first felt in Eden by Adam and Eve as they chose their own immediate desires over and against God’s life and ways. Adam and Eve supposed that he comfort of putting themselves in charge of their own lives and plans was attractive than entrusting their own life-breath to the One who created them. “Better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven,” as Milton would put it.
The readings begin with the end of Solomon’s prayer offered in the Temple (cf. 1 Kgs 3:6-9), asking the Lord for the wisdom to carry out the responsibility of ruling Israel. We hear Solomon realizing the two alternatives facing every human person: left to his own human initiatives, he will inevitably fail, but praying to be open to God’s power, Solomon will no doubt govern rightly. Only with God thus leading the way can the paths of those on earth be made straight (Wis 9:18). Given the imagery between flesh and spirit found in Solomon’s prayer today, it might be important to make clear that the division the Christian senses is not between literal flesh and spirit but between desires which put the self at the center of reality and those holier promptings to allow God to be the standard and measure of all reality. The ancients represented the former selfishness by illustrations from the “flesh” and used the “spirit” to depict a new level of life and freedom. We are incarnate souls whose bodies are neither mere vehicles nor unintended impediments, but are rather the visible expressions of the invisible soul – created, redeemed, and even personally assumed by God himself.
Yet how does Paul’s Epistle to Philemon and this Sunday’s Gospel find their moorings in this prayer of Wisdom? This letter is the shortest of Paul’s letter (usually dated 60 or 61 AD). We can picture the Apostle as he sits imprisoned (in either Ephesus or in Rome) summoning Onesimus, a recently-baptized slave, to take this letter back to Philemon, the master from whom Onesimus has (by all accounts) run away. Whereas we might expect Paul to use this opportunity to condemn slavery or at least to tell Onesimus that he need not return to his master, by sending Onesimus back Paul again points us to the fact that in Christ there is no longer slave or free, Jew or Gentile (cf. Gal 3:28), because all have been made one in a representative of the apostles themselves, Paul concluding: “so if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me” (Philem 1:17).
This is where the Epistle gives way to the Gospel: the Church wants to clarify how following Christ may cost us some biological relationships and natural friendships as well as some material comforts and pleasures that at one level we all desire. That is, Solomon had to let go of his plans for life so as to rule Israel, Paul had to leave his country and successful life hitherto so as to become the Apostle to the Gentiles, Onesimus was asked to return bravely to a less than ideal situation in service of the Gospel, and Jesus today teaches that in fact all who bear his name must learn to “hate” the old life and learn to carry the Cross. To live the Christian life fully more often than not means having to do violence to our fallen nature.
The Lucan use of “hate” is, of course, here a hyperbolic term used by Christ to emphasize how radical this break from mere bios must be if we are ever going to live fully in accordance with the Spirit. Daily expereince offers a myriad of moments where we can ask for the grace to rise above our fallen instincts and old ways of reacting. When we do begin to live habitually at the level of the Spirit, we quickly find that Jesus really never took away anything of value. As C.S. Lewis once quipped, “Shoot for heaven and you get earth thrown in. Shoot for earth and you get neither.” Or in the words of Pope Benedict XVI to the youth gathered in New York a while back: “If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life.” Today we could ask the faithful what they fear most, where they most actively keep Christ away, and, more importantly, where is it they have come to that deep realization for their unshakeable need for Christ as Lord and Savior. (Source: Fr. David Vincent Meconi, SJ. “Homilies for Sunday Liturgies and Feasts,” Homiletic & Pastoral Review, Vol. CX, No. 10. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, August/September 2010, pp. 33-34; Suggested Reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church: 25-16-2519; 2548-2550).
Reflection 6 – Unless you take up your cross…
The first reading from the Book of Wisdom contains many spiritual gems, in which we find the necessity of a spiritual life. In the opening sentence, the author poses a question: Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends? Could the answer to this question be no one? If we answer affirmatively, that we possess potential, then we unlock the prayer piece of our reading. We can come to know the counsel of God, or conceive what God intends, through our personal prayer, and the discernment of what God tells us in prayer. The very next line of the reading reveals why we should pray,
For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans.
Our timidity and uncertainty give cause to pray and seek direction from God.
The state of our parishioners’ prayer lives will be different for each person. Some may only pray infrequently, hopefully once a day, and perhaps at meals. Others will be dedicated pray-ers who try to do a holy hour once a week, or pray the rosary daily. Often in prayer, people busy themselves, rather than taking time to listen to God’s voice speaking within their heart. When people pray, no matter its form, people struggle with distractions. The author of Wisdom understands this:
For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
Our fast paced culture does not lend itself to meditation and contemplation. We are always on to the next thing. Or while a person tries to do something, they are already preoccupied by what is to come. Our minds are filled with to–do lists. These burdens of soul and fleeting thoughts take away from meditation. It takes discipline to curb distraction. For example, in praying the rosary, St. Louis de Montfort recommended inserting a phrase after the name of Jesus which would focus a person’s meditation. In this way fleeting thoughts and distractions are minimalized. (I develop this method in my book A Rosary Litany). However, sometimes these distractions in prayer become a means to prayer. It is important to not disregard distractions. If a person comes to mind while we pray, maybe they need our prayers in that moment. Do not ignore the distraction, but also do not dwell on it.
The second reading provides a snippet of Paul’s short letter to Philemon concerning the run-away slave, Onesiums. I would encourage you to read the letter in its entirety (on your own) since only a few verses are omitted. Consider also reading what your study bible has to say about the historical background of the letter. This short reading provides several preaching points if one would like. St. Paul speaks of his spiritual fatherhood; “whose father I have become in my imprisonment.” Paul also says he would like to retain Onesiums for the service of the evangelization, but Paul does not have the authority to do this. Paul needs someone to spread the gospel since he is imprisoned. This line draws attention to the current situation of persecuted Christians throughout the Middle East. Lastly, Paul touches on the dignity of all people when he considers Onesiums “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother.” Each person has inherent dignity, so a catechetical homily could be possible.
In Luke’s gospel for this weekend, we continue to hear the difficult sayings of Jesus. Only a few weeks ago we heard Jesus say that he has come not to bring peace but cause division. Today Jesus says, “
If anyone come to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
The word hate, as used in this case, “is Semitic exaggeration and may reflect an idiom which means ‘love less than’ (Oxford Bible Commentary). Jesus wants his disciples to possess a perfectly ordered love, first of God, then of family, then others.
Three times in our gospel this weekend, Jesus tells us how not to be a disciple: not having love of God first, not carrying our own cross and following Him, and not renouncing all our possessions. Between the first two conditions of discipleship, Jesus inserts two parables, which speak to the necessity of preparation. To be a disciple means we need to prepare to do so, and Jesus tells us how to do this. The notion of preparation can relate to the earlier theme explored in the first reading—namely prayer. The saints talk about remote and proximate preparation for prayer. If the preacher choses to preach on prayer using Jesus’ two parables, he would focus on the necessity of having a game plan when going to a holy hour or prayer period.
The readings for the twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time supply many different ideas for homilies: prayer, evangelization, human dignity, and discipleship.
Suggested Reading: Joseph A Fitzmyer, The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 52:1-11 (Philemon); Catechism Aids from Homiletic Directory:
CCC 273, 300, 314: God’s transcendence
CCC 36-43: knowledge of God according to the Church
CCC 2544: prefer Christ to all else
CCC 914-919, 931-932: following Christ in consecrated life
– Read the source: http://www.hprweb.com/2016/08/homilies-for-september-2016/
Reflection 7 – Go to the cross, stay at the cross for there is Jesus
I heard it said once that to know what we love, we can examine two things: our daily schedule and our bank statements. By doing this, we see how we invest two of the most important things we can “spend” in this world: time and money. In a roundabout way, this shows how we “spend” something a little less easy to see: our hearts and our love. Our Lord put it simply: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Mt 6:21).
