Churches of the Day

Monday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2

Saints of the Day: Sep 28; 1 - St Wenceslaus, martyr bishop, martyr
                                                        2.-St Lawrence Ruiz, married man and companions, martyrs
C/f A short look at this saint’s life can be found below today's Readings and Reflection.

FIRST READING 
A reading from the Book of Job        1:6-22
The Lord gave, the Lord has taken back. Blessed be the name of the Lord!'

One day the sons of God came to attend on the Lord, and among them was Satan.
So the Lord said to Satan, 'Where have you been?'
'Round the earth, 'he answered 'roaming about.
 So the Lord asked him,
'Did you notice my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth:
a sound and honest man who fears God and shuns evil.'
'Yes,' Satan said 'but Job is not God-fearing for nothing, is he?
Have you not put a wall round him and his house and all his domain? You have blessed all he undertakes, and his flocks throng the countryside. But stretch out your hand and lay a finger on his possessions: I warrant you, he will curse you to your face.' '
Very well,' the Lord said to Satan 'all he has is in your power. But keep your hands off his person.'
So Satan left the presence of the Lord.

On the day when Job's sons and daughters were at their meal and drinking wine at their eldest brother's house, a messenger came to Job. 'Your oxen' he said 'were at the plough, with the donkeys grazing at their side, when the Sabaeans swept down on them and carried them off.
Your servants they put to the sword: I alone escaped to tell you.'
He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived.' The fire of God' he said 'has fallen from the heavens and burnt up all your sheep, and your shepherds too: I alone escaped to tell you.'
He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived. 'The Chaldaeans,' he said 'three bands of them, have raided your camels and made off with them. Your servants they put to the sword: I alone escaped to tell you.'
He had not finished speaking when another messenger arrived.
'Your sons and daughters' he said 'were at their meal and drinking wine at their eldest brother's house, when suddenly from the wilderness a gale sprang up, and it battered all four corners of the house which fell in on the young people. They are dead: I alone escaped to tell you.'

Job rose and tore his gown and shaved his head. Then falling to the ground he worshipped and said:
'Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall return. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken back. Blessed be the name of the Lord!'

In all this misfortune Job committed no sin nor offered any insult to God.

The Word of the Lord              Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm          Ps 16; 1-3. 6-7. R/v 6
Response                              Turn your ear to me, O Lord; hear my words.

1. Lord, hear a cause that is just, pay heed to my cry.
Turn your ear to my prayer: no deceit is on my lips.                                                                    Response

2.  From you may my judgement come forth: Your eyes discern the truth.
You search my heart, you visit me by night. You test me and you find in me no wrong.     Response

3. I am here and I call, you will hear me, O God. Turn your ear to me; hear -my words.
Display your great love, you whose right hand saves your friends
from those who rebel against them.                                                                                            Response

Gospel Acclamation            Jn 14: 23
Alleluia, alleluia!
If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him.
Alleluia

Or                                              Mk 10: 45
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Son of Man came to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Alleluia !

GOSPEL 

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke        9:46-50          Glory to you, O Lord
The least among you all, that is the one who is great.

An argument started between them about which of them was the greatest. Jesus knew what thoughts were going through their minds, and he took a little child and set him by his side and then said to them, 'Anyone who welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the least among you all, that is the one who is great.'

John spoke up. 'Master,' he said 'we saw a man casting out devils in your so name, and because he is not with us we tried to stop him.'
But Jesus said to him, 'You must not stop him:
anyone who is not against you is for you'.

The Gospel of the Lord    Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Gospel Reflection         Monday,          Twenty Sixth Week in Ordinary Time        Luke 9:46-50

It is often the way in the gospels that the disciples are on a very different wavelength to Jesus. We find an example of that clash of mindsets in today’s gospel reading. The disciples were having an argument among themselves as to which of them was the greatest. Jesus had been gathering a group of disciples about himself. He wanted them to regard one another as equals. Jesus once referred to his disciples as his brothers and sisters. Yet, some of them at least were trying to get ahead of others, perhaps claiming that they were closer to Jesus than others were and, therefore, would have a more prominent role in the coming kingdom of God. This seeking after status, position, influence, is a very human phenomenon. We are being reminded that Jesus’ first disciples were as flawed as the rest of us. Jesus responded to his argument among his disciples by doing something and saying something.

He took a child and set the child by his side, and he said, ‘Anyone who welcomes this little child in my name, welcomes me’. A child had no power or rank or influence. Children were considered among the least, at the other end of the spectrum to the high and mighty of the world. Jesus was saying to his disciples that the truly great in his community are those who welcome the least in the world as if they were Jesus himself. He wants his disciples, all of us, to stand alongside the least, those who have least influence, least power, least prestige and honour. The community he was forming were to befriend and welcome those whom the world tends to consider unimportant. That is the kind of church we are all called to help create in our own place and time.

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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

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Saints of the Day: Sep 28; 1 - St Wenceslaus, martyr bishop, martyr
                                                        2.-St Lawrence Ruiz, married man and companions, martyrs

1. Wenceslaus, martyr was born about 907 in Bohemia (Czech Republic); he died there about 929. Raised a christian by his grandmother, ruled Bohemia with christian principles, worked for the education of his people, and sought harmony with neighbouring Germanic peoples. Opposition to these policies led to his murder at the hands of his brother's followers. Honoured as the earliest Slav saint for his selflessness in promoting the Christian faith.

Patrick Duffy looks for some of the facts about the young king.

