Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

Title

The Paradox of Holiness

Outline

There are a number of tensions in life that must be kept in tension

For instance, me as an individual versus me as the member of a family or order

The order or family’s sin or holiness does not invalidate my individual responsibility and sin or holiness - and vice versa

That is part of what we see in our texts today

On the one hand we are all sinners and the deeper we go into the faith and examination the more we see it.

We all cry out, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost.”

Therefore our relationship with Jesus is grace and we rejoice in this: “Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life.”

Martin Luther stressed simul iustus et peccator

My guess is that Paul, who has no fear of separation from Christ, had sins with which he struggled all of his life

On the other hand, we are called to actual obedience and righteousness and are warned against failing to do this

Jesus asked, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?” - such people, despite their charismatic experience (in the Matthean version), will hear a “depart from me . . .”

Jesus notes, “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.”

There are indeed a class of claimed followers of Jesus who, as a senior priest noted to me, in confession leave the confessor wondering how they had time to commit so many moral sins in such a short time. St Alfonsus Liguroni would certainly not absolve such.

There is also those like a monk of Mt Athos who struggle with sin and seem to make only a little progress, perhaps due to a deep addiction, but one who knows their heart (in this case the Abbot) realizes they are struggling harder than some who are outwardly holier.

Sisters, the fact is that faith is trust or commitment

Trust or commitment will lead to works, perhaps not fully successful works, perhaps not virtue that we fully grasp.

It may be healthy for us to so deepen our understanding of virtue that we also deepen our understanding of our own shortcomings

But if faith is not trust and commitment, if we are not deeply seeking virtue - however unsuccessfully or successfully in our own eyes - then we have something to be concerned about

That is the paradox of our texts

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 9-11-2021: Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

FIRST READING

1 Timothy 1:15–17

15 This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. 16 But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life. 17 To the king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Catholic Daily Readings 9-11-2021: Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

RESPONSE

Psalm 113:2

2 Blessed be the name of the LORD

both now and forever.

PSALM

Psalm 113:1b–7

1 Hallelujah!

Praise, you servants of the LORD,

praise the name of the LORD.

2 Blessed be the name of the LORD

both now and forever.

3 From the rising of the sun to its setting

let the name of the LORD be praised.

4 High above all nations is the LORD;

above the heavens his glory.

5 Who is like the LORD our God,

enthroned on high,

6 looking down on heaven and earth?

7 He raises the needy from the dust,

lifts the poor from the ash heap,

Catholic Daily Readings 9-11-2021: Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

John 14:23

23 Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

GOSPEL

Luke 6:43–49

43 “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. 45 A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.

46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? 47 I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. 48 That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. 49 But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.”

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 9-11-2021: Saturday of the Twenty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2021 | ORDINARY TIME

SATURDAY OF THE TWENTY-THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

YEAR 1 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading 1 Timothy 1:15–17

Response Psalm 113:2

Psalm Psalm 113:1b–7

Gospel Acclamation John 14:23

Gospel Luke 6:43–49

GREEN