Given today’s Gospel, this is important. We heard Jesus say to the crowds gathered around Him that “anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” “Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone, and bids them ‘renounce all that [they have]’ for his sake and that of the Gospel. Shortly before his passion he gave them the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on. The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of heaven” (CCC 2544).
“Okay, Jesus, that isn’t too bad, I suppose,” we might think. “I’ll donate to charity and help the poor.” But our Blessed Lord does not stop there. Not only did He say to renounce all our possessions, but He said we have to “hate” our closest family members, and even our life! Now before you run off to write a letter to your least favorite family member, let me clarify. The word that our Lord uses here does not have the same connotation that it does when He speaks of loving our enemies who hate us (cf., e.g., Lk 6:27). What it means here is rather that we cannot love anything or anyone, even family or our lives, more than Him. He and He alone must take the first place in our hearts. Remember the two great commandments? Love God and then neighbor, in that order. To turn that around would be to distort and destroy love, for “God is love” itself (1 Jn 4:16), and to love without Him is like trying to drink water from a sandpit. What is more, our love for God must be complete: heart, mind, and soul (cf. Mk 12:30–31). Nothing can be held back. “Christ [must be] the center of all Christian life. The bond with him takes precedence over all other bonds, familial or social” (CCC 1618). So, when our Lord tells us that we are to hate even father and mother, He means that we cannot love them more than we love Him. And, indeed, if our love for them or for ourselves eclipses our love for Him, we must “hate” them, that is, love them less. For in that case they have become obstacles between us and Him, and, in reality, we will not really be loving them at all if that love is not founded in God.
So where do we stand in this relation to these questions? Do we really love God and neighbor as we should? Do we hold on to our possessions to the point that we love them, perhaps even more than God? We have to ask ourselves these questions, and regularly, for if we do not, we can easily fall into idolatry — we can make things like our phones, our money, our food, whatever it might be, into gods which then take the place of the one, true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And if that happens in any way, as Jesus said today, we “cannot be His disciples.” And if we cannot be His disciples, we are doomed to be eternally destroyed . . .
All is not lost, however! Look again at the Gospel. Three times Jesus says that we cannot be His disciples. Basically, if we do not do these three things, we cannot follow Him. The first two we have mentioned: not loving God more than family or things. Unfortunately, we all do these things, and regularly to boot. The third time our Lord tells us we cannot follow Him, however, is actually our hope. Listen again: “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Ah, there it is! The Cross! Our only hope!
Dear brothers and sisters, of course we do not love God as we ought. Of course, we love things more than God. For we do not love the CROSS! We do not like to suffer. To follow in the Passion of Christ. So often, all of us want the joys of Jesus without the Cross of Christ. But the Cross is central to everything. By the power of the Cross, we can be disciples of Jesus. By what He did and the Blood He shed, He gives us the power, the joy, and even the hope to love Him as we ought…and not to love other things as we ought not to. What is more, we have Him with us when we carry the Cross. He didn’t say “take up your Cross and start wandering around on your own.” He said “follow me.” So follow Him! He knows what it means to carry the Cross, and He can and will help us carry our own. And as we carry and follow, He will lead us down the right path, for He is the only true Way we can follow (cf. Jn 14:6).
As always, then, you have some homework this week. Broadly speaking, it is to strive to see things in the light of the Cross. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to go looking for suffering. The Lord will provide the right cross at the right time, which is to say, He will allow you to experience the Cross as He knows will be best for you. But, it does mean that when that cross comes we have to try to accept it, even if it just be something simple as having to wait behind someone at the ATM who is taking longer than we would like. More than this, however, I would like you to pray with the Cross this week. And to do that, you can look at what we said at the beginning: your bank statements and your daily schedule. How do you spend your time and money? Does our money go to superfluous things we don’t need, or is it used to support the Church and to help others who have less? Is our time spent in prayer, on works of charity, and with family, or wasted on too much television, or on sinful activities? Does our use of time and money “fit” with how our Lord spent His Life and Blood on the Cross? If not, “we cannot be His disciples.” But remain in hope, for we can always come back to the Cross. We can, sometime this week, sit down like the man about to build a tower or the king going to war, and take stock of where we stand in relation to the Cross. Anything that does not fit there has to go. We have to be willing to part with it for it has come between us and the Lord. Whatever remains will be a help in staying close to Jesus. So this week, dear friends, go to the Cross. Stay at the Cross. For there is Jesus. And He is the One we must follow if we hope to spend ourselves well.
Read the source: https://www.hprweb.com/2019/08/homilies-for-september-2019/
Reflection 8 – Be faithful disciples
Behind today’s second reading is an interesting episode. A slave by the name of Onesimus escaped from his master, Philemon, and fled to Paul for safety. Paul was eager to protect the run-away slave, but he realized that something of higher value than the freedom of Onesimus was at stake. He was concerned than the master, Philemon, act as a true disciple of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:9-10,12-17).
Paul could easily have hidden Onesimus or even demanded in the name of Christ that Philemon grant him freedom. Instead Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon, somewhat, I imagine, to the slave’s disappointment and the owner’s surprise. With the slave, Paul sent a letter, part of which we have heard today. The point of the letter is that Paul did not want to force virtue upon Philemon, that he wanted instead to invite him to be generous. Giving up a slave meant surrendering valuable property. It was a challenge for Philemon. Paul concluded his letter by saying, “Confident of your compliance, I write you, knowing that you will do more than I say.”
Actually we are not sure how Philemon responded. Did he release his slave or not? We do not know whether Philemon, responded with the generosity which Paul expected of him as a disciple of Jesus. What do we know is that as disciples of Jesus we are called to be generous in our response, not to live according to the minimum or to look for excuses for not being the kind of Catholics we should be. In the Gospel Jesus warns us through the examples about building a tower and going to battle that we have to be prepared for the Christian experience. Heaven is our promised inheritance but that lies in the future. Meanwhile here on earth we are expected to be faithful disciples who must hear and heed the words of Jesus. “Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Perhaps our cross is to endure the pain involved in giving our own slavery to alcohol, tobacco or drugs. Our cross may be to embrace the discipline we need to overcome gossip, to forgive someone who has injured us gravely, or to be kind and thoughtful toward someone who drives us crazy.
God does not force us to be virtuous any more than Paul forced Philemon to give up his slave. Even when bad things happen to us, God does not compel us to accept them as a cross. We have to make the effort to see that we can turn something awful into something valuable by joining our sufferings to those of Christ.
In every Mass we remember the death and the resurrection of Christ in such a way that through the Holy Eucharist his sacrifice is a reality before us on the altar. When we hear the word, “This is my body given up for you,” we should in our hearts say to God our Father, “Yes, this is my body too and with your Son I offer myself to you.” When we hear the words, “This is the cup of my blood,” we should say, “And this is my blood too which I wish to shed out of love for you, if such is your will.” We must be prepared to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
Reflection 9 – Killer Plants
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, . . . he cannot be My disciple. —Luke 14:26
Some forest workers fight fires. Others battle fast-growing plants. A Mercury News article reported that teams of volunteers are working hard to remove invasive plants from the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Workers point out that many of the non-native species they are fighting are sold in garden stores. The German ivy plant, for example, has become a serious problem in California. This fast-growing exotic house plant competes with the native species, smothering and shading everything in its path. It can completely cover and destroy a tree.
Thinking about these home-grown invaders can help us understand something even more crucial than saving trees. Jesus warned us that anything that competes with Him for our hearts can choke our spiritual lives. He said that even the natural love of family can be dangerous and keep us from following Him (Luke 14:16-26). Our Lord demands our undivided love and loyalty.
