2012년 11월 28일 연중 제34주간 수요일
제1독서
요한 묵시록 15,1-4
1 나 요한은 크고 놀라운 다른 표징이 하늘에 나타난 것을 보았습니다. 일곱 천사가 마지막 일곱 재앙을 가지고 있었는데, 그것으로 하느님의 분노가 끝나게 될 것입니다.
2 나는 또 불이 섞인 유리 바다 같은 것을 보았습니다. 그 유리 바다 위에는 짐승과 그 상과 그 이름을 뜻하는 숫자를 무찌르고 승리한 이들이 서 있었습니다. 그들은 하느님의 수금을 들고, 3 하느님의 종 모세와 어린양의 노래를 부르고 있었습니다.
“전능하신 주 하느님, 주님께서 하신 일은 크고도 놀랍습니다. 민족들의 임금님, 주님의 길은 의롭고 참되십니다.
4 주님, 주님을 경외하지 않을 자 누구이며, 주님의 이름을 찬양하지 않을 자 누구입니까? 정녕 주님 홀로 거룩하십니다. 모든 민족들이 와서 주님 앞에 경배할 것입니다. 주님의 의로운 처사가 드러났기 때문입니다.”
복음
루카. 21,12ㄴ-19
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
12 “사람들이 너희에게 손을 대어 박해할 것이다. 너희를 회당과 감옥에 넘기고, 내 이름 때문에 너희를 임금들과 총독들 앞으로 끌고 갈 것이다. 13 이러한 일이 너희에게는 증언할 기회가 될 것이다.
14 그러나 너희는 명심하여, 변론할 말을 미리부터 준비하지 마라. 15 어떠한 적대자도 맞서거나 반박할 수 없는 언변과 지혜를 내가 너희에게 주겠다.
16 부모와 형제와 친척과 친구들까지도 너희를 넘겨, 더러는 죽이기까지 할 것이다. 17 그리고 너희는 내 이름 때문에 모든 사람에게 미움을 받을 것이다. 18 그러나 너희는 머리카락 하나도 잃지 않을 것이다. 19 너희는 인내로써 생명을 얻어라.”
Wednesday, November 28, 2012 Daily Mass Reading
November 28, 2012
Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading 1
Rv 15:1-4
I, John, saw in heaven another sign, great and awe-inspiring:
seven angels with the seven last plagues,
for through them God’s fury is accomplished.
Then I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire.
On the sea of glass were standing those
who had won the victory over the beast
and its image and the number that signified its name.
They were holding God’s harps,
and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God,
and the song of the Lamb:
“Great and wonderful are your works,
Lord God almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
O king of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord,
or glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All the nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 7-8, 9
R. (Rev. 15: 3b) Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!
Let the sea and what fills it resound,
the world and those who dwell in it;
Let the rivers clap their hands,
the mountains shout with them for joy.
R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!
Before the LORD, for he comes,
for he comes to rule the earth;
He will rule the world with justice
and the peoples with equity.
R. Great and wonderful are all your works, Lord, mighty God!
Gospel
Lk 21:12-19
Jesus said to the crowd:
“They will seize and persecute you,
they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons,
and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents,
brothers, relatives, and friends,
and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”
http://www.staygreat.com/
I thought I was going to die
You will be arrested and
persecuted. This will be your
chance to tell the Good News.
Luke 21:12-13
England's Dr. Sheila Cassidy
worked among the very poor in
Chile in the 1970s. One day she
treated a wounded man who could
not go to a hospital for fear of the
corrupt, secret police. An informer
turned her, and she was arrested,
and tortured for days, to get her to
divulge information. She says:
"For the first time in my life,
I thought I was going to die. I was
experiencing in some slight way
what Christ had suffered. I sud-
denly felt enormously loved by
God because I felt I had in a way
participated in his suffering."
When suffering enters my life,
do it feel in a way that I am par-
ticipating in the suffering of Jesus?
