September 30, 2008 (Tuesday)

DIDACHE

UP TO JERUSALEM

…he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem… – Luke 9:51

For Jesus, going to Jerusalem was a crucial decision which meant He concretely accepted the will of His Father. It was a break from a “good” life in Galilee and a move to an uncertain future in accordance to the Father’s plan. My own “going up to Jerusalem” happened in February 1991 when my wife and I decided to join a Catholic Life in the Spirit Seminar in our parish. I was then enjoying a “good life” working in a multinational firm. Everything was well. On the last day of the seminar, right after the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it dawned on me: I was being called to follow Jesus Christ.

For the longest time, I was a reluctant Catholic who, day after day, postponed my decision to launch on the road towards my “Jerusalem.” Well, not anymore.

From the day we completed the CLSS to the present, I have been deeply involved in our parish-based prayer community, in the works of the church and the neighborhood Bible study group.

Now, 16 years later, I am most assured of God’s love, of His fidelity to His promises, of final victory.
I no longer crave for my Galilee. Bannie Lucas

REFLECTION:
I have to continually break away from material securities to turn myself from Galilean tranquility, out of faithfulness to the Lord.

Lord, even if the situation is critical, let our internal convictions remain firm and our commitment total. Amen.

St. Jerome, priest and doctor of the Church, pray for us.

COMPANION

1st READING

Job laments the level of suffering he has to endure and suggests that it would be better if he had never been born. That is saying something, considering the blessed life he lived before his present troubles. Perhaps it also indicates to us how easily we forget the times of blessing when hardships come upon us. We can tend to be very ungrateful in our relationship with God. Yet we know that Job will be restored as he accepts God’s will and refuses to curse Him for the time of trial. Let us seek to look forward to the promise of blessing no matter how difficult the present trials may be.

Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23
1 Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. 2 Job spoke out and said: 3 Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, “The child is a boy!” 11 Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? 12 [16] Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth, like babes that have never seen the light? 13 [12] Wherefore did the knees receiveme? or why did I suck at the breasts? 14 [13] For then I should have lain down and been tranquil; had I slept, I should then have been at rest. 15 [14] With kings and counselors of the earth who built where now there are ruins 16 [15] Or with princes who had gold and filled their houses with silver. 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest. 20 Why is light given to the toilers, and life to the bitter in spirit? 21 They wait for death and it comes not; they search for it rather than for hidden treasures, 22 rejoice in it exultingly, and are glad when they reach the grave 23 men whose path is hidden from them, and whom God has hemmed in!

P S A L M

Psalm 88:2-3, 4-5, 6, 7-8
R: Let my prayer come before you, Lord.
1 [2] O LORD, my God, by day I cry out; at night I clamor in your presence. 2 [3] Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my call for help. (R) 3 [4] For my soul is surfeited with troubles and my life draws near to the nether world. 4 [5] I am numbered with those who go down into the pit; I am a man without strength. (R) 5 [6] My couch is among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no longer and who are cut off from your care. (R) 6 [7] You have plunged me into the bottom of the pit, into the dark abyss. 7 [8] Upon me your wrath lies heavy, and with all your billows you overwhelm me. (R)

G O S P E L

Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Jerome, one of the saints who had a great love for the Scriptures. As we reflect upon the Gospel call to have mercy on those who reject the Gospel, we can remember the many times when Jesus persevered with the people in their lack of faith; when God persevered in love and mercy with the Children of Israel and their unfaithfulness to Him. God has shown us mercy in our lives. This ought to be enough to cause us to show mercy to others when they hurt us.

Luke 9:51-56

51 When the days for Jesus being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, 52 and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, 53 but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” 55 Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56 and they journeyed to another village.

my reflections
think: God has shown us mercy in our lives. This ought to be enough to cause us to show mercy to others when they hurt us.

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God’s special verse/thought for me today________________
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T O D A Y ’ S BLESSING LIST
Thank You Lord for: ____________________________________
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READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Ecclesiastes 9-12
REVIEW OF THE QUARTER

Did I fulfill my last Quarter Goals?
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What were the most important words the Lord gave to me this quarter?
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What were my greatest blessings these past three months?
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What are my most pressing needs for the next quarter?
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NOTES:
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SABBATH

Knowing Scriptures, Knowing Christ

With the present-day “boom” in Bible study groups and courses, all of us can have recourse to our saint of today. He is St. Jerome, the great Scripture scholar and translator.

He is most well known for that striking statement, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” We are affirmed in our efforts to know more deeply God’s Word, for in it we encounter the very person It is stated that “[w]hen the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, [Jesus] resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.” This verse marks a turning point in Luke’s Gospel: the Galilean ministry of Jesus ends, and He now begins His journey to Jerusalem. Just as Jesus’ Galilean ministry began with a rejection of Jesus in His own hometown, so too now this travel narrative runs parallel by beginning with an episode of rejection by the Samaritans.

But Jesus isn’t one to be easily cowed by rejection. Neither does He give in to vengeful punishments as James and John would. His was a no-nonsense resoluteness and an urgency which will waste no time with petty conflicts. Reading between the lines of this Gospel passage will make us discover an allusion to an episode involving the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:10-12). Elijah ordered fire from heaven to come down and burn two captains and their contingents of 50 men each, all of whom were sent to capture him. With Jesus’ rejection of such violent means to punish the unreceptive Samaritans, He is also in effect rejecting the identification of Himself with Elijah.

There is the ever-valid identification between Jesus Christ and the Scriptures. For all of us Bible readers, students and devotees, the typical disclaimer should not hold true concerning God’s Word — for in the Bible, “any resemblance to real life persons is completely and entirely intentional.” May St. Jerome be guide towards a deeper study — and a more authentic living out — of the Bible. Fr. Martin Macasaet

Reflection Question:
Do you regularly read and reflect on the Bible?

Enable me to know You more, O Lord, through the Scriptures.

St. Jerome, priest and doctor of the Church, pray for us.