Once we value Christ above everything else, we will learn to love our family with a deeper and healthier love. But until our ultimate loyalty is determined, home-grown affection will do in our hearts what fire or German ivy will do in a forest.
Don’t let anything compete with Christ. — Mart De Haan
To follow Christ we must let go
Of all that we hold dear;
And once we have denied ourselves,
Our gains become more clear. —Sper
The more we love Christ, the more we’ll love others (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).
Reflection 10 – Counting The Cost
Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost. –Luke 14:28
Several years ago I read an article about the importance of counting the cost before making a major purchase. The advice is particularly appropriate for those of us who overspent this past Christmas season.
The writer illustrated his point by adding up the actual cost of the gifts listed in the popular song “Twelve Days of Christmas.” The result was a lot less romantic than the song itself. All the gifts given in the name of love have their price.
A pear tree was figured at $14, one partridge–$15, two turtle doves– $10, three French hens–$36, four calling birds–$140, five golden rings–$1,000, six geese a-laying– $1,260, and so on. The total tab for all 12 days came to $10,314.92. (And that was not figured at today’s prices.)
Counting the cost is also important in our commitment to Christ. He made this clear in Luke 14, when He talked about what it takes to be His disciple–loving Him more than family relationships, our possessions, or even our own life.
Giving your life in service to Christ and others can be very rewarding. But let’s remember what Jesus said. Being His disciple has its price, and we must carefully count the cost. — Mart De Haan
When called to do a work for Christ,
We can’t ignore the cost;
For if we fail to think it through,
Our efforts may be lost. –JDB
Following Jesus costs more than anything–except not following Him (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).
Reflection 11 – What’s The Cost?
What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. —Philippians 3:7
Years ago when Romania was under the control of Communism, Bela Karolyi coached gymnastics. He skillfully developed the talents of stars such as gold-medalist Nadia Comaneci. For his success in training athletes who were bringing fame to his Iron Curtain country, he was rewarded with an expensive car and many other favors. But Bela hungered for freedom. So one day, carrying only a small suitcase, he resolutely walked out of Romania into penniless liberty.
There’s also a cost in following Jesus and experiencing the freedom He gives. When fishermen Peter and Andrew heard Jesus call, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men,” they “immediately left their nets and followed Him” (Matt. 4:19-20). Similarly, James and John left their father and their livelihood to embark on a precarious life of discipleship. They knew the cost and chose to follow Jesus, leaving everything behind (vv.21-22).
What an example for all of us who claim to be disciples of Jesus! He said, “Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). Are we willing to make sacrifices—major and minor—for our Lord? Let’s respond to the Savior’s invitation, “Follow Me,” not merely in word but in action. — Vernon C. Grounds
Jesus calls me—I must follow,
Follow Him today;
When His tender voice is pleading,
How can I delay? —Brown
When we follow Jesus, all of life changes direction(Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).
Reflection 12 – Weight-Loss Plan
Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. –Luke 14:33
Whatever weight-loss plan you choose, you’re bound to lose pounds—at least for a while. But most dieters reach a plateau before they reach their goal, and many get discouraged when the thrill leaves before all the weight does. Many give up and go back to their old ways of eating.
Something similar happens in our Christian lives. When we begin our walk with Jesus, we easily shed many of the sins that have weighed us down. We give dramatic testimonies about being freed from addictive behaviors. Then the attention shifts to another new believer, and we discover that “little” sins like jealousy, resentment, and anger don’t drop away as readily as the “big” ones. Some of us get so discouraged that we lose sight of our commitment to Christ and go back to some of our old ways of living. Remember the words of Jesus, “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Lk 14:33).
When Jesus talked about the cost of being His disciple (Luke 14:25-35), He wanted those who heard Him to realize that believing in Him and following Him involves more than starting something that is exciting. It means sticking with something that is difficult. As Jesus said, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:27).
So whether we’re talking about weight loss or spiritual gain, the message is the same: What matters most is not how we start but how we finish. — Julie Ackerman Link
As the spiritual writer said: “Onward and upward your course plan today,
Seeking new heights as you walk Jesus’ way;
Heed not past failures, but strive for the prize,
Aiming for goals fit for His holy eyes.” —Brandt
Perseverance makes the difference between failure and success (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).
Reflection 13 – To Accept Christ Is to Accept His Cross
TORONTO, AUG. 31, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Today’s Gospel passage (Luke 14:25-33) contains a collection of sayings that are peculiar to Luke. Luke has Jesus speak about the demands of discipleship. He gathers three sayings (26-27, 33) and two parables (28-32).
They focus on the total dedication necessary for disciples of Jesus. No attachment to family (26) or possessions (33) can stand in the way of the total commitment demanded of the disciple. Acceptance of the call to be a disciple demands readiness to accept persecution and suffering (27) and a realistic assessment of the hardships and costs (28-32).
The two parables embedded in today’s Gospel passage say in their own way what Jesus is saying in the preceding verses: Are you sure you wish to follow me? Is the price more than you are willing to pay? The first parable involves building a tower in a vineyard from which the farmer can stand watch against thieves and foraging animals. The second pictures the royal house where great political issues are settled. But rich and poor, royalty and peasants, have essentially the same decision to make when faced with a major expenditure of time, property, and life itself: Is this cost more than I am able or willing to pay? The decision is no different when one is facing the call to discipleship: The enthusiasm for beginning is there, but do I possess the resources to persevere to completion?
Both parables highlight the need to use wisdom in assessing the cost of discipleship. Both the tower builder and the warring king must calculate the costs and study the risks before making a final decision. The disciple must know that following Christ requires an allegiance that will always be the highest priority. To accept the person of Christ is to accept his cross as well.
The source of our happiness
The author of today’s first reading from the book of Wisdom (9:13-18) is not dealing with the age-old distinction between what is of the body and what is of the soul (known often as dualism). The view of human nature in the Hebrew Scriptures is not dualistic, even though it is clearly recognized that the limitations of human nature make it impossible for us to fully comprehend the mysteries of God.
As Christians we need not oppose human progress nor reject comforts and pleasures. The believer must assess these within the delicate balance of wisdom and life. Today’s first reading challenges us: Does our happiness come from the mere acquisition of possessions or from sharing and interacting with God and neighbor?
Choosing Christ above all else
In the midst of the many voices clamoring for our time, money, allegiance and attention, we are called to choose Christ to the complete dispossession of all else. This is a great challenge for each of us, especially in our day. We so often define choice not as the freedom to choose one action over another, but as the freedom to choose everything at once. Freedom of choice has come to mean keeping our options open. The tragedy of this condition is that it is literally impossible to “keep our options open” and live lives of any significance.
I have found this to be one of the most difficult aspects of my teaching and pastoral ministry with many young people over the past 20 years: their unwillingness to commit to anything, to take risks, or to follow through on commitments already made. The obvious problem is that it is impossible to make any choice without consequences that rule out other options. Every choice we make automatically excludes other choices. This choosing is essential and even desirable for a meaningful life.
One mission or 1,000 options
One of the clearest teachings of this point was made by Australian Cardinal George Pell during his outstanding homily at the Opening Mass for World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, on July 15, 2008.
Cardinal Pell spoke to the throng of over 150,000 young people from throughout the world about their mission in life: “Don’t spend your life sitting on the fence, keeping your options open, because only commitments bring fulfillment. Happiness comes from meeting our obligations, doing our duty, especially in small matters and regularly, so we can rise to meet the harder challenges. Many have found their life’s calling at World Youth Days.”
Cardinal Pell’s stirring words still ring in my years two years later: “One mission is better than a thousand options.”