What we suffer at this present
time cannot be compared at all
with the glory that is going to be
revealed to us.
h
ttp://www.franciscanretreats.net/
In our Gospel chosen to be read today, Jesus urges the crowd (and this includes us) to persevere in our faith even when things get a bit out of control from the way we would have them be. Jesus tells us that it is through our perseverance in these times that we will be saved.
This is a good Gospel to reflect on in our present day in the wake of the financial crisis which hit our country. I am meeting people who have turned their backs on the Lord because of financial circumstances. Instead of running away from the Lord, they should be running toward him and asking for his help. Here is our friend surrender again. Jesus assures us that if we do this, if we persevere, if we hang in there with him, “not a hair on your head will be destroyed.” This is often the situation with any crisis that comes into our lives, not only the one dealing with finances. If we get pulled into any of this, let us pray that we remember which way to run
http://www.evangeli.net/gospel/gospel.html
Through perseverance you will possess your own selves
Today, we pay attention to this short but sharp sentence of our Lord, which sticks into our soul and makes us wonder: why perseverance is so important? why does Jesus tell us our salvation depends upon the exercise of this virtue?
Because the disciple is no more than his Master —«you will be hated by all for my name's sake» (Lk 21:17)—, and if the Lord was a sign of contradiction, we, his disciples, must necessarily be one too. The belligerents will get hold of the Kingdom of God, those who fight against the enemies of the soul, those who energetically combat, as St. Josemaria Escriva liked to say, “this most beautiful war of peace and love”, which Christian life consists of. All roses have thorns, and the way to Heaven is not without difficulties and obstacles. This is why, without the cardinal virtue of fortitude, our good intentions would turn out unfruitful. And perseverance is part of fortitude. Perseverance, concretely, drives us to the strength we need to carry our contradictions with joy.
Perseverance, in its maximum degree, is accomplished at the Cross. This is why, perseverance confers freedom by granting the possession of oneself through love. Christ's promise is indefectible: «Through perseverance you will possess your own selves!» (Lk 21:19), and this is so because what is saving us is the Cross. It is the strength of love that gives each one of us the patient and joyous acceptance of God's will, when, in a first moment, it upsets —as it happens at the Cross— our poor human will.
Only in a first moment, because afterwards, the overflowing energy of perseverance is liberated to help us understand the difficult science of the Cross. This is why, perseverance engenders patience, which goes much beyond simple resignation. Even more so. It has nothing to do with stoical attitudes. Patience decisively contributes to understand that the Cross is, well before pain, essentially love.
Our Mother in Heaven, who understood better than anyone else this saving truth, will help us understanding it too
http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
Today’s gospel is hard to get a handle on. Jesus is actually talking directly to his disciples here, but in the bigger picture, aren’t we all disciples? And he tells them that things will be hard for them. They will be ridiculed, discriminated against, arrested, tortured, perhaps put to death ? all because of their connection to Jesus or for preaching his word. This was the plight of the whole early church. It was really hard and dangerous to be a Christian then. Jesus tells them that they might even be betrayed by their own families. This is harsh. This is hard. This is a lot of sacrifice. It’s a lot for Jesus to ask, but he’s not asking for more than he’s willing to give. He was betrayed by his friend. He was ridiculed, discriminated against, arrested, tortured and put to death for us.
But even as Jesus is telling his disciples about the dangers that await them, he switches gears. He tells them not to worry. He says he will put words in their mouths that their captors cannot refute. He says, “Not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” But here again, we need to look at the bigger picture. He is not saying that their lives here on earth will be saved. He just got done saying, “they will put some of you to death.” And that was true. How can both things be true? How can they die, and yet not be destroyed? How can they die, and yet secure their lives? The price they paid for their faith was a heavy one ? here on earth. Here they were arrested, and the words Jesus gave them that could not be refuted did not save them from torture or being put to death. The words they had were of their true faith, and by preaching the true word of the Lord they were securing their place in heaven, regardless of what happened to them on earth.
