Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time November 5, 2017
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THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME NOVEMBER 5, 2017 MASS READINGS GOSPEL REFLECTION Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, MONDAY: ROM 11:29-36, PS 69, LK 14:12-14 but do not follow their example. TUESDAY: ROM 12:5-16AB, PS 131, LK 14:15-24 When it comes to following the Lord’s directive in this WEDNESDAY: ROM 13:8-10, PS 112, LK 14:25-33 Sunday gospel we might react and say, “what should we THURSDAY: EZ 47:1-2,8-9,12, PS 46, I COR 3:9C- even do what they tell us”? Don’t we believe in practice 11, 16-17, JN 2:13-22 what you preach? There might be some merit in that if we FRIDAY: ROM 15:14-21, PS 98, LK 16:1-8 were left on our own with few or no one to guide us but, SATURDAY: ROM 16:3-9,16,22-27, PS 145, LK 16:9- the truth of the matter is we have a great “company of wit- 15 nesses” (Heb 12:1) who are more than happy to assist us. I NEXT SUNDAY: THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN am speaking of the Saints. While we may find it difficult ORDINARY TIME-RDGS: WIS 6:12-16, PS 63, 1 to follow the instruction and guidance of someone “close THES 4:13-18 or 1 THES 4:13-14, MT 25:1-13 to home” we might find it easier in one who has truly walked the walk and talked the talk. We would have to admit however, that sometimes we might be over critical of those who are our leaders for the precise purpose of avoid- MASS INTENTIONS ing what it is they tell us to do because it is decidedly un- pleasant for us to do it. That, of course is another matter. MONDAY: SPECIAL INTENTION But with the Saints we have the tried and true. We have a TUESDAY: DEC. OF ANDERSON/FARRELL FAMI- variety of personalities and talents from which to choose. We pick saints for baptism and confirmation names for the LIES purpose of eliciting their guidance and direction. In the WEDNESDAY: JIM RUMPZA spiritual life we are bound to come across a variety of indi- viduals whose lives have taken hold of our imagination and THURSDAY: IRVIN & MARY FISK inspired us to attempt things we would not normally try. FRIDAY: POOR SOULS Thus when it comes to following examples we would do well to look to the saints, their writings, their lives, and to VIGIL: JESSE & ALTA HUBBLE rely on their prayers, especially if we include a prayer in 7:30: FR. LEO MCHALE our spiritual repertoire that has been composed by a saint. I suggest the O Sacred Banquet from St. Thomas Aquinas 10:00: FOR THE PARISH especially before receiving communion. A good rule of NOON: JIM RUMPZA thumb for spiritual reading is to take up the works of some inspired saint. We may have to struggle through the lan- guage and structure, particularly for someone from a dif- MEMORIAL FLOWERS ferent era, but it is well worth it. The Dialogues of St. Catherine of Siena is a case in point as are the letters of St. Theresa of Lisieux. Many have benefited from the Spiritu- For the Holy Father, all priests, deacon & religious: al Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the works of (Herm, Jane & Joe Deerr, Chet & Marge McDan- someone more recent like St. John Paul II and his iel). (Liberty German & Abigail Williams). Ben- “spirituality of the body”. The list is endless and the nett & Rayman families. (Marjorie Slifer, LaVena wealth of material is there for our advancement along the Hurst & Dolores Carte). (Charles Connor & Lori way of humility and holiness. We will not only find read- Cummins). Farrell & LaGuire families. Ann Hu- ing and meditating on them a delight but we will also find bertz. (Claude & Anna King, Robert & Mary that doing exactly what they tell us comes with its own Bloyed). Nufer & Vogel families. Norbert & Mark reward. Above all we might consider the words of Our FitzSimons. (Burnell, Anna & Henry Totten, Rob- Lady at the Wedding Feast of Cana when she instructed the ert Stump, Victor & Dorothy Ringle. stewards to “do whatever he tells you”. He would have us listen and follow the saints in the same manner. THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME NOVEMBER 5, 2017 "For All the Saints Who from Their Labors Rest" by William W. How, 1823-1897 1. For all the saints who from their labors rest, Who Thee by faith before the world confess, Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest, Alleluia! Alleluia! 2. Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress, and their Might; Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight; Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light. Alleluia! Alleluia! 