True wisdom and freedom
In the midst of our chaotic lives Jesus stops and says, “You have to choose.” In his call to authentic discipleship, Christ challenges our most precious loyalties. As there can be no other gods before the God of Israel, there can be no other loves before Christ. Thus, there is a cost to following Jesus, and the curious and half-hearted should take notice. Discipleship may cost us everything, but will gain for us all that will ever matter. Only then will we be truly wise and truly free.
The claim of Christ and the Gospel
Luke emphasizes that Jesus does not like compromises and requires a commitment of the whole person, a decisive detachment from any nostalgia for the past, from family demands, from material possessions (cf. Luke 9:57-62; 14:26-33). To the call to cross bearing, already issued in 9:23, is joined the almost frightening demand to hate one’s family and one’s own life (26).
To hate is a Semitic expression meaning to turn away from, to detach oneself from someone or something. There is nothing of that emotion we experience in the expression “I hate you.” Were that the case, then Verse 26 alone would cancel all the calls to love, to care, to nourish, especially one’s own family found throughout the New Testament.
And to hate one’s own life is not a call for self-loathing and self-destruction. What is demanded of disciples, however, is that in the network of many loyalties in which all of us live, the claim of Christ and the Gospel not only takes precedence but also, in fact, redefines the others. This can and will necessarily involve some detaching, some turning away.
To be a Christian for Luke means to follow Jesus on the path that he takes (9:57; 10:38; 13:22; 14:25). It is Jesus himself who takes the initiative and calls us to follow him, and he does it decisively, unmistakably, thus showing his extraordinary identity, his mystery of being the Son who knows the Father and reveals him (10:22). Jesus speaks to all those who walked with him at that moment in history, and to those of us who walk with him today: “Think about what you are doing and decide if you are willing to stay with me all the way.”
Human beings will always be tempted to lessen the radical demands of the Gospel and to adapt them to our own weaknesses, or to give up the path undertaken. But the authenticity and quality of the Christian community’s life depends precisely on this. A Church that lives by compromise would be like salt that has lost its taste (14:34-35).
A compassionate portrayal of the disciples
To be called does not require perfection on our behalf, only fidelity and holy listening. Samuel and the prophets of Israel, Martha, Mary and Lazarus of Bethany, the fishermen of Galilee and even the tax collectors that Jesus called were certainly not called because of their qualifications or achievements. Paul says that Jesus calls “the foolish,” so that the wise will be shamed. The Gospel portrayal of the disciples is compassionate because it makes a place for people who struggle to reach their dreams, for people who at times forget their call to greatness. We will never be the same because Jesus has called us, loved us, changed us and made us into his image. Because he has called us, we have no choice but to call others to accept the Gospel and follow him.
Cardinal Newman’s cost of discipleship
On Sept. 19, 2010, in Birmingham, England, the long awaited beatification ceremony will take place for the great Victorian Catholic theologian, John Henry Cardinal Newman, one of the most influential English Catholics of the 19th century. He journeyed from Anglicanism to Catholicism and used his great intellect and masterful writing ability to win over thousands of people to Christ and the Roman Catholic Church.
In becoming Catholic, Newman had to make many sacrifices. Many of his friends broke off relations with him after his conversion, and his family kept him at a distance. He had to resign his teaching fellowship and lost his only source of income. He lived the terrible pain of misunderstanding from his own family, from Church leaders, and those closest to him. Newman said that the one thing that sustained him during this trying period was Christ’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament.
As a tribute to his extraordinary work and devotion, Pope Leo XIII named Father John Henry Newman a Cardinal in 1879. After a life of trials, Newman received the news with joy and declared, “The cloud is lifted forever.”
Cardinal Newman died at the age of 89 at the Oratory House in Edgbaston on Aug. 11, 1890. He was declared Venerable in 1991 by Pope John Paul II. On Sept. 19, 2010, Benedict XVI, himself, will honor Cardinal John Henry Newman, a good and faithful servant who paid the price for the cost of discipleship of Jesus. – (Source: Fr. Thomas Rosica, Salt and Light Catholic Media)
Reflection 14 – Priorities
What in your life is a higher priority than your relationship with God? That’s what Jesus wants us to look at in this Sunday’s Gospel reading. Which people? What work? What trial? What possessions? What friendships? What goals? What activities?
What crosses do you want to get rid of that, if you do escape from them, would require you to abandon Jesus on his cross? (Hint: What sacrifices of love are you unwilling to make?)
Jesus says that unless we are first and foremost committed to discipleship — learning from him and making every effort to become more like him — we are ill prepared for all the other tasks of life.
In other words, we can start building toward good goals, but if our relationship with Christ is not our highest priority, we’ll miss his guidance and his surprises and his blessings. We’ll get distracted by worldly interferences and sin. We’ll become victims instead of victors in the battles we face. Anything good that we achieve will be less than the best, because there is much more in the kingdom of God than what we can imagine.
A disciple is a student. We learn from Jesus how to love others, even when this becomes a cross to carry. He teaches us how to live a life of joyful love but also of unconditional, forgiving love. And we learn from him how to put up healthy, holy boundaries against those who interfere with our spiritual growth, and this too can be a cross.
The strength to follow Christ and become more and more like him every day requires a conscious effort to grow stronger in our ability to carry our crosses while uniting ourselves to his cross and to his strength. When we lack this intimate bond with Christ, we stumble and fall, crushed by the weight of our crosses. But if we are willing to make sacrifices out of love for others, like Jesus did, we embrace him more fully and we receive his love more deeply. And this is the most satisfying way to live!
Questions for Personal Reflection:
Consider your daily activities: What are your top priorities? What do you value more than the time you spend with Jesus in prayer, scripture, and other faith-building activities?
Questions for Family & Community Faith Sharing:
What are some common ways that we move God down in priority? By making him our highest priority, what are ways that we can lovingly show concern for others even while putting God ahead of them in our daily activities? – Read the source: http://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/?useDrDate=2016-09-03
Reflection 15 – We cannot love good if our heart is attached to earthly goods
Holiness is not doing great things, but obeying as children, namely free.
1) An order in love.
The Gospel passage that the liturgy offers on this 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time shows us how the Redeemer targets man in his real life and in the most intimate sphere of his family relationships. At the same time, however, Jesus offers a bond far superior to the affections of the natural family. Words like “father”, “mother”, “brother” in Christ take on a deeper and richer meaning. Christ, saying that we must “hate the father … the mother … the brother” (a formula that probably has an Aramaic influence that means loving God more than the natural father), does not destroy natural bonds. He puts them in order, giving them the correct hierarchy. St. Augustine comments as follows: “Christ has placed in you an order in love. Therefore, love the father but do not love him more than the Lord; love the one who generated you but no more than me who created you “. Christ does not ask to love God against one’s own father, mother, wife, husband, children, but to love them in him.
In a seemingly paradoxical way, the Redeemer teaches us that we are disciples is so far as we welcome love and will live this love. Today we hear the expression: “Whoever does not hate his own father and mother, woman, children and brothers, sisters and his own life cannot be my disciple”. I believe that this Aramaic expression, that uses the verb “to hate”, is a strong thing but it reminds us of what we know: what is the commandment? And what is the fundamental commandment? “You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your life, with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Now, this commandment: “Whoever does not hate the father, the mother …” corresponds to the one that asks us to love God with all our heart …
After all, what is the positive commandment to love God with all your heart is expressed here in a negative way: if I love God with all my heart, I become like God and I will love others as well.
After all, it is the commandment of absolute love for God, which is then typical of the desire of man’s heart: to love in an infinite way. Only the Infinite can be loved in an infinite way, otherwise it becomes idolatry and we become slaves. The Absolute, the God of Christ, is the “God of the human heart” (St. Francis of Sales, Treatise on the Love of God, I, XV) and absolves us and truly makes us free because absolute Love gives meaning, sense (direction) and taste for freedom.
