This coming Sunday is the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In yesterday’s post we considered the troubling v.8: And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. Today we look at the “teaching portion” that follows the parable which contrasts key words: trustworthy/dishonest, dishonest wealth/true wealth, small/great, what belongs to another/what belongs to you. Verse 13 forms a conclusion to the parable formed by an: Continue reading
September 14th is the date established for a feast that recognizes the Cross as the instrument upon which our salvation was won by Jesus Christ. This feast is called in Greek Ὕψωσις τοῦ Τιμίου καὶ Ζωοποιοῦ Σταυροῦ (“Raising Aloft of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross”) and in Latin Exaltatio Sanctae Crucis. In English, the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal restored the traditional name, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, replacing the 1972 nomenclature of the Triumph of the Cross. When the feast day falls on a Sunday (e.g. 2014 and 2025) it replaces the Sunday celebration of Ordinary Time. Continue reading
The first reading today is from the Book of Numbers 21:4-9:
With their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live.” Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
The Book of Numbers is the title of the book in English, but the Hebrew title is, more commonly, bemiḏbar, “in the wilderness [of]”). “In the wilderness” describes the contents of the book much better than “numbers,” which is derived from the censuses described in later chapters. Our passage occurs after God has assigned them to wander in the desert for a generation because of their rebellion against the leadership of God. They seem to have to fight their way through the wilderness. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In yesterday’s post we looked more closely into the scriptural role of stewards and the expanse and limits of their authority. Today we will consider the troubling v.8: And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently. On just a quick technical note, the expression dishonest steward is literally, steward of wickedness (oikonomos tes adikias). The expression acting prudently (phromimos) can also be translated as “cleverly” a term close to the more common word for prudence (phronesis). These are both terms that Aristotle described as a kind of practical wisdom. Continue reading
The Feast of St. John Chrysostom
St. John Chrysostom (“golden tongue”) was known for his oratory skills. John gained popularity because of the eloquence of his public speaking at the Golden Church, Antioch’s cathedral, especially his insightful expositions of Bible passages and moral teaching. He emphasized charitable giving and was concerned with the spiritual and temporal needs of the poor. He spoke against abuse of wealth and personal property:
Do you wish to honor the body of Christ? Do not ignore him when he is naked. Do not pay him homage in the temple clad in silk, only then to neglect him outside where he is cold and ill-clad. He who said: “This is my body” is the same who said: “You saw me hungry and you gave me no food”, and “Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did also to me”… What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices when your brother is dying of hunger? Start by satisfying his hunger and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well. (In Evangelium S. Matthaei)
His straightforward understanding of the Scriptures, as opposed to an allegorical interpretation – meant that the themes of his talks were practical, explaining the Bible’s application to everyday life and yet inspiring.
Some 1500 years ago, St. John Chrysostom, writing to a young man on the eve of his wedding, told him to take Christ as their teacher. He urged them to always have Christ in the midst of his marriage that together his bride and he might learn from the life of Christ, especially what it means to seek the good of the other – at whatever the cost. He urged them to take as the teacher the One who lived and died for love, in freedom, and in his unquenchable desire for our good – and that what he asked of them – and of us an “unquenchable desire.”
In our first reading, St Paul wrote of the grace and gifts given to each of the baptized: “And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ.” (Eph 4:11-12)
May we come to know the grace and gifts we’ve been given, seek the opportunity to use those gifts to build up the Body of Christ, and seek to do so with an unquenchable desire.
Image credit: Catholic News Service, CC-BY-ND
This coming Sunday is the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In yesterday’s post we placed the gospel reading within the larger context of Luke’s narrative trajectory which transects themes of wealth, the use of wealth and true wealth. Today we will look a little deeper into the scriptural role of stewards and the expanse and limits of their authority. It is an important look because the story of the scheming steward has been a problem for interpreters, earning its reputation as one of the most difficult parables to understand. The root problem is the commendation (v.8) of the steward who is so plainly dishonest. Continue reading
The gospel reading for today is the well known account of the Roman centurion encountering Jesus on behalf of his servant. Stories like this one from Jesus’ ministry were crucial during the debate of the early church concerning the mission to the Gentiles. The nationality of the centurion is not given, but he was not a Jew. He would have been a member of Herod’s peacekeeping force rather than a member of the imperial army, which had no forces in Galilee at this date. In Luke, this incident foreshadows the various statements in Acts that God knows no partiality; rather, “The man of any nation who fears God and acts uprightly is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34–35; see 15:9). If even the observant Jews of Jesus’ own time brought a non-Jew to Jesus, and if Jesus went to him without quibble — the church’s argument must have run — why shouldn’t Jewish Christians accept Gentiles? Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle C. The gospel is the parable of the “dishonest steward,” a parable that is one which we are surprised when the dishonest steward’s master praises him for his prudence as the now-dismissed steward scurries around making deals and writing off debts. As all parables, it stands on its own, but this parable exists in the milieu of readings with themes of riches, reversals, and hospitality. Continue reading
The Israelites in the first reading are lost but they don’t know it yet. St. Paul knows he was lost and has been found. Like Moses, St. Paul is preaching to religious insiders. Jesus is preaching to insiders, telling these parables to religious insiders who are pretty sure they’ve got it all down and could never imagine they are lost. Could never imagine that “lost” is not always out there beyond the flock, outside the sheepfold, apart from everyone – world of unbeliever, sinner, backsliders, and all manner of people on the outside. Continue reading
Probably not – not even downhill with a tailwind. But then why do many automobile speedometers have a display that shows the top-end at 160 mph? Turns out automakers want speedometers to be easy to read, so there’s value in placing the typical operating speed of American cars, 45 mph to 70 mph, near the top of the speedometer where it is easily read by the driver. To do this — while maintaining a visually-appealing, symmetrical speedometer — requires a gauge that displays well past operating speeds. ….of course you may have an all digital display making this post rather obsolete.
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