First Reading: Deut. 30:10 - 14 | Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 69:13, 16, 29 - 30, 32 - 33, 35 - 36 or Ps. 19:7 - 10 | Second Reading: Col. 1:15 - 20 | Gospel: Luke 10:25 - 37
St. Paul in this pericope of his letter to Colossians expounds our profession of faith. Unlike him, a scholar of the law, who has no faith in Jesus, tries to test him. Instead Jesus answers with the “double love commandment,” from Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18. This is part of the Jewish daily prayer: Shema. But who is my neighbor? In a word, everyone in need is my neighbor, regardless of their faith, or national identity. We are fully human, and a “free” human, if we love the Lord and others with all our heart, our soul, our strength and our mind. If we engage all our faculty, our “love” becomes an interior activity. This is the foundation of Christianity. Once I heard in a sermon, that if by our actions, we practice this love for our neighbors, then everyone should be knocking at our church doors to swarm in and become Catholics. It is our genuine love that can move others closer to God’s Kingdom, and without it we are worthless Christians. That is why Jesus continues with the Good Samaritan story.
As St. Augustine and Church Fathers explain, the man beaten on the road represent each one of us, wounded in our journey by our sins and Jesus is the Good Samaritan, who has come down to heal us. This is the story of our redemption. Human love must nourish itself continually from the Heart of God to bear fruit. We receive this nourishment as we receive Him in Communion and in prayers. That is a life-giving love is always a triad.
First Reading: Is. 66:10 - 14c | Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 66:1 - 3a, 4 - 7a, 16, 20
Second Reading: Gal. 6:14 - 18 | Gospel: Luke 10:1 - 12, 17 – 20
When I was young, I had a zeal for missionary work, to carry Jesus to all who were deprived of knowing him. I was not strong physically and it did not happen. Starting from Ch. 9, and continuing in Ch. 10, Jesus is sending his disciples to prepare the way before him, as the prophets Malachi and John the Baptist proclaimed his coming.
Lo, I am sending my messenger before me; and suddenly there will come to
the temple the Lord whom you seek. …. Yes, he is coming. (Mal. 3:1)
In the book of Numbers 11:16 - 30, Moses appointed 70 elders as his helpers, and when Eldad and Medad also received the Spirit, they became 72 total. Here Jesus has appointed 72 of his disciples to go to every town to bring his peace and proclaim that “the kingdom of God is at hand for you.” This peace is a reference to Messianic salvation. They are on an urgent journey, and a missionary principle is that laborers deserve their food. As we are sent, we deserve to receive him in the Eucharist. This is the harvest of the Lord, and he is empowering the disciples to do as he did: cure the sick and invite them into the kingdom. Christian mission begins at homes. “The heroism of the disciples is rooted in obedience to the integrity of God’s saving design. cf. Fire of Mercy, Vol. I, p. 533).” The fate of the towns who would not receive them, on the Day of Judgment, will be like that of Sodom (Gen. 19:24 – 28, Ezek. 16:46 – 50).
The triumph and rejoicing of the disciples upon return, parallels the joy of the Israelites crossing the Jordan into the land of Canaan (Josh. 3:14 – 17), as in Ps. 66, as well as crossing the Red Sea, with Miriam dancing and praising (Ex. Chs. 14 – 15).
By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)
First Reading: 1Kings 19:16b, 19 - 21 | Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 16:1, 2, 5, 7 - 11
Second Reading: Gal. 5:1, 13 - 18 | Gospel: Luke 9:51 - 62
If you like me watch little ants hard at work, you can tell that they are on a mission, providing food for their colony. They are missionaries, obedient to their queen, and hard workers.
Starting in Ch. 9 in Luke, Jesus on his way to Jerusalem is commissioning his disciples to become missionaries. These “messengers” like Elijah and John the Baptist were to prepare the way for his coming (Mal. 3:1, 4:5). Before this time, Jews and Samaritans were hostile to each other, so the Samaritans did not welcome him. James and John like Elijah (2 Kgs. 1:9 - 14) asked if they should call down fire from heaven, but Jesus rebuked them, since that would nullify his message of loving neighbors.