After all, whoever leaves his family, has no wife, has no husband and has no children, testifies that the absolute love of man is God. This is valid for any man.
In short, we must leave everything to have the Whole following Christ, who shows us that those who love don’t die, and that only love overcomes death. In fact, by loving one does not die, one lives in another or, better, one lives in God forever. God draws man to himself with bonds of love, that is, of true freedom: “for love has neither convicts nor slaves, but reduces everything under its own obedience with such a delightful force that, even if nothing is as strong as love, nothing is as lovable as its strength “(Ibid., book I, chap. VI).
To the many people who walk with Him because He is the meaning of life, Jesus addresses the invitation to break all human ties, even those with oneself (Lk 14: 25-26). The Evangelist Luke is meticulous and insistent in listing the bonds to be broken and, moreover, preserves in all his paradoxicality the Greek verb misein (to hate). Saint Matthew uses the Greek verb fileo1 which can be- I think – rightly translated as “to prefer”. Saint Luke too, obviously, does not intend “to hate” in the true sense of the word. Placing the verb “hate” in its most proper meaning of to postpone and to subordinate, these words of Jesus keep their strength intact. He knows that parents must be loved and respected. For him too, this is not hating, but a detachment and a preference for the Kingdom. However, he has preserved the Greek verb misein which undoubtedly indicates a radical detachment. It is not just a question of breaking ties with the family and neither a generic detachment from oneself is enough. The example of Jesus is very concrete and precise: we must be willing to carry the cross (verse 27), that is to be ready for the effective and total self-giving. The parables of the tower and the king (14.28-32) teach that one must think well before throwing oneself into a business, one must calculate the possibilities and create the conditions that allow to complete it with success.
The following is not made for the superficial and for the unreflective, because before undertaking the task of following Jesus it is necessary to “calculate and reflect”. This does not mean finding ways to escape the logic of the cross but finding ways to lead it to its extreme consequences. This is the calculation required from the disciple.
What does “calculating and reflecting” mean? Verse 33 tells us: “Anyone of you who will not renounce all his possessions, cannot be my disciple.” Only in detachment from goods it is possible to be a disciple and a total gift is possible. In the same way as to build a tower enough bricks and the money to buy them are required, so to follow Jesus it is necessary to be detached from goods.
In fact, one cannot love Good if his heart is attached to goods.
The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian lies precisely in this evaluation of sacrifice and life to the point of renouncing it, as the Psalm says: “Your grace is worth more than life”.
Sacrifice is redemptive because it is the path that Christ has traveled to save us and that each of us must follow to reach his true home.
Sacrifice is educational because it prevents us from cradling the illusion that earthly life should last indefinitely; it prevents us from exchanging the miserable way of the pilgrim with the luminous and eternal happiness of the homeland.
2) Follow for love and without half measures.
To reach this homeland we must leave everything to have the Whole following Christ, who shows us that those who love don’t die and that only love overcomes death. In fact, by loving, one does not die, one lives in another or, better, one lives in God forever. Called to the exodus with Christ, the definitive Moses, Christians are required to fight half measures. Two half measures make a whole only in mathematics. Christ wants the full measure from us. Our most frequent sin is, I think, the sin of omission: it is not so much the evil that is done, but the good that is not done or, rather, the good that is done in half. In Christian life the sums of two half measures result in mediocrity2. This word is eloquent: it means the state of one who establishes himself in half measure, of one who serves two masters and who can only be lukewarm, but “God vomits the lukewarm” (Rev 3:16):
Following Christ is a “mortification” (= put to death) of what is transient in favor of a liberated and redeemed life. In Christianity renunciation is not an end in itself; it is always the way to open to others and to the Other par excellence. To go to the other, you must first come out of yourself.
Following Christ and walking with him requires going out of ourselves and of a way of living the tired and routine faith. In order to go after Jesus as he demands, the emotion of the heart is not enough but we must assume his logic of love which has as its vertex the Cross and, as a result, the Resurrection. The gift of life that Christ gave us was and is a gift that brings life forever.
To follow Christ is to dedicate oneself to prayer, in fact “prayer, by exercising the soul, unites it to God and makes it follow the vestiges of the crucified Christ; thus God makes of it another self, through desire, affection and union of love “(Saint Catherine of Siena, Dialogue of Divine Providence, chapter 1). With love (agape) God himself assures us of the continuity of his presence in us. The love of two beings makes one being.
Of this are witness the consecrated Virgins who offer the example of following Christ by abandoning themselves to the divine Providence in a spousal attitude. According to the Rite of their Consecration when the Bishop asks them “Do you want to follow Christ according to the Gospel so that your life appears as a testimony of love and a sign of the Kingdom of God?”, “Do you want to be consecrated to the Lord Jesus Christ , the Son of the Most High God, and recognize him as a bridegroom“, they answer” Yes, we do “(RCV 17).
In fact, virginal consecration implies an unlimited confidence in the Son of God. “Whoever gives himself completely to God does not fear to abandon all human things to devote himself solely to divine things, to dedicate himself completely to God, to seek his Kingdom and his justice, to clear from his heart all the earthly affections, in a word, to follow Christ and cling to the blessed nakedness of his cross, on that dying to the earth, and living only for heaven: where his treasure is, there is also his heart ”(Antonio Rosmini, Maxims of Christian perfection, lesson V).
1 The verb philéô means “to love” in the sense of “loving each other, having somebody dear, treating with affection, kissing (among friends), welcoming a guest”. Philéô was the verb that expressed the idea of ”affection between friends” (the noun philós in fact means in Greek “friend”). With philéô we indicated an interpersonal relationship based on equality, on affinity within a community, a city, a race. In fact, as an adjective, philós means “dear” and was used in the relationship between parents and children or between brothers. The verb philéô occurs 9 times in John, 5 times in Matthew, 1 time in Mark, 2 times in Luke; 2 times in the Epistles. In the sense of “having dear, having affection” Jesus sometimes uses this verb in relation to Lazarus and John (Jn 11, 3, 36; 20,2), thus revealing a particular tenderness and preference.
The verb agapáô means “to love” in the sense of “having dear, cherishing, preferring”: it is used to indicate love for God, Christ, justice or neighbor. Compared to philéô, the verb agapáô has a lower affective or, better to say, emotional nuance and expresses a movement of ideal benevolence, a type of love that starts from the top or turns upwards. In the Latin of the Vulgate the verb agapáô is translated with díligo. Agapáô occurs 37 times in John, 13 times in Luke, 8 times in Matthew, 5 times in Mark; it is also found 25 times in the Letters of John. In the discourse of the Last Supper, reported in John’s Gospel, Christ always uses this verb: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you” (15: 9), “love one another” (15:18) , up to that last prayer (Jn 17) in which the Christ, giving himself completely to men, says: “And I made known to them your name and I will make it known, because the love with which you loved me is in them and I in them ”.
The difference between the love expressed by philéô and that expressed by agapáô – difference in reality unknown to the Greeks of the classical era – is particularly clear from the chapter 21 (15-17) of John, where Christ asks Peter three times the question: “Do you love me?” In reality the first and second questions bear the verb agapáô:
“After having lunch, Jesus says to Simon Peter:” Simon of John, do you love me (agapas) you more than these? “He replies:” Yes, Lord, you know that I love you (philô). : “Feed my lambs.” He tells him for the second time: “Simon of John, do you love me (agapas) you?” He replies: “Yes, O Lord, you know that I love you (philô)”. He tells him: “Feed my flock.” He tells him for the third time: “Simon of John, do you love me (phileîs)?” “.The third time Christ uses the verb philéô because, before Pentecost, the apostles, including Peter, still lived love according to relations of blood, or according to group or family affinity: they perceived the value of “love” according to the connotation expressed by the verb philéô. Only after Pentecost, when the flame of Christic love descends upon them, will the apostles fully understand the universal value of agápê, so much so that Paul will be able to speak of it in the “Hymn to charity” (1 Cor 13: 1-8 ).
