READINGS for 2006-09-06

UNITED WE BOND

?the one who plants and the one who waters are equal. ? 1 Corinthians 3:8

I catch my youngest son Jan off guard to see if he really wants to be a priest. ?You want to take up Nursing??
      ?No, I want to be a priest? is always the reply.
      Call me a stage mom but I encourage my son to be a priest. At night before sleeping  I have him kiss the rosary blessed by the former pope, John Paul II. I also have him serve asKnights of the Altar.
      I do have concerns about the priesthood, though. We hear so many things that have been happening within their ranks. It?s not just the scandals, though. I guess I am more bothered by reports of policking even all the way up to the Vatican and extreme rivalry among priests.
      I remember catching a Sharing in the City episode once. A guest priest said that the Church is trying to address these concerns by encouraging their priests to bond with other priests so they will feel ?family love.? After all, how can these priests give love if they don?t feel love?
      This gives me hope. I believe that when my Jan is on his way to becoming a priest, the Lord will have blessed our Church leaders with wisdom to help all aspiring priests to know that ?the one who plants and the one who waters are equal.? Rosanna M.

REFLECTION:
In what ways can I help my parish priest love God more?

Lord, we pray for our priests, today. Minister to their humanity, O Lord, and grant them the grace to go beyond their weaknesses and strive only for Your glory.

1st Reading

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Paul encourages the Corinthians to put aside their petty factions and selfpromoting exercises and to get on with the business of first living and then proclaiming the Gospel. Too much of the Church?s time can be spent playing politics between one group or faction and another. This is ultimately detrimental to the Gospel as enormous amounts of energy can be taken away from our true purpose of being instruments to proclaim the Gospel to the nations. This would be a terrible
shame and we should avoid such waste if possible.

1 Brothers, I could not talk to you as spiritual people, but as fleshly people, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you milk, not solid food, because you were unable to take it. Indeed, you are still not able, even now, 3 for you are still of the flesh. While there is jealousy and rivalry among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving in an ordinary human way? 4 Whenever someone says, ?I belong to Paul,? and another, ?I belong to Apollos,? are you not merely human? 5 What is Apollos, after all, and what is Paul? Ministers through whom you became believers, just as the Lord assigned each one. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. 7 Therefore, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who causes the growth. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor. 9 For we are God?s co-workers; you are God?s field, God?s building.

P S A L M

Psalm 33:12-13, 14-15, 20-21

R: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

12 Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he has chosen for his own inheritance. 13 From heaven the LORD looks down; he sees all mankind. (R) 14 From his fixed throne he beholds all who dwell on the earth, 15 he who fashioned the heart of each, he who knows all their works. (R) 20 Our soul waits for the LORD, who is our help and our shield, 21 for in him our hearts rejoice; in his holy name we trust. (R)

G O S P E L

Luke 4:38-44

The miracles of Jesus situate His ministry as that of the Messiah. The miracles that Jesus works would clearly say this to a Jew who was cognizant of the Scriptures,   particularly the Messianic prophecies. As Christians, looking back on a ministry   2000 years ago, we see in the miracles of Jesus the demonstration of a God who   wants to be intimately involved in every aspect of our lives. God is not so distant that we cannot call upon Him in a time of need. He wants to walk with us as a member of our family. He wants to show us His love and protect us from the damage and hurt that sin can bring into our lives. Are we willing to let Him do this?

38 After he left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon?s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. 39 He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them. 40 At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them. 41 And demons also came out from many, shouting, ?You are the Son of God.? But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Messiah. 42 At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. 43 But he said to them, ?To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.? 44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

my reflections
think: The miracles of Jesus are the demonstration of a God who wants to be intimately involved in every aspect of our lives.

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God?s special verse/thought for me today________________

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T O D A Y ? S BLESSING LIST

Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________

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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Daniel 3

MATURING IN THE SPIRIT

One of the constant challenges facing Christian leaders in today?s Church is discipling people such that they mature into the fullness of the person that God wants them to be. There seems to be a tendency among people to avoid taking responsibility for the decisions they make. We want people to tell us what we should do so we can blame them if anything goes wrong. Does that sound at all familiar? At the same time there can be a tendency among leaders to retain too much control over people to keep order in their community. It is obvious that with these two factors working together there is a tendency that what develops is a community of Christians who are reliant upon their leaders and lacking the personal maturity necessary to take responsibility for decisions in a healthy and active way.
     St. Paul addresses this problem in Corinth in no uncertain terms when he challenges the community there ?to grow up!? It is time for them to move on from the ?milk of infants? to the food of the mature Christian; it is time for them to stand on their own feet and take up the responsibility for their community structures and growth in such a way that will free him to move on to starting other communities. It is a good practice for us to look at our own communities on a regular basis to see if people are growing in responsibility for their lives or if there is an unhealthy dependence upon others for important decisions.
      I am not saying that leaders should not play a role in the lives of the members of the community. However, the role that they play should be one that fosters personal responsibility of the individual and not just conformity to this or that set of rules or norms. Rules and norms are important, but if they are not personally appropriated by the individual and incorporated into the individual?s mindset and way of life, they will be experienced as enslaving rather than freeing.
      There is a tension that must be balanced here ? a tension between the desired order of community life and the freedom necessary for any person to grow in personal responsibility for their own decisions. Jesus teaches His disciples and then sends them out on mission. He allows them to make mistakes and then helps them to learn from them. Fr. Steve T.

 

REFLECTION QUESTION:
Do I take responsibility for my life?s decisions or am I too willing to let others make them for me?

Lord Jesus, help me to grow in responsibility for the decisions I have to make concerning my life. I pray for the grace to accept this challenge to mature in my Christian life.

St. Eleutherius, abbot, pray for us.