Churches of the Day

Wednesday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2

Saint of the Day: Sep 16; –Ss Cornelius, pope and Cyprian, bishop, martyrs
C/f A short look at this saint’s life can be found below today's Readings and Reflection.

FIRST READING

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians           12:31-13:13
There are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.

Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is better than any of them.
If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing.
If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fulness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all.
If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no good whatever.


Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous;
love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish;
it does not take offence, and is not resentful.
Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the truth;
it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes. Love does not come to an end.

But if there are gifts of prophecy, the time will come when they must fail; or the gift of languages, it will not continue for ever; and knowledge - for this, too, the time will come when it must fail. For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophesying is imperfect; but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will disappear.

When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me. Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known.

In short, there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.

The Word of the Lord.            Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm         Ps 32; 2-5. 12. 22. r/v 12
Response                               Happy the people the Lord has chosen as his own.

1. Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp, with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.
a sing him a song that is new, , play loudly, with all your skill.                    Response

2. For the word of the Lord is faithful and all his works to be trusted.
The Lord loves justice and right and fills the earth with his love.                Response

3. They are happy, whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own.
May your love be upon us, a Lord, as we place all our hope in you.            Response

Gospel Acclamation        1 Thess 2: 13
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God's message it for what it really is, God's message and not some human thinking.
Alleluia !

Or                                           Jn 6:63
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your words are spirit and they are life: you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia !

GOSPEL                           

The Lord be with you              And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke  7:31-35         Glory to you, O Lord

A reading from the holy Gospel according to 
"We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn't dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn't cry".

Jesus said to his disciples:
'What description, then, can I find for the men of this generation?
What are they like? They are like children shouting to one another while they sit in the market place: "We played the pipes for you, and you wouldn't dance; we sang dirges, and you wouldn't cry".

'For John the Baptist comes, not eating bread, not drinking wine, and you say, "He is possessed". The Son of Man comes, eating and drinking, and you say, "Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners".

Yet Wisdom has been proved right by all her children.'

The Gospel of the Lord.              Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Gospel Reflection      Wednesday      Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time          Luke 7:31-35

In today’s first reading, Paul declares, ‘When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I am a man, all childish ways are put behind me’. In the gospel reading, Jesus gives us a portrait of children talking and behaving as children. They are playing children’s games in the market place, imagining themselves to be playing the pipes at a celebratory event, like a wedding, and to be singing dirges, as at a funeral. Yet, some children simply don’t want to play; they are equally unmoved by the imaginary pipe playing and by the dirge singing. Jesus is reminded of how unmoved the people of his generation have been by the somewhat sombre ministry of John the Baptist and his own much more joyful ministry. They labelled John as ‘possessed’ and Jesus as a ‘glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners’.

In the first reading, Paul declared that love ‘does not take offence, and is not resentful’. Many of Jesus’ contemporaries took offence at both John and Jesus and resented their ministries. They lacked the quality of love towards John and Jesus that Paul describes in the first reading. This quality of love is a more than human love. It is what Paul calls elsewhere the fruit of the Spirit. It is the outward expression of God’s love that has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. If we open our hearts to the Spirit, we will see others with the eyes of love, recognizing their inalienable worth, rather than dismissing them with the kind of cheap labels that Jesus’ contemporaries used for himself and John the Baptist.

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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop

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Saint of the Day: Sep 16; –Ss Cornelius, pope and Cyprian, bishop, martyrs.
Cyprian & Cornelius were martyrs who are mentioned together in the Roman Canon (First Eucharistic Prayer) indicating they had already attained a position of honour in fourth century Rome. The disputes that occurred during their time helped established principles about the unity of the Church, the practice of penance and the validity of the sacraments.

Patrick Duffy gives the background.

Dilemma Following the Decian persecution
In a year 250 AD there was no pope, because of the Decian persecution. When it became possible to hold an election, Cornelius (image left) was the leading contender. However, a counter candidate emerged called Novatian who was strongly opposed to forgiving the Church members who had apostasised in the persecution allowing them back into the Church.
Cornelius , however, was for allowing them back and his candidacy was supported by a letter from Cyprian, bishop of Carthage.