2 Mediocrity is a word that indicates, for example, 1. The intermediate position between two extremes; 2. The modest quality or lack of a thing: mediocrity of goods; 3. The modest quality of a person, who, therefore, is qualified as mediocre.
With the invitation to put our heart in God so that in Him we will love our neighbor.
Don Franco @DonFrancoFollo
Read the source: https://zenit.org/articles/archbishop-follo-we-cannot-love-good-if-our-heart-is-attached-to-earthly-goods/
Reflection 17 – The true cost of discipleship
Why does the Lord Jesus say we must ‘hate’ our families and even ourselves (Luke 14:26)? In Biblical times the expression ‘to hate’ often meant to ‘prefer less’. Jesus used strong language to make clear that nothing should take precedence or first place over God. God our heavenly Father created us in his image and likeness to be his beloved sons and daughters. He has put us first in his love and concern for our well-being and happiness. Our love for him is a response to his exceeding love and kindness towards us. True love is costly because it holds nothing back from the beloved – it is ready to give all and sacrifice all for the beloved. God the Father gave us his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who freely offered up his life for us on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His sacrificial death brought us pardon and healing, new life in the Spirit and peace with God.
The cost of following Jesus as his disciples
Jesus willingly embraced the cross, not only out of obedience to his Father’s will, but out of a merciful love for each one of us in order to set us free from slavery to sin, Satan, and everything that would keep us from his love, truth, and goodness. Jesus knew that the cross was the Father’s way for him to achieve victory over sin and death – and glory for our sake as well. He counted the cost and said ‘yes’ to his Father’s will. If we want to share in his glory and victory, then we, too, must ‘count the cost’ and say ‘yes” to his call to “take up our cross and follow him” as our Lord and Savior.
What is the ‘way of the cross’ for you and me? It means that when my will crosses with God’s will, then his will must be done. The way of the cross involves sacrifice, the sacrifice of laying down my life each and every day for Jesus’ sake. What makes such sacrifice possible and “sweet” for us is the love of God poured out for us in the blood of Christ who cleanses us and makes us a new creation in him. Paul the Apostle tells us that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). We can never outmatch God in his merciful love and kindness towards us. He always gives us more than we can expect or imagine. Do you allow the Holy Spirit to fill your heart and transform your life with the overflowing love and mercy of God?
The wise plan ahead to avert failure and shame
What do the twin parables of the tower builder and a ruler on a war campaign have in common (Luke 14:28-32)? Both the tower builder and the ruler risked serious loss if they did not carefully plan ahead to make sure they could finish what they had begun. In a shame and honor culture people want at all costs to avoid being mocked by their community for failing to complete a task which they had begun in earnest. This double set of parables echoes the instruction given in the Old Testament Book of Proverbs: “By wisdom a house is built” and “by wise guidance you can wage a war” to ensure victory (Proverbs 24:3-6).
In Jesus’ time every landowner who could afford it built a wall around his orchard or vineyard as a protection from intruders who might steal or destroy his produce. A tower was usually built in a corner of the wall and a guard posted especially during harvest time when thieves would likely try to make off with the goods. Starting a building-project, like a watchtower, and leaving it unfinished because of poor planning or insufficient funds would invite the scorn of the whole village. Likewise a king who decided to wage a war against an opponent who was much stronger, would be considered foolish if he did not come up with a plan that had a decent chance of success. Counting the cost and investing wisely are necessary conditions for securing a good return on the investment.
The great exchange
If you prize something of great value and want to possess it, it’s natural to ask what it will cost you before you make a commitment to invest in it. Jesus was utterly honest and spared no words to tell his disciples that it would cost them dearly to be his disciples – it would cost them their whole lives and all they possessed in exchange for the new life and treasure of God’s kingdom. The Lord Jesus leaves no room for compromise or concession. We either give our lives over to him entirely or we keep them for ourselves. Paul the Apostle reminds us, “We are not our own. We were bought with a price” ( 1 Corinthians 6:19b,20). We were once slaves to sin and a kingdom of darkness and oppression, but we have now been purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ who has ransomed us from a life of darkness and destruction so we could enter his kingdom of light and truth. Christ has set us free to choose whom we will serve in this present life as well as in the age to come – God’s kingdom of light, truth, and goodness or Satan’s kingdom of darkness, lies, and deception. There are no neutral parties – we are either for God’s kingdom or against it.
Who do you love first – above all else?
The love of God compels us to choose who or what will be first in our lives. To place any relationship or any possession above God is a form of idolatry – worshiping the creature in place of the Creator and Ruler over all he has made. Jesus challenges his disciples to examine who and what they love first and foremost. We can be ruled and mastered by many different things – money, drugs, success, power or fame. Only one Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, can truly set us free from the power of sin, greed, and destruction. The choice is ours – who will we serve and follow – the path and destiny the Lord Jesus offers us or the path we choose in opposition to God’s will and purpose for our lives. It boils down to choosing between life and death, truth and falsehood, goodness and evil. If we choose for the Lord Jesus and put our trust in him, he will show us the path that leads to true joy and happiness with our Father in heaven.
“Lord Jesus, you are my Treasure, my Life, and my All. There is nothing in this life that can outweigh the joy of knowing, loving, and serving you all the days of my life. Take my life and all that I have and make it yours for your glory now and forever.” – Read the source: http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/2019/sep8.htm
Reflection 18 – Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary September 8
It is typical in the Church to celebrate a saint’s death-day instead of the saint’s birthday, for “the Church always argued that it was premature to celebrate a birthday because the rest of the life of the person born on that day was subject to such ambiguity” (Pope Benedict XVI). The birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an exquisite exception since “her soul was the space from which God was able to gain access into humanity” (Pope Benedict XVI). “Today God welcomes on earth the holy throne which he had prepared for himself. He who established the heavens in wisdom has fashioned a living heaven” (Byzantine Liturgy).
The Church has celebrated Mary’s birth since at least the sixth century. A September birth was chosen because the Eastern Church begins its Church year with September. The September 8 date helped determine the date for the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 (nine months earlier).
Scripture does not give an account of Mary’s birth. However, the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James fills in the gap. This work has no historical value, but it does reflect the development of Christian piety. According to this account, Anna and Joachim are infertile but pray for a child. They receive the promise of a child that will advance God’s plan of salvation for the world. Such a story (like many biblical counterparts) stresses the special presence of God in Mary’s life from the beginning.
St. Augustine (August 28) connects Mary’s birth with Jesus’ saving work. He tells the earth to rejoice and shine forth in the light of her birth. “She is the flower of the field from whom bloomed the precious lily of the valley. Through her birth the nature inherited from our first parents is changed.” The opening prayer at Mass speaks of the birth of Mary’s Son as the dawn of our salvation and asks for an increase of peace.
Comment:
We can see every human birth as a call for new hope in the world. The love of two human beings has joined with God in his creative work. The loving parents have shown hope in a world filled with travail. The new child has the potential to be a channel of God’s love and peace to the world.
This is all true in a magnificent way in Mary. If Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s love, Mary is the foreshadowing of that love. If Jesus has brought the fullness of salvation, Mary is its dawning.
