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2011년 11월 5일 연중 제31주간 토요일
제1독서
로마서 16,3-9.16.22-27
형제 여러분, 3 그리스도 예수님 안에서 나의 협력자들인 프리스카와 아퀼라에게 안부를 전해 주십시오. 4 그들은 생명의 위험을 무릅쓰고 내 목숨을 구하여 주었습니다. 나뿐만 아니라 다른 민족들의 모든 교회가 그들에게 고마워하고 있습니다. 5 그들의 집에 모이는 교회에도 안부를 전해 주십시오.
내가 사랑하는 에패네토스에게 안부를 전해 주십시오. 그는 아시아에서 그리스도를 믿은 첫 번째 사람입니다. 6 여러분을 위하여 애를 많이 쓴 마리아에게 안부를 전해 주십시오.
7 나의 동포이며 나와 함께 감옥에 갇혔던 안드로니코스와 유니아에게 안부를 전해 주십시오. 그들은 뛰어난 사도로서 나보다 먼저 그리스도를 믿은 사람들입니다.
8 내가 주님 안에서 사랑하는 암플리아투스에게 안부를 전해 주십시오. 9 그리스도 안에서 우리의 협력자인 우르바노와 내가 사랑하는 스타키스에게 안부를 전해 주십시오.
16 거룩한 입맞춤으로 서로 인사하십시오. 그리스도의 모든 교회가 여러분에게 안부를 전합니다.
22 이 편지를 받아쓴 저 테르티우스도 주님 안에서 여러분에게 인사합니다. 23 나와 온 교회의 집주인인 가이오스가 여러분에게 인사합니다. 이 도시의 재정관 에라스토스, 그리고 콰르투스 형제가 여러분에게 인사합니다. (24)
25 하느님은 내가 전하는 복음으로, 곧 예수 그리스도의 복음 선포로, 또 오랜 세월 감추어 두셨던 신비의 계시로 여러분의 힘을 북돋아 주실 능력이 있는 분이십니다.
26 이제는 모습을 드러낸 이 신비가 모든 민족들을 믿음의 순종으로 이끌도록, 영원하신 하느님의 명령에 따라 예언자들의 글을 통하여 알려지게 되었습니다.
27 홀로 지혜로우신 하느님께 예수 그리스도를 통하여 영원토록 영광이 있기를 빕니다. 아멘.
복음
루카16,9ㄴ-15
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
9 “불의한 재물로 친구들을 만들어라. 그래서 재물이 없어질 때에 그들이 너희를 영원한 거처로 맞아들이게 하여라. 10 아주 작은 일에 성실한 사람은 큰일에도 성실하고, 아주 작은 일에 불의한 사람은 큰일에도 불의하다.
11 그러니 너희가 불의한 재물을 다루는 데에 성실하지 못하면, 누가 너희에게 참된 것을 맡기겠느냐? 12 또 너희가 남의 것을 다루는 데에 성실하지 못하면, 누가 너희에게 너희의 몫을 내주겠느냐?
13 어떠한 종도 두 주인을 섬길 수 없다. 한쪽은 미워하고 다른 쪽은 사랑하며, 한쪽은 떠받들고 다른 쪽은 업신여기게 된다. 너희는 하느님과 재물을 함께 섬길 수 없다.”
14 돈을 좋아하는 바리사이들이 이 모든 말씀을 듣고 예수님을 비웃었다.
15 그러자 예수님께서 그들에게 이르셨다. “너희는 사람들 앞에서 스스로 의롭다고 하는 자들이다. 그러나 하느님께서는 너희 마음을 아신다. 사실 사람들에게 높이 평가되는 것이 하느님 앞에서는 혐오스러운 것이다.”
November 5, 2011
Saturday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time
http://www.franciscanretreats.net/
I guess we kind of jumped the gun with yesterday’s homily by getting into today’s Gospel. But it is a good reminder for all of us. Don’t get too concerned with the paycheck and how much money you are making or with that boat you’ve always wanted or that new luxury car. These things are nice and ok, but not if they take our attention away from the Lord Jesus.
Once again, let’s try to keep our priorities in the proper order. This is a good note upon which to end another week
http://www.evangeli.net/gospel/gospel.html
http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
"No servant can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon."
One of the challenging characteristics of our time is the desire to have it all. We can tend to want to be people of faith and, at the same time, to be part of the values of our culture. It is easy to not even recognize the desire to want to try to serve God and to also serve our earthly desires. Jesus tells us so clearly in the parable of the dishonest steward, which we had yesterday, and in these sayings which follow it, that we can't serve both. We can't have it both ways. There is an incompatibility between these two types of service. Serving God is irreconcilable with worldly wealth. We can't have two masters.