A middle Position
Cyprian was born in that city about 210 AD. He trained and practised as a lawyer before his conversion to Christianity in 245. Within two years, he was elected bishop and shortly after he went into hiding because of the Decian persecution. For this he was criticised, but he did manage to continue administering his diocese through letters. A dispute about those who had lapsed during the persecution: some said they should be allowed to come back without any demands being made on them. Cyprian opposed this and insisted they could be re-admitted - provided, and after they had completed a period of penance. This middle position was supported by the newly elected Pope Cornelius. Cornelius was sent into exile by the Emperor Gallus and he died at Civitavecchia in 253.

Baptism of Heretics
Another sacramental issue arose in 255 and this time Cyprian held a more rigorist position against that of Pope Stephen. The question was whether baptism according to the accepted form was valid if it was administered by a heretic. The new pope Stephen held that provided the accepted form was used - in the name of Christ or in the name of the Trinity - it was valid. Cyprian held it wasn't valid and insisted on re-baptism. He did allow that heretics who had been baptized in the Church, but had temporarily fallen away and wished to return in penitence, need not be re-baptized. Eventually the Church decided in favour of the position held by Pope Stephen.

Sacramental Principles
Three principles of Church sacramental theology were established through the disputes that arose following the persecutions at this time. The first was that the Church exercises the power to remit sin, even apostasy: the second was that unworthy members can be accepted back into the Church, provided they do penance; the third is the validity of baptism by heretics.

Death and Influence
Cyprian was imprisoned under the persecution of Valerian in 257 and was exiled for refusing to participate in worshipping the Roman gods. He was put to death on 14th September 258. Since much of his writing helped to clarify issues about the sacraments, Church unity and the role of the bishop, St Cyprian figures and is quoted quite a lot in Vatican II's Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium.

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Memorable Proverbs for Today

"Every time God forgives us, God is saying that His own rules do not matter as much as
the relationship that He wants to create with us."
- Richard Rohr -

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
- Mahatma Gandhi -

"To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love.
In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness."
-Robert Muller -

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The Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
World Day of Prayer for Migrants and Refugees

FIRST READING
A reading from the book of Isaiah            55:6-9
My thoughts are not your thoughts.

Seek the Lord while he is still to be found,
call to him while he is still near.
Let the wicked man abandon his way,
the evil man his thoughts.

Let him turn back to the Lord who will take pity on him,
to our God who is rich in forgiving;
for my thoughts are not your thoughts,
my ways not your ways - it is the Lord who speaks.
Yes, the heavens are as high above earth
as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts.

The Word of the Lord.           Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm         Ps 144:2-3.8-9. 17-18. Rv 18
Response                               The Lord is close to all who call him.

1. I will bless you day after day and praise your name for ever.
The Lord is great, highly to be praised, his greatness cannot be measured.       Response

2. The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures.                           Response

3. The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him, who call on him from their hearts.                        Response

SECOND READING
A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Philippians 1:20-24.27
Life to me is Christ.

Christ will be glorified in my body, whether by my life or by my death.
Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me something more; but then again, if living in this body means doing work which is having good results- I do not know what I should choose. I am caught in this dilemma: I want to be gone and be with Christ, which would be very much the better, but for me to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need for your sake.

Avoid anything in your everyday lives that would be unworthy of the gospel of Christ.

The Word of the Lord.                  Thanks be to God

Gospel Acclamation               Lk 19: 38
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessings on the King who comes, in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens!
Alleluia!

Or                                                Acts 16: 14
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord, to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you                   And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 20:1-16       Glory to you, O Lord
Why be envious because I am generous?

Jesus said to his disciples:
The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner going out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. He made an agreement with the workers for one denarius a day, and sent them to his vineyard. Going out at about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place and said to them,
"You go to my vineyard too and I will give you a fair wage". So they went.
At about the sixth hour and again at about the ninth hour, he went out and did the same. Then at about the eleventh hour he went out and found more men standing round, and he said to them,
"Why have you been standing here idle all day?"
"Because no one has hired us" they answered. He said to them, "You go into my vineyard too".

In the evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his bailiff,
"Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last arrivals and ending with the first".
So those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came forward and received one denarius each. When the first came, they expected to get more, but they too received one denarius each. They took it, but grumbled at the landowner. "The men who came last" they said "have done only one hour, and you have treated them the same as us, though we have done a heavy day's work in all the heat."

He answered one of them and said,
"My friend, I am not being unjust to you; did we not agree on one denarius? Take your earnings and go. I choose to pay the last comer as much as I pay you. Have I no right to do what I like with my own? Why be envious because I am generous?"

Thus the last will be first, and the first, last.'

The Gospel of the Lord    Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here: https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/




Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.