Birthday celebrations bring happiness to the celebrant as well as to family and friends. Next to the birth of Jesus, Mary’s birth offers the greatest possible happiness to the world. Each time we celebrate her birth we can confidently hope for an increase of peace in our hearts and in the world at large.
Source:http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1132
Quote:
“Today the barren Anna claps her hands for joy, the earth radiates with light, kings sing their happiness, priests enjoy every blessing, the entire universe rejoices, for she who is queen and the Father’s immaculate bride buds forth from the stem of Jesse” (adapted from Byzantine Daily Worship).
SAINT OF THE DAY
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God’s invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint. Click here to receive Saint of the Day in your email.
Reflection 18 – The Historical and Theological foundations of the celebration of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary September 8th
by A Valentini
http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/marybrth.htm
The present Feast forms a link between the New and the Old Testament. It shows that Truth succeeds symbols and figures and that the New Covenant replaces the Old. Hence, all creation sings with joy, exults, and participates in the joy of this day…. This is, in fact, the day on which the Creator of the world constructed His temple; today is the day on which by a stupendous project a creature becomes the preferred dwelling of the Creator” (Saint Andrew of Crete). “Let us celebrate with joy the birth of the Virgin Mary, of whom was born the Sun of Justice…. Her birth constitutes
the hope and the light of salvation for the whole world…. Her image is
light for the whole Christian people” (From the Liturgy). As these texts so clearly indicate, an atmosphere of joy and light pervades the Birth of the Virgin Mary.
- Historical Details about the Feast
The origin of this Feast is sought in Palestine. It goes back to the
consecration of a church in Jerusalem, which tradition identifies as that of the present basilica of St. Ann. At Rome the Feast began to be kept toward the end of the 7th century, brought there by Eastern monks. Gradually and in varied ways it spread to the other parts of the West in the centuries that followed. From the 13th century on, the celebration assumed notable importance, becoming a Solemnity with a major Octave and preceded by a Vigil calling for a fast. The Octave was reduced to a simple one during the reform of St. Pius X and was abolished altogether under the reform of Pius XII in 1955.The present Calendar characterizes the Birth of Mary as a “Feast,” placing it on the same plane as the Visitation. For some centuries now, the Birth has been assigned to September 8 both in the East and in the West, but in ancient times it was celebrated on different dates from place to place.
However, when the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (which has a later origin than that of the Birth) was extended to the whole Church, the Birth little by little became assigned everywhere to September 8: nine months after the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.
2. At the Heart of Salvation
As we know, the Gospels have not transmitted to us anything about the birth of the Virgin Mary. Their attention is completely centered on the mystery of Christ and His salvific mission. The birth of Mary is recounted by the Protevangelium of James (5:2), an apocryphal writing from the end of the 2nd century. Subsequent tradition is based on this account. The description – although in the manner of an apocryphal document – obviously presents an important historical event: the birth of the Mother of the Lord. But the problem that concerns us here is the significance of this event.
In the case of all the Saints, the Church commemorates their birthday on the day of their return to the Lord. However, in the cases of St. John the Baptizer and the Blessed Virgin, it also celebrates the day of their earthly birth. This is a singular fact already emphasized in ancient times, for example, by Paschasius Radbertus (d. about 859). The reason for this fact is not found primarily in the greatness or the privileges of the persons involved but in the singular mission that was theirs in the History of Salvation.
In this light, the birth of the Blessed Virgin is considered to be – like that of John the Baptizer in direct relationship with the coming of the Savior of the world. Thus, the birth and existence of Mary similar to and even more than those of the Baptizer – take on a significance that transcends her own person. It is explained solely in the context of the History of Salvation, connected with the People of God of the Old Covenant and the New.
Mary’s birth lies at the confluence of the two Testaments – bringing to an end the stage of expectation and the promises and inaugurating the new times of grace and salvation in Jesus Christ. Mary, the Daughter of Zion and ideal personification of Israel, is the last and most worthy representative of the People of the Old Covenant but at the same time she is “the hope and the dawn of the whole world.” With her, the elevated Daughter of Zion, after a long expectation of the promises, the times are fulfilled and a new economy is established (LG 55).
The birth of Mary is ordained in particular toward her mission as Mother of the Savior. Her existence is indissolubly connected with that of Christ: it partakes of a unique plan of predestination and grace. God’s mysterious plan regarding the incarnation of the Word embraces also the Virgin who is His Mother.
In this way, the Birth of Mary is inserted at the very heart of the History of Salvation.
- Christological Orientations
The Biblical readings of the Feast have a clear Christological- salvific
orientation that forms the backdrop for contemplating the figure of Mary.
Micah 5:1-4a. The Prophet announces the coming of the Lord of Israel who will come forth from Bethlehem of Judah. The Mother of the Messiah, presented as one about to give birth, will give life to the prince and pastor of the house of David who will bring justice and peace. She will work with the Messiah to bring forth a new people. Romans 8.28-30. This passage does not speak directly about Mary but about the believer justified by the grace of Christ and gifted with the indwelling of the Spirit. He or she has been chosen and called from all eternity to share Christ’s life and glory.
This is true in a privileged manner for Mary, Spouse and Temple of the Holy Spirit, Mother of God’s Son, and intimately united with Him in a Divine plan of predestination and grace. Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23.
The meaning of this seemingly and genealogy is theologically profound: to place Jesus, the Messiah Lord, within the dynastic tree of His people. He is a descendant, and in fact “the descendant,” of Abraham (cf. Gal 3:16) and the Patriarchs in accord with the promises, and He is the semi-heir of the Prophets.
The ring that united Christ with His people is Mary, Daughter of Zion and Mother of the Lord. The virginity stressed by the Gospel text is the sign of the Divine origin of the Son and of the absolute newness that now breaks forth in the history of human beings.
The Christological-salvific purpose and tone dominate not only the Bible readings but also the Eucharistic Celebration and the Liturgy of the Hours. It has been observed that, although the texts of this Feast’s celebration are less rich than those of other Marian feasts, they do have one outstanding characteristic:
The number of themes is rather restricted, [but] there are extremely numerous invitations to joy” (J. Pascher). Indeed, joy pervades the whole of this Feast’s liturgy. If many “will rejoice” at the birth of the precursor (cf. Lk 1:14), a much greater joy is stirred up by the birth of the Mother of the Savior. Hence, this is a Feast that serves as a prelude to the “joy to all people” brought about by the Birth of the Son of God at Christmas and expressed by the singing of hymns and carols. Added to this theme of joy on this Marian Feast is that of light because with Mary’s birth the darkness is dispersed and there rises in the world the dawn that announces the Sun of Justice, Christ the Lord (Source: Dictionary of Mary (New York:
Nativity of Mary
| THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY | |
|---|---|
|
|
| PURE, SINLESS,[1] IMMACULATE WITHOUT ORIGINAL SIN |
|
| VENERATED IN | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church, SomeOriental Orthodox Churches, Anglican Communion |
| FEAST | September 8 (Universal) |
| ATTRIBUTES | Birth of Mary, by her mother Saint Anne |
| PATRONAGE |
|
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of Mary, or the Birth of the Virgin Mary, refers to a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The modern canon of scripture does not record Mary’s birth. The earliest known account of Mary’s birth is found in the Protoevangelium of James (5:2), an apocryphal text from the late second century, with her parents known asSaint Anne and Saint Joachim.[2]
In the case of saints, the Church commemorates their date of death, with Saint John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary as the few whose birth dates are commemorated. The reason for this is found in the singular mission each had insalvation history,[3] but traditionally also because these alone (besides the prophet Jeremiah, Jer 1:5) were holy in their very birth (for Mary, see Immaculate Conception; John was sanctified in Saint Elizabeth‘s womb according to the traditional interpretation of Lk 1:15).