In our place and time it’s not that physically dangerous to be Christian, but this is still a lesson worth listening to. Are we ready to make a sacrifice? We need to use the words the Lord puts in our mouths to secure our place in heaven, whatever happens on earth.
http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/
"You will be delivered up ..but not a hair of your head will perish"
If the gospel message is good news, then why do so many oppose it with hostility and even violence? Jesus warns his followers that they will be confronted with persecution, wickedness, false teaching, and temptation. The real enemy of the gospel is Satan whom Jesus calls a "murderer" and "father of lies" (John 8:44). Satan uses fear and hatred to provoke hostility in others towards those who follow Jesus Christ. And what is Jesus' response to this hostility and opposition? Love, truth, and forgiveness. Only love can defeat prejudice, intollerance, hatred, and envy. God's love purifies our hearts and minds of all that would divide and tear people apart. The truth is also essential for overcoming evil and tribulation in the world. Satan deceives and sin blinds the heart and mind. Only God's truth can free us from error and spiritual blindness. The gospel is God's word of truth and salvation. That is why Jesus tells his disciples to proclaim the gospel throughout the whole world (Mark 16:15), even in the midst of opposition and persecution.
Jesus tells his disciples that if they endure to the end they will gain their lives? they will see God's salvation and inherit eternal life and happiness with God. Endurance is more than human effort and perseverance. It is a supernational gift of the Holy Spirit which enables us to bear up under any trial, temptation, and form of persecution. Endurance is strengthened with hope ? the supernatural assurance that we will see God face to face and inherit all the promises he has made. Jesus is our supreme model and hero who endured the cross for our sake (Hebrews 12:2). "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Jesus willingly shed his blood for our sake and for our salvation and he calls us to lay down our lives for one another and to take up our cross in like manner (John 15:12-13; 1 John 3:16).
The word "martyr" in the New Testament Greek means "witness". The Book of Revelations says that "Jesus was the faithful witness ...who freed us from our sins by his blood" (Revelations 1:5). Tertullian, a second century lawyer who converted when he saw Christians singing as they went out to die by the hands of their persecutors, exclaimed: "The blood of the martyrs is seed." Their blood is the seed of new Christians, the seed of the church. The third century bishop, Cyprian said: "When persecution comes, God's soldiers are put to the test, and heaven is open to martyrs. We have not enlisted in an army to think of peace and to decline battle, for we see that the Lord has taken first place in the conflict." True martyrs live and die as witnesses of the gospel. They overcome their enemies through persevering hope and courage, undying love and forebearance, kindness, goodness, and compassion.
St. Augustine of Hippo wrote, "The martyrs were bound, jailed, scourged, racked, burned, rent, butchered ? and they multiplied!" Why is this the case? The Christian martyrs witnessed to the truth, joy, and freedom of the gospel, by their lives, their testimony, and by the shedding of their own blood for the name of Christ. Today we unfortunately witness many extremists and misguided individuals who will sacrifice their lives, and kill others in the process, out of hatred, revenge, prejudice, and envy. From a Christian point of view, they are not true martyrs because their sacrifice is not motivated by God's merciful love and forgiveness, truth and righteousness.
True martyrs pray for their persecutors and love their enemies. In their suffering and in their death they witness the truth of the gospel ? that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Jesus gave his life for all who would accept him as their savior ? whether Jew or Greek, Christian or Muslim, agnostic or atheist. Satan seeks to destroy our faith through the fear of death and he incites others to persecute Christians for their faith in Christ. Martyrs who shed their blood for Jesus Christ win great victory, not only for themselves, but for the whole people of God. The martyrs overcome Satan by enduring suffering and death through their faith in Christ who died and rose for us. And through their witness many others recognize the victory which Christ won on the cross. The martyrs witness to the truth ? the truth of Jesus Christ and his power to overcome sin, fear, hatred, violence, and prejudice, and even death itself. What gives courage and confidence to the martyrs is the firm hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of eternal life and and unending happiness with God.
