Saturday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time Year 1 2023

Title

Faith and Spirit

Outline

Faith is not about what we do

There are a lot of things to do in the Catholic Church, not just such basic things as loving one’s neighbor as oneself,, but also chaplets, novenas, pilgrimages, and so forth seeming ad infinatum.

What we recognize, I trust, is that we cannot do it all - which is a good lesson to learn - and that doing must flow from trusting/ commitment (or faith) and therefore we do what fits with the shame of our trust, our faith, either individually or communally (i.e. the charisms of the community).

So Paul points to Abraham who received a revelation and trusted or commited himself to the one who revealed himself. Therefore he left Haran, circumcised all in his company, and did so many other things of that sort. He trusted, which is what gained him the promise, but which trust became visible in what he did, the Torah or law of his family band.

So also in Luke

Jesus says, “everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God” and vice versa. But acknowledging is simply making public a relationship, a commitment, a trust. “Yes, I am committed to Jesus of Nazareth as Lord of the Universe and Son of God.” The commitment leads to doing something that makes the relationship public. It is like a wedding, which is not valid if there is not a commitment to the other on the part of each spouse prior to making it public before witnesses.

Luke also records the sayings about speaking against the Son of Man and the Holy Spirit respectively. The first is the one who is revealed, we could say the point person of the self-revelation of God, which the other is the revealer, the quiet unveiler. One can reverse one’s decision about the Son of Man as one receives more revelation from the Spirit - a wrong decision can be forgiven as a proper commitment is made - but if one is calling the Spirit the evil spirit, one is calling God the devil, there is no way God can give more revelation, can clarify your mind, within the bounds of human freedom. More revelation is simply read as “more devil” and thus entrenches one in rejection of Jesus more deeply. In other words, think three times before labeling what claims to be evidence pointing towards Jesus. I know of biblical scholars who have gone astray and are entrenched in the world, the flesh and the devil.

We are called, then, to Jesus

What leads us to Jesus is to be embraced. What turns us from Jesus is to be rejected. We must embrace what mother Church tells us is necessary for a continuing relationship with Jesus. We choose to embrace those practices that flow from our relationship to Jesus or particularly help us in living out that relationship, including communicating it to others.

I have been listening to the Dominican friars who put out Godsplaining. It is clear that they are not Jesuits. It is also clear that as St Francis had a different expression of his spirituality than St Dominic they are not Franciscans. They have chosen the Order that best helps them grow in relationship with Jesus because of how God created them. It is not that the rules of the Order created the relationship, but that they discovered that their relationship was nurtured through the Order and that trying to act like would-be Jesuits or Franciscans would detract from their focus on Christ. And that is what law and grace is all about.

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 10-21-2023: Saturday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

FIRST READING

Romans 4:13, 16–18

13 It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through the righteousness that comes from faith.

16 For this reason, it depends on faith, so that it may be a gift, and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not to those who only adhere to the law but to those who follow the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us, 17 as it is written, “I have made you father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not exist. 18 He believed, hoping against hope, that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “Thus shall your descendants be.”

Catholic Daily Readings 10-21-2023: Saturday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

RESPONSE

Psalm 105:8a

8 He remembers forever his covenant,

the word he commanded for a thousand generations,

PSALM

Psalm 105:6–9, 42–43

6 You descendants of Abraham his servant,

offspring of Jacob the chosen one!

7 He the LORD, is our God

whose judgments reach through all the earth.

8 He remembers forever his covenant,

the word he commanded for a thousand generations,

9 Which he made with Abraham,

and swore to Isaac,

42 For he remembered his sacred promise

to Abraham his servant.

43 He brought his people out with joy,

his chosen ones with shouts of triumph.

Catholic Daily Readings 10-21-2023: Saturday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

John 15:26b, 27a

26 “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.

27 And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

GOSPEL

Luke 12:8–12

8 I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. 9 But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.

10 “Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. 12 For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 10-21-2023: Saturday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2023 | ORDINARY TIME

SATURDAY OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

YEAR 1 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading Romans 4:13, 16–18

Response Psalm 105:8a

Psalm Psalm 105:6–9, 42–43

Gospel Acclamation John 15:26b, 27a

Gospel Luke 12:8–12

GREEN