12/06/26 연중 제12주간 화요일(Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time)

[성기화 요셉]

신학생 때 읽었던 A. J. 크로닌의 『천국의 열쇠』를 오랜만에 다시 읽어 보았습니다. 그 감동의 여운이 여전해서 소개해 드리고 싶은 마음이 들었습니다.
안셀모 밀리와 프랜시스 치점은 친구로서 같은 사제의 길을 걷습니다. 안셀모는 교회 내에서 높은 지위와 명예를 누리며 사람들에게 인정과 존경을 받았습니다. 반면 불우한 소년기를 보내고 사제가 된 프랜시스는 외모도 볼품없어 보였고, 사람들에게 오해와 무시를 받으며 살아갔습니다. 그는 중국 오지에 선교사로 파견되어 숱한 고난을 겪습니다. 그러나 그는 끝까지 가난하고 어려운 사람들을 위하여 자신을 희생하며 살았습니다. 이 소설은, 외견상 실패와 고난의 삶을 살지만 참다운 인간상이 무엇인지를 제시해 주고 있습니다.
성공과 명예는 사람들이 추구하는 것입니다. 세상은 이런 것을 이룬 사람들을 부러워하며 닮고 싶어 합니다. 그렇다면 신앙인으로서 인생의 성공과 실패를 어떻게 가늠할 수 있을까요? 하느님의 기준과 인간의 기준은 분명 다릅니다. 좁은 문으로 들어간다고 하는 것은 인생의 궁극적인 성공과 행복을 하느님의 기준으로 바라보며 산다는 뜻입니다. 사람의 눈을 의식하지 않고, 오직 하느님께서만 보신다고 믿으며 진실하게 사람들을 사랑하며 산다는 뜻입니다. 하느님께서는 그러한 삶을 산 사람에게 천국의 열쇠를 주실 것이라고 믿습니다.

하느님께서는 유다 임금 히즈키야의 기도를 들어주시어 아시리아의 침공에서 유다를 구해 주셨습니다. 이사야는 아시리아의 임금 산헤립이 되돌아가고 예루살렘 도성이 수복되었음을 알립니다(제1독서). 예수님께서는 “남이 너희에게 해 주기를 바라는 그대로 너희도 남에게 해 주어라.” 하고 말씀하십니다. 이는 동서고금을 통하여 인간이 살아가는 데 지켜야 할 기본 태도입니다(복음).

June 26, 2012

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Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 372

Reading 1 2 Kgs 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent envoys to Hezekiah
with this message:
"Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah:
'Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you
by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over
to the king of Assyria.
You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done
to all other countries: they doomed them!
Will you, then, be saved?'"

Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it;
then he went up to the temple of the LORD,
and spreading it out before him,
he prayed in the LORD's presence:
"O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim!
You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.
You have made the heavens and the earth.
Incline your ear, O LORD, and listen!
Open your eyes, O LORD, and see!
Hear the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God.
Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations
and their lands, and cast their gods into the fire;
they destroyed them because they were not gods,
but the work of human hands, wood and stone.
Therefore, O LORD, our God, save us from the power of this man,
that all the kingdoms of the earth may know
that you alone, O LORD, are God."

Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah:
"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
in answer to your prayer for help against Sennacherib, king of Assyria:
I have listened!
This is the word the LORD has spoken concerning him:

"'She despises you, laughs you to scorn,
the virgin daughter Zion!
Behind you she wags her head,
daughter Jerusalem.

"'For out of Jerusalem shall come a remnant,
and from Mount Zion, survivors.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.'

"Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria:
'He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it,
nor come before it with a shield,
nor cast up siege-works against it.
He shall return by the same way he came,
without entering the city, says the LORD.
I will shield and save this city for my own sake,
and for the sake of my servant David.'"

That night the angel of the LORD went forth and struck down
one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp.
So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp,
and went back home to Nineveh.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 48:2-3ab, 3cd-4, 10-11

R. (see 9d) God upholds his city for ever.
Great is the LORD and wholly to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, fairest of heights,
is the joy of all the earth.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
Mount Zion, "the recesses of the North,"
is the city of the great King.
God is with her castles;
renowned is he as a stronghold.
R. God upholds his city for ever.
O God, we ponder your mercy
within your temple.
As your name, O God, so also your praise
reaches to the ends of the earth.
Of justice your right hand is full.
R. God upholds his city for ever.

Gospel Mt 7:6, 12-14

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.

"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the Law and the Prophets.

"Enter through the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction,
and those who enter through it are many.
How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life.
And those who find it are few."