Jesus invites us to reflect upon what he desires for us as his disciples. This reflection is a part of the whole rest of his message to us. He has told us that if we try to save ourselves, we'll end up losing ourselves. He has warned us that it is foolish to gain the whole world and lose our very selves in the process. (Mk 8:34-38) Jesus tells us that our holiness must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees or we won't enter the kingdom of heaven.(Mt. 5:20) This might seem odd to us because the scribes and Pharisees had a reputation for being very obedient to the law. But we know that they were also lacking in compassion. In today's gospel we are told that the Pharisees "sneered" at Jesus because they " loved money." Jesus clearly teaches that it will be hard for those who are rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. (Mt 19:23). When Jesus said this, his disciples really struggled, asking him, "Then, who can be saved?" He answered them, and gives us comfort today, in our situation: "For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible." (Mt. 19:26) Jesus told the parable about the rich fool who had more than he could even store in his barns. Instead of sharing his excess with others, he built bigger barns and decided to "rest, eat, drink, be merry!" In the parable, he ends up dying that night and losing it all. Jesus concludes that story, saying: "Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God." (Lk 12:21)
The message of Jesus is incredibly strong and clear about the dangers of wealth - the very thing we seem to want to pursue with such passion and energy. Jesus doesn't teach us about this way of life to make us miserable, but to reveal to us that placing him at the center of our lives is the way to happiness. We can't serve two masters. Today, each of us can ask ourselves if the Lord is the center of our lives. What possession, possessions, honors, status, future security, dream is standing in the way of my choice to completely live as he has taught us? What things, what ways of living, what dependencies, what desires have some mastery over my life? What freedom can I ask for today? Who around me is in greater need than I am? What changes do all of us need to make - what cultural change is necessary - for us all to make this world the place that Jesus desires for us, for everyone?
Dear Jesus, thank you for these challenging words today. Thank you for inviting me to make a fundamental choice in my life - a choice to let you be the center of my life and to be freer from what's holding on to my heart and freer for love and service of others. May your Word continue to free us all until your kingdom come and your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/
"What is considered admirable in human eyes is detestable in the sight of God"
What does "tainted money" (or "unrighteous mammon") have to do with heavenly treasure and eternal life? Jesus exhorts his disciples to be like the shrewd steward who used money generously to make friends and win for himself a secure and happy future (see the parable of the dishonest steward in Luke 16:1-9). Generous giving is connected with almsgiving – giving financial assistance to those in need (sell your possessions and give alms -Luke 12:33). Those who receive alms become your friends because you are merciful to them in their time of need, just as God is merciful to you in your need for his forgiveness and help. What is the enemy of generosity? It's greed, the excessive desire for personal gain and security. True generosity does not impoverish the giver, but enriches that person a hundredfold! Generosity expands the soul; greed contracts it. God is generous and superabundant in lavishing his gifts upon us. We can never outgive God in what he has already given to us. Do you know the joy and freedom of generosity and liberality in giving to others what God has so richly given to you?
Jesus concludes his parable with a lesson on what controls or rules our lives. Who is the master (or ruler) in charge of your life? Our "master" is that which governs our thought-life, shapes our ideals, controls the desires of the heart and the values we choose to live by. We can be ruled by many different things – the love of money or possessions, the power of position, the glamor of wealth and prestige, the driving force of unruly passions and addictions. Ultimately the choice boils down to two: God and "mammon". What is mammon? "Mammon" stands for "material wealth or possessions" or whatever tends to "control our appetites and desires". There is one Master alone who has the power to set us free from the slavery of sin and addiction. That Master is the Lord Jesus Christ.
God loves generosity and he gives generously and liberally to those who share his gifts with others. The Pharisees, however, had no room in their hearts for God. The gospel says they were lovers of money. Love of money and wealth crowd out love of God and love of neighbor. Jesus makes clear that our heart must either be possessed by God's love or our heart will be possessed by the love of something else. What does your heart most treasure?
"Lord Jesus, may the fire of your love burn in my heart that I may be wholly devoted to you above all else. Free me from greed and attachment to material things that I may be generous in using the gifts and resources you give me for your glory and for the good of my neighbor."
Psalm 112:1-6
1 Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!
