Daily Retreat 10/14/07
2007 Oct 14 SUN: TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
2 Kgs 5: 14-17/ Ps 97(98): 1. 2-3. 3-4/ 2 Tm 2: 8-13/ Lk 17: 11-19
From today’s readings: “Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of Elisha, the man of God.... The Lord has revealed to the nations His saving power.... The word of God is not chained!.... Jesus, Master - Have pity on us!”
Curing leprosy
The Gospel of Life peels forth once again today, this timely inspiration from the spires of our Church. Led by Pope Benedict, we continue to proclaim the message of hope, a message well-founded in the Christian Standard of Life. Yes, a message of hope, even and especially in our country, where the leprosy of the culture of death looms to disfigure and deform even the heart of our great nation.
Brothers and Sisters, do you not realize that there is a cure to this leprosy? The lepers mentioned in Sacred Scripture had every reason to despair: after all, they had made every human effort to find a cure. Naaman, in particular, the leper mentioned in the first reading, had been a great war hero, and servant of the king - he had at his disposal money, political power, the right connections - but these could not cure his leprosy. Similarly, we Christians will not be able to drown the culture of death with a shower of all the gold in Fort Knox. Nor would even a constitutional amendment alone be sufficient to banish the culture of death. And every political alliance forged so for has been anemic when it comes to resisting the culture of death.
The cure then calls for more than money, political power, and connections. In fact, the only cure is the Gospel of Life itself - not in limited doses, but in its entirety! As Pope John Paul the Great says in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, "The Gospel of life is something concrete and personal, for it consists in the proclamation of the very person of Jesus!"
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David? Such is our gospel, for which we, like St. Paul, should be willing to expend ourselves and suffer, even to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the Word of God is not chained! Indeed, all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God, for the Lord has revealed to the nations His saving power, His cure for all the diseases of degenerating plaguing the moral and spiritual fiber of our national constitution.
His cure, His medicine, is His Son! Yes, God prescribes His own Son as our salvation, whose Real Presence is the antidote for all the poisons of death! Today, we reverently receive this redemptive remedy, for, as the Pope reminded us, "The Eucharist is the center of the Church's life. In It, Christ offers Himself to the Father for our sake, making us sharers in His own sacrifice, and gives Himself to us as the Bread of Life for our journey on the highways of the world."
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" Have pity on us who have too long tolerated and acquiesced to the culture of death. Lead us now in raising the standard of life throughout our neighborhoods and nation, for this saying is trustworthy: if we persevere, we shall also reign with Him who alone can say, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you!"
2 Kgs 5: 14-17/ Ps 97(98): 1. 2-3. 3-4/ 2 Tm 2: 8-13/ Lk 17: 11-19
From today’s readings: “Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of Elisha, the man of God.... The Lord has revealed to the nations His saving power.... The word of God is not chained!.... Jesus, Master - Have pity on us!”
Curing leprosy
The Gospel of Life peels forth once again today, this timely inspiration from the spires of our Church. Led by Pope Benedict, we continue to proclaim the message of hope, a message well-founded in the Christian Standard of Life. Yes, a message of hope, even and especially in our country, where the leprosy of the culture of death looms to disfigure and deform even the heart of our great nation.
Brothers and Sisters, do you not realize that there is a cure to this leprosy? The lepers mentioned in Sacred Scripture had every reason to despair: after all, they had made every human effort to find a cure. Naaman, in particular, the leper mentioned in the first reading, had been a great war hero, and servant of the king - he had at his disposal money, political power, the right connections - but these could not cure his leprosy. Similarly, we Christians will not be able to drown the culture of death with a shower of all the gold in Fort Knox. Nor would even a constitutional amendment alone be sufficient to banish the culture of death. And every political alliance forged so for has been anemic when it comes to resisting the culture of death.
The cure then calls for more than money, political power, and connections. In fact, the only cure is the Gospel of Life itself - not in limited doses, but in its entirety! As Pope John Paul the Great says in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, "The Gospel of life is something concrete and personal, for it consists in the proclamation of the very person of Jesus!"
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David? Such is our gospel, for which we, like St. Paul, should be willing to expend ourselves and suffer, even to the point of chains, like a criminal. But the Word of God is not chained! Indeed, all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God, for the Lord has revealed to the nations His saving power, His cure for all the diseases of degenerating plaguing the moral and spiritual fiber of our national constitution.
His cure, His medicine, is His Son! Yes, God prescribes His own Son as our salvation, whose Real Presence is the antidote for all the poisons of death! Today, we reverently receive this redemptive remedy, for, as the Pope reminded us, "The Eucharist is the center of the Church's life. In It, Christ offers Himself to the Father for our sake, making us sharers in His own sacrifice, and gives Himself to us as the Bread of Life for our journey on the highways of the world."
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" Have pity on us who have too long tolerated and acquiesced to the culture of death. Lead us now in raising the standard of life throughout our neighborhoods and nation, for this saying is trustworthy: if we persevere, we shall also reign with Him who alone can say, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you!"
posted by FrPitstick | 10/13/2007
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