On this journey to Jerusalem, Jesus warns the would be disciple of the insecurity and homelessness of following him. He demands total detachment of his followers to be set free (Gal. 5:1, 13). Like Elisha, his true followers need a “double share” of his spirit (2Kgs. 2:9 - 10). We ordinary human beings need a place to call it “home,” even if we take the challenge of an itinerary missionary like St. Francis. By his Messianic title ‘the Son of Man,” he is alluding to the fulfillment of the vision of Daniel (7:13f).
Next we encounter “conditional” followers of Jesus. Jesus’ answer is shocking to Jews accustomed to their traditions and laws. Burial of one’s father was a sacred duty. We read about Joseph burying his father and returning to Egypt in Gen. 50:1 - 14, and Tobit’s instruction to his son in Tobit 4:3. Similarly saying farewell to family, as Elisha did before following Elijah (1Kgs. 19:19 - 21) seemed a legitimate request. Jesus tells his followers that adherence to Christ and the service it demands, supersede the written law and the most sacred human traditions.
By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)
First Reading: Gen. 14:18 - 20 | Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 110:1 - 4
Second Reading: 1Cor. 11:23 - 26 | Gospel: Luke 9:11b - 17
We are the Body of Christ, who never leaves us, and eternally feeds us.
God as ultimate Giver and Nourisher in metaphor was prophesied, and became a reality from the time of Moses (Ex. 16:4 - 16; Nm. 11:13) to the time of king Jehoram (849 - 842 BC) before the fall of Jerusalem, when Elisha feeds one hundred people (2 Kgs. 4:42 - 44), to Jesus feeding multitudes in the desert (Lk. 9:11 - 17, Matt.14:13 - 21, 15:32 - 39; Mk. 6:32 - 44, 8:1 - 10; Jn. 6:1 - 15) . Isaiah prophesied: “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of rich food and choice wines. Is. 25:6” In the first reading from Gen., Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram. At that time kings had priestly functions (cf. 2 Sam. 6:13 – 18; 1Kgs 3:4; 8:14, 55).
The “desert” is the place of prayer and contemplation, the preparation for Jesus’ miracle. This scene anticipates the Eucharist institution before the Last Supper and the eschatological banquet of the Son’s wedding feast at the end of time (Matt. 22:1 - 14). Thus it is framed by questions about Jesus’ identity by Herod (Lk. 9:9) and Peter’s confession for the first time that Jesus is the Messiah (Lk. 9:18 - 20). This is a time of fulfillment and abundance: “They all ate and were satisfied,” as the beatitude proclaims Lk. 6:21.
St. Augustine said in the 5th century AD, “Become what you eat.” This is the reality we should believe and practice. As members of the Mystical Body of Christ, we become Christ-bearers in the world.
By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)
First Reading: Prov. 8:22 - 31 | Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 8:1, 3 - 8
Second Reading: Rom. 5:1 - 5 | Gospel: Jn. 16:12 - 15
When I was a student at U of A, I asked Fr. Robert Burns, Ph. D., to explain to me the meaning of Trinity! He told me to study from Frank Sheed’s book, “Theology for Beginners,” and if he could explain that to me, he would go to the Pope and become famous! Yes, it is a mystery. In CCC #237, we read: “But his inmost Being as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone.” Within Trinity, there are three persons, namely the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier, and they are One. So we believe that God is the Creator, the Font of life, the Son, the Word is the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier who leads us in holiness toward our end to see God. The Church councils of the 4th and 5th century finally formulated the Doctrine of Trinity, that the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit subsist in one nature, and we profess it at every Sunday Mass.
In Proverbs 8:22 - 31, Wisdom, was created even before the waters of chaos (cf. Gen. 1). The Hebrew verb for ‘create,’ can also mean “to weave,” which portrays the divine weaving of baby’s sinews in the womb (Ps. 139:13; Job 10:11). So the Son, Wisdom, was besides God as his craftsman, and with delight played before him and “I found delight in the human race.”
I quote a portion of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity poem:
“O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to forget myself entirely that I may be established in you, as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity.
May nothing trouble my peace or make me leave you.”
By: Farzi Najmabadi (SCB Parishioner)