2 His descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house; and his righteousness endures for ever.
4 Light rises in the darkness for the upright; the LORD is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
5 It is well with the man who deals generously and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice.
6 For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered for ever.
http://www.daily-meditations.org/index2.html
http://www.contemplative.com/weekday_readings.htm
"God knows your hearts." I want God to know my heart. My prayer is opening my heart to the divine presence. Let God's light and fire illumine every corner. Let God's fire burn every particle of selfish dross. Let me be naked before God. Examine me and look into the entrails of my being. Let nothing be hid from you, my God. This is my prayer. Let your dominance reign over me. I do not want to serve any other Master except you, my Lord and my God reigning over me. God is not indifferent to my behavior. One does not hear often anymore in sermons the phrase from the Gospel reading: “For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” That God's love is unconditional does not mean that all my actions are pleasing to him because they fulfill my personal idea of perfection. To call an action an abomination is an objective stance that God takes toward me. Modern humanity with its secular culture, separated from the sense of God's Kingdom, promotes many abominations. Oh, loving God examine me and cleanse me. Clothe me in the justice of your Son. Redeem my captivity to abominations. Make me holy in your grace, so that I may live in you in your Kingdom in the power of your Son's Resurrection.
http://goodnews.ie/calendar.php
This reading is a series of attempts to raise the tone of the parable of the unjust steward (yesterday’s reading). Some of them are so desperate that they actually make the opposite point. For example, “If you have not been trustworthy in handling filthy money, who could entrust you with true wealth?” But in the parable the owner didn’t blame the unjust steward, he commended him. A more recent, and equally desperate, attempt was to suggest that there must have been a scribal error: that the word translated as ‘with’ should have been ‘and not’. That would make things nice again, “Make friends and not the Mammon of iniquity.” Everything back in its right place. Some critic, commenting on Shakespeare’s lines, “Books in the living brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything,” suggested that the text was corrupt: that it should have read, “Stones in the living brooks, sermons in books….” Everything back in its place! Critics are sometimes far too clever.
But we can still take the messages of these early Christians, even if they have little to do with the parable.
Take this one, “You cannot serve God and wealth.” It is common experience that those who have most want most. This must be because they don't really have what they have: it doesn't fulfil them, it only baits them into further accumulation. Greed is a bottomless pit and nothing will ever fill it. Many misers even live very poor lives - in order to die rich. Whatever oversees your whole life, right into the arms of death, must be a religion. It’s the other religion – Mammon, wealth – God’s main rival.
http://www.presentationministries.com/
Priscilla and Aquila literally "risked their necks" for the sake of St. Paul and the Gospel (see Rm 16:3-4, RSV-CE). This is no exaggeration; Paul was martyred when Roman soldiers severed his neck. Risking thousands of dollars is a little thing in comparison to risking your life for the Gospel. Paul first trusted Priscilla and Aquila because he worked with them in business (Acts 18:3). He trusted them with greater things when he moved into their house and shared not only lodgings but a mission (Acts 18:3-4; Rm 16:3). God also trusted Priscilla and Aquila with His Church, as an early Church group met in their home (Rm 16:5).
Jesus calls money a little thing and spreading the Gospel a greater thing. The world places great importance on money, but "what man thinks important, God holds in contempt" (Lk 16:15). Many of God's people are preoccupied with money problems. Yet focusing on these "little" problems permits them to become thorns which grow thicker and choke off the seeds of God's Word. These Christians produce no harvest for the Lord (Mk 4:7).
Which group describes your life? Are you like Priscilla and Aquila, magnifying the Lord and minimizing your problems so as to bear a rich harvest for Jesus? Or are you making the problems of this world bigger than life and making God into a "little thing," unable to be trusted with your cares? "You cannot give yourself to God and money" (Lk 16:13). Give your life and your problems to God today.
BIG THINGS AND LITTLE THINGS
"If you can trust a man in little things, you can also trust him in greater; while anyone unjust in a slight matter is also unjust in greater." 뾎uke 16:10
Prayer: Father, may I and my money proclaim: "In God we trust."
Promise: "May glory be given through Jesus Christ unto endless ages. Amen." 뾕m 16:27
Praise: "Great is the Lord and highly to be praised" (Ps 145:3). Alleluia!
http://www.judeop.org/daily_bread.htm
Make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth. Today we hear the second part of the passage about the right use of wealth. A more accurate translation of this verse is “make friends with the wealth that may lead to dishonesty” and therefore use it prudently — toward the building of the kingdom. Wealth can be a force for good, but the acquisition, preservation and distribution of wealth may totally consume us, leaving us little time for spiritual matters. The whole passage heard yesterday and today points to a right attitude toward money — neither ignorant about how money works nor overly attached to it. God of Wisdom, help me to know myself well enough to be prudent with worldly matters. Pbs
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