Devotion to the innocence of Mary under this Marian title is widely celebrated in many cultures across the globe.
Contents
[hide]
Traditional account[edit]
The Infant Mary wrapped in swaddling clothes. Museum ofValenzuela City, Philippines .
The “Protoevangelium of James”, which was probably put into its final written form in the early second century, describes Mary’s father Joachim as a wealthy member of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. He and his wife Anne were deeply grieved by their childlessness.[4]
It is not clear where the actual birth took place. Some accounts speak of Nazareth and others say it was in a house near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. It is possible that a wealthy man such as Joachim had a home in both Judea and Galilee.[5]
Feast day[edit]
Tradition celebrates the event as a liturgical feast in the General Roman Calendar and in most Anglican liturgical calendars[6]on 8 September, nine months after the solemnity of her Immaculate Conception, celebrated on 8 December.
The Greek Orthodox likewise celebrate the Nativity of the Theotokos on 8 September.[7] The feast is also celebrated by Syrian Christians on 8 September[8] and by Coptic Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians on 9 May (1 Bashans, EC 1 Ginbot). The feast is also included in the Tridentine Calendar for 8 September.
History[edit]
The earliest document commemorating this feast comes from a hymn written in the sixth century. The feast may have originated somewhere in Syria or Palestine in the beginning of the sixth century, when after the Council of Ephesus, the cult of the Mother of God was greatly intensified, especially in Syria.[9]
The first liturgical commemoration is connected with the sixth century dedication of the Basilica Sanctae Mariae ubi nata est, now called the Church of St. Anne in Jerusalem. The original church built, in the fifth century, was a Marian basilica erected on the spot known as the shepherd’s pool and thought to have been the home of Mary’s parents.[2] In the seventh century, the feast was celebrated by the Byzantines as the feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since the story of Mary’s Nativity is known only from apocryphal sources, the Latin Church was slower in adopting this festival. At Rome the Feast began to be kept toward the end of the 7th century, brought there by Eastern monks.[3]
Legends[edit]
The church of Angers in France claims that St. Maurilius instituted this feast at Angers in consequence of a revelation about 430. On the night of 8 September, a man heard the angels singing in heaven, and on asking the reason, they told him they were rejoicing because the Virgin was born on that night;[10] but this tradition is not substantiated by historical proofs.[9]
Customs[edit]
The winegrowers in France called this feast “Our Lady of the Grape Harvest”. The best grapes are brought to the local church to be blessed and then some bunches are attached to the hands of the statue of Mary. A festive meal that includes the new grapes is part of this day.[11]
In Goa, India, the feast of Mary’s Nativity, called the “Monti Fest”, is a major family celebration, serving as a thanksgiving festival blessing the harvest of new crops, and observed with a festive lunch centered on the blessed grain of the harvest.[12]
In Catholic iconography[edit]
Holy card depicting the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. University of Dayton Libraries.
The scene was frequently depicted in art, as part of cycles of the Life of the Virgin. Medieval depictions of Mary in infancy often include her birth by Saint Anne. In late medieval depictions the setting was often in a wealthy household.
In 1730, devotion to Mary in her first infancy among the Franciscan nuns in Lovere, Italy, where a wax state of the Santissima Maria Bambina was venerated and later brought to Milan under the care of Sisters of Charity. In Southern France, the devotion penetrated into the bride gift wedding custom of Globe de Marièe, where the baby Mary is placed on the cushion, representing children and fertility as one of the ideal wishes of a newlywed bride.
A similar devotion showcasing the toddler stage of Mary began to develop, mainly in former Spanish territories such as Mexico, Guatemala and the Philippines, where the La Niña Maria is portrayed as a prepubescent girl.
In the 19th century Mexico, the Conceptionists nun Sister Magdalena endorsed a devotion to the virgin infant, using theCabeza or head of a cherubim angel from a damaged monstrance to create a Santoimage. The pious devotion was later sanctioned by Pope Gregory XVI who granted indulgences to the beliefs of Marian apparition. Ten years later, another Marian visionary, Rosario Arrevillaga, began a religious order devoted to the same Marian title called the Order of the Slaves of the Immaculate Child.
Pope Benedict XV recognised the Marian image in Senglea, Malta under the title of Maria Bambina honouring the nativity of the Virgin Mary, granting the decree of its canonical coronation on 1 May 1920, subsequently crowned by Archbishop Mauro Caruana on 4 September 1921. The image which once adorned a Catholic galleon was shipwrecked in 1618 near theDalmatian islands and was rescued to the present town, which also celebrates its feast on September 8.[13]
In the Philippines, pious Roman Catholic faithful adapted the same devotion by maintaining the devotion to the toddler Virgin Mary, dressing her in pastel colours and crowning her with a floral tiara to emphasise her virginity and innocence, as opposed to the traditional diadem often reserved to adult images of saints. Similar to Hispanic traditions, candies and cakes are popularly offered in the Virgin’s honour, emphasizing her honorific title as La Dulce Maria or the Sweet Mary.
Though unrelated, certain places with Marian devotion juxtapose the Feast of Mary’s birthdate with their own respective localised images such as Cobre in Cuba, (Our Lady of Charity), Pampanga in the Philippines (Our Lady of Remedies), and Velankanni in India (Our Lady of Good Health).
Commemorations[edit]
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral is located in Biloxi, Mississippi.[14] There is also a Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Juneau, Alaska.[15] The Nativity of Mary, Blessed Virgin Catholic Church in High Hill, Texas is an historic church built in 1906. The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Lorain, Ohio was founded in 1898 to serve the Polish-American community.[16]
The Nativity of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church in Madison, Illinois is part of the Orthodox Diocese of the Midwest.[17]
In Islamic scripture[edit]
The birth of Mary is narrated in the third sura (chapter) of the Qur’anwith references to her father Imran, after whom the chapter is named, as well as her mother, Hannah. Hannah prayed to God to fulfil her desire to have a child[18] and vowed, if her prayer was accepted, that her child (whom she initially thought would be male) would be dedicated to the service of God (a direct parallel to the Old Testament Hannah, whose mothering of the judge and prophet Samuelfollowed an identical storyline). She prayed for her child to remain protected from Satan (Shayṭān) and Muslim tradition records a hadith, which states that the only children born without the “touch of Satan”, were Mary and Jesus.[19]
References[edit]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Birth of Mary. |
- Jump up^ – Denzinger Stanza # 833[dead link]
- ^ Jump up to:a b Roten S.M., Johann G., The History of the Liturgical Celebration of Mary’s Birth
- ^ Jump up to:a b Valentini, A. “Birth of Mary”, Dictionary of Mary, Catholic Book Publishing Company, New York, 1985
- Jump up^ “The Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, Catholic News Agency
- Jump up^ “Nativity of the Virgin Mary the Theotokos”, Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Greenville, South Carolina
- Jump up^ “Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, Churchman’s Ordo Kalendar, Episcopalnet.org
- Jump up^ “Feast of the Nativity of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary”, The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
- Jump up^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 102
- ^ Jump up to:a b Holweck, Frederick. “Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 3 April 2016
- Jump up^ La fête angevine N.D. de France, IV, Paris, 1864, 188
- Jump up^ Weiser S.J., Francis, The Holyday Book
- Jump up^ Anup Gonsalves, Antonio. “Indians in Holy Land eager to celebrate Nativity of Mary”, Catholic News Agency, 4 September 2014
- Jump up^ Mangione, Fabian. “Senglea’s statue of Maria Bambina”, Times of Malta, 6 September 2015
- Jump up^ Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral
- Jump up^ Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Juneau, Alaska
- Jump up^ Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, Lorain, Ohio
- Jump up^ Nativity of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church, Madison, Illinois
- Jump up^ Quran 3:35