monday sept 18 2006

Monday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

1 Cor 11:17-26, 33 Brothers and sisters: In giving this instruction, I do not praise the fact that your meetings are doing more harm than good. First of all, I hear that when you meet as a Church there are divisions among you, and to a degree I believe it; there have to be factions among you in order that also those who are approved among you may become known. When you meet in one place, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper, for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own supper, and one goes hungry while another gets drunk. Do you not have houses in which you can eat and drink? Or do you show contempt for the Church of God and make those who have nothing feel ashamed? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this matter I do not praise you. For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my Body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,“This cup is the new covenant in my Blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore, my brothers and sisters,when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

Ps 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 17R. (1 Cor 11:26b) Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,but ears open to obedience you gave me.Burnt offerings or sin.offerings you sought not;then said I, “Behold I come.”R. Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,To do your will, O my God, is my delight,and your law is within my heart!”R. Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.I announced your justice in the vast assembly;I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.R. Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.May all who seek youexult and be glad in youAnd may those who love your salvationsay ever, “The LORD be glorified.”R. Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.

Lk 7:1-10 When Jesus had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die,and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying,“He deserves to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.” And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him,“Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority,with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this he was amazed at himand, turning, said to the crowd following him,“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
The faith of the centurion is great. He believes without seeing and acknowledges the divine authority of Jesus. The slave must have meant more than being a possession to the centurion. I wonder the meaning that Jesus healed a slave. Perhaps that they are cared for by Jesus. I find at times the cultural aspects of the Bible beyond my simple education in religion and look forward to in the future learn more about the culture of the time. I do have some books that I look things up in such as this from time to time.

another view yesterday

 

frangipani

 

taken yesterday

 

The Rule of Our Holy Father Saint Benedict

Chapter 4: What Are the Instruments of Good Works
In the first place, to love the Lord God with the whole heart, the whole soul, the whole strength.
Then, one's neighbor as oneself.
Then not to murder.
Not to commit adultery.
Not to steal.
Not to covet.
Not to bear false witness.
To honor all (1 Peter 2:17).
And not to do to another what one would not have done to oneself.
To deny oneself in order to follow Christ.
To chastise the body.
Not to become attached to pleasures.
To love fasting.
To relieve the poor.
To clothe the naked.
To visit the sick.
To bury the dead.
To help in trouble.
To console the sorrowing.
To become a stranger to the world's ways.
To prefer nothing to the love of Christ.

To prefer nothing to the love of Christ. The instruments of good works of St Benedict are from the Scriptures and from the heart. I will carry the reading for today and dedicate myself anew this morning to carrying the love of Christ to all in my acts of the day.