3. Oh, may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold, Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old And win with them the victor's crown of gold. Alleluia! Alleluia! 4. O blest communion, fellowship divine, We feebly struggle, they in glory shine; Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia! Alleluia! 5. And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long, Steals on the ear the distant triumph song, And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong. Alleluia! Alleluia! 6. But, lo, there breaks a yet more glorious day; The saints triumphant rise in bright array; The King of Glory passes on His way. Alleluia! Alleluia! 7. From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast, Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host, Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Alleluia! Alleluia! 8. The golden evening brightens in the west; Soon, soon, to faithful warriors cometh rest. Sweet is the calm of Paradise the blest. Alleluia! Alleluia! THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME NOVEMBER 5, 2017 CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS "God shows to men, in a vivid way, his presence and his face in the REFLECTION BY CARD. JOSÉ SARAIVA MARTINS lives of those companions of ours in the human condition who are more perfectly transformed into the image of Christ (cf. II Cor The lives of the saints show the world 3: 18). He speaks to us in them, and offers us a sign of his kingdom, "the divine in the human, the eternal in time' to which we are powerfully attracted, so great a cloud of witnesses is there given (cf. Heb 12: 1) and such a witness to the truth of the 1. "All it takes to make a man a saint is Grace. Anyone who Gospel" (Lumen Gentium, n. 50). In this passage from Lumen Genti- doubts this knows neither what makes a saint nor a man", Pas- um we discover the profound reason for the devotion to blesseds and cal observes in Pensées with his characteristic trenchant style. saints. I start with this observation to point out the dual perspective 3. The Church carries out the mission the divine Teacher entrusted of these reflections: in the saint the celebration of God to her to be an instrument of holiness through evangelization, the (indeed, of his Grace) combines with the celebration of man, sacraments and the practice of charity. This mission also receives a with his potential and his limitations, his aspirations and his substantial contribution to its content and spiritual incentives from achievements. the proclamation of the blesseds and saints, for they show that holi- The many objections today to the concepts of "holiness" and ness is accessible to the multitudes, that holiness can be imitated. "saint" are well known. Much criticism is also levelled at the Their personal and historical reality allows people to experience that Church for her traditional and uninterrupted practice of recog- the Gospel and new life in Christ are neither a utopia nor a mere nizing and proclaiming some of her most outstanding children system of values, but "leaven" and "salt" that can bring to life the as "saints". Some have insinuated that the special importance Christian faith, within and from within the different cultures, geo- John Paul II has given to beatifications and canonizations and graphical areas and historical epochs. the great number of them during his pontificate might mask an "The future of human beings" the late Cardinal Giuseppe Siri re- expansionist policy of the Catholic Church. Others consider marked, "is never clear, for all their sins corrode all the paths of that the proposal of new blesseds and saints from such differ- history and lead to an intricate dialectic of cause and effect, error ent backgrounds, nationalities and cultures is merely a ploy to and nemesis, explosions and interruptions. The certainty that the market holiness, to assure the leadership of the papacy in con- saints will continue to accompany people is one of the few guaran- temporary society. Lastly, some see canonizations and the tees of the future" (Il Primato della Verità, 154). devotion to saints as an anachronism left over from religious 4. The phenomenon of the saints and of Christian holiness gives rise triumphalism, foreign or even contrary to the spirit and dic- to a sense of wonder that has always existed in the Church and can- tates of the Second Vatican Council, which placed so great an not but amaze even an attentive lay observer, especially today in a emphasis on the vocation to holiness of all Christians. world continuously and rapidly changing, culturally fragmented in It is obvious that an exclusively sociological interpretation of values as well as in customs.