God may call some of us to be martyrs for our faith. But for most of us, our call is to be 'dry' martyrs who bear testimony to the joy and power of the gospel in the midst of daily challenges, contradictions, temptations and adversities which come our way as we follow the Lord Jesus. What will attract others to the truth and power of the gospel? When they see Christians loving their enemies, being joyful in suffering, patient in adversity, pardoning injuries, and showing comfort and compassion to the hopeless and the helpless. Jesus tells us that we do not need to fear our adversaries. God will give us sufficient grace, strength, and wisdom to face any trial and to answer any challenge to our faith. Are you ready to lay down your life for Christ and to bear witness to the joy and freedom of the gospel?
"Lord Jesus Christ, by your atoning death on the cross you have redeemed the world. Fill me with joyful hope, courage, and boldness to witness the truth of your love for sinners and your victory over the powers of sin, Satan, and death."
Psalm 119:33-40
33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I will keep it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep thy law and observe it with my whole heart.
35 Lead me in the path of thy commandments, for I delight in it.
36 Incline my heart to thy testimonies, and not to gain!
37 Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; and give me life in thy ways.
38 Confirm to thy servant thy promise, which is for those who fear thee.
39 Turn away the reproach which I dread; for thy ordinances are good.
40 Behold, I long for thy precepts; in thy righteousness give me life!
http://www.daily-meditations.org/index2.html
As a scholar of sacred scripture, I have always been amazed at how all the books and words of the bible, from the very first to the very last, all tie together and tell the story of God’s plan for our salvation and communion with Him. In our first reading today we hear more from the book of Revelation, a book that is difficult to understand and that has been the topic of many debates since it was written. But I want to draw your attention to these verses:
Great and wonderful are your works,
Lord God almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
O king of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord,
or glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All the nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.
(Revelation 15:3-4)
This wonderful hymn, found in the last book of the Bible, actually comes from the book of Exodus, one of the first books of the bible. The original, in Exodus, is known as the song of Moses and was sung by the Israelites when they were freed from slavery in Egypt and had successfully passed through the Red Sea. In this version from Revelation, it is sung by a new set of people who have also been delivered from slavery: the slavery of sin and death through the wondrous sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. God wants nothing more than for us to sing this wonderful hymn and join with the voices of the saints that have gone before us, all the way back to Moses. What a loving and wonderful God!
Great and wonderful are your works, Lord God almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
O king of the nations.
~ Don Claunch, SFO
http://www.contemplative.com/weekday_readings.htm
"For my name's sake." Nothing speaks more of the divinity of Christ than that he demands all of me. Death, suffering, persecution, worldly failure, all are to be borne for him and for the sake of his Kingdom in the face of hatred and persecution. He becomes my "mouth and my wisdom." My prayer is real if I see only Him as the being and end of all that is mine. The power of faith to face this challenge is the subtle, real power I experience from him. "For I will give"?this is grace, the gift, the mysterious commingling of my life with his. This commingling of Christ’s power and my weakness is of the Holy Spirit. How else do I receive Him so directly except in a quiet, simple, silent attitude that is all trust and waiting? Only by communion in the Holy Eucharist which is the source and summit of all life in God.
http://goodnews.ie/calendar.php
Death, when it comes, is bound to be a new experience. We only die once, and no one can do it for us. “Don’t worry in advance about what to answer,” Jesus said. When a world is ending, or when your own world is ending, how could you know in advance what to say? Death is unthinkable. What is thought-over is second-hand. Death will be new.
Let’s see what the wise Francis Bacon (1561-1626) had to say about death. “Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.” Then he quotes a Latin author to the effect that the trappings of death are more frightening than death itself. “Groans, and convulsions, and a discoloured face, and friends with weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible.” But death itself is natural. The sweetest canticle, he said, is the Nunc dimittis: the prayer of ancient Simeon when he held the infant Jesus in his arms.
“At last, all-powerful Master,
You give leave to your servant
To go in peace, according to your promise.
For my eyes have seen your salvation
Which you have prepared for all nations,
The light to enlighten the Gentiles
And give glory to Israel, your people.”
(Luke 2:29-32)
This canticle is part of the Church’s Night Prayer. It is full of peace and confidence; there’s not a black thought in it.
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