The outstanding memory of St Wenceslaus in culture is his unselfishness; A popular cult arose proclaiming the affable and learned prince Wenceslas as the perpetual spiritual ruler of all Czechs. He looked out for the poor man on the feast of Stephen!

Early Life
In Czech, Svaty Vaclav, he was raised as a Christian by his grandmother, St Ludmilla, but his ambitious mother Dragomir, a pagan, had her murdered and acted herself as regent until Wenceslaus came of age in 924. Court intrigue and the desire of the people to put an end to conflict between Christian and non-Christian factions in Bohemia pushed him to taking the reins of government himself.

Assertively Christian
As duke of Bohemia, Wenceslaus was pious and encouraged German missionary priests in evangelising Bohemia. But he antagonised his non-Christian opponents. Faced with German invasions in 929, Wenceslaus submitted to the German king, Henry I the Fowler.

Assassination
His submission provoked some of the nobles to conspire against him and they prompted his younger brother Boleslaus to murder him. Boleslaus invited Wenceslaus to a celebration of the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian and as Wenceslaus was entering the church, Boleslaus struck him on the head with a sword. They struggled, and then friends of Boleslaus finished off the assassination. But frightened at the news of miracles occurring at Wenceslaus's tomb, Boleslaus had his remains transferred to the Church of St Vitus in Prague. This became a great pilgrimage centre during the medieval period. By the year 984 the feast of St Wenceslaus was being observed.

Influence
Immediately after his assassination, Wenceslaus was regarded as Bohemia's patron saint. The 19th century Christmas carol, Good King Wenceslaus, sings his virtues of generosity to the poor. Written by J.M. Neale (d.1866), the incident it depicts is an imaginary one. It tells a tale of a kind king and his servant who braves bitter weather on Saint Stephen's Day, (the Feast of Stephen) which takes place on December 26th, to bring food and comfort to the poor - Something that St Wenceslaus could have, should have and maybe even did.

Along with St Stanislaus, he is co-patron of the Wavel Cathedral in Cracow.

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Memorable Saying for Today

No one ever becomes poor by giving to the needy.

~ Anne Frank ~

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Saints of the Day: Sep 28; 2.-St Lawrence Ruiz, married man and companions, martyrs

Lorenzo - an ordinary Catholic layman
An ordinary layman Lawrence was born in Manila in 1594. He was half-Chinese, half-Filipino. He grew up an ordinary Catholic. He was educated by Dominicans, served as an altar boy, and became a calligrapher, transcribing documents for a living. He participated in parish life in all the normal ways.
Lorenzo’s family life, too, was ordinary. He married a Filipino woman, Rosario; the couple had three children, and lived the daily life of an unassuming Catholic family, content with their lot. No one would have guessed that the life of this man, who prayed, worked and raised his children just like so many other husbands and fathers, would take an entirely unexpected turn.

Fugitive
Lorenzo’s life was turned upside down by a false accusation, the only record of which we find in the journal of a Dominican priest. The latter wrote that Lorenzo took refuge with the priests Antonio Gonzalez, Guillermo Courtet and Miguel de Aozaraza because “he was sought by the authorities on account of a homicide at which he was present or which was attributed to him.” With the three Dominicans was a Japanese priest, Vincente Shiwozuka de la Cruz, and a Japanese leper named Lazaro. They were about to leave for Japan, and Lorenzo, on the run from the authorities, decided to go with them.

They set sail toward a land where the toil of Portuguese missionaries had borne much fruit – only years earlier, the city of Nagasaki had been home to over 50,000 Japanese Christians. But it was also a land of dread, for the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled Japan had begun a persecution of Christians nearly unparalleled in cruelty, filling the land with martyrs and torturing others until they lost their minds.

Fear
Lorenzo and his companions were caught, and the battle with fear began. When interrogated, the men agreed to leave Japan, but this was not enough for the authorities. The shogunate didn’t merely want the missionaries to leave. It wanted to unmake them as Christians, offering them freedom only if they renounced the faith. The group was imprisoned for two years and tortured in clever, horrible ways.

Water was forced down their throats and their abdomens were then pressed with boards to make the water explode out of their noses, mouths and ears. Their bodies were pricked and cut. Worse, there was psychological torture. Fr. Gonzales soon died. Fr. Shiwozuka and Lazaro had a moment when they nearly did renounce Christ in sheer terror, but they soon strengthened each other, drawing courage from each other’s faith.
Lorenzo, too, faced the darkness of fear, when a man’s strength runs out and he looks death in the eye. “I would like to know,” he asked the Japanese interpreter during a particularly horrific session of torture, “if, by apostatizing, they will spare my life.” His interpreter gave no clear answer, but the Spirit of God came to this member of Christ’s Body in agony.

The offering
Somehow, in the midst of that anguish, Lorenzo grew stronger, even bold. Words that did not come from fear were given to him to answer his interrogators. His persecutors were losing in their terrible game, and they knew it. They decided to turn up the pressure, quite literally. The men were tightly bound to slow circulation – except for one arm, with which they could signal their apostasy – and they were hung over pits. Boards were placed around their waists and weighted with stones.

The men hung for three days. It was during that last trial that this ordinary husband and father, filled with the Holy Spirit, uttered the defining words of his life. “I am a Catholic,” he said, “and I wholeheartedly accept death for God. If I had a thousand lives, I would offer them all to Him.” He died in the pit on September 28 or 29, 1637, together with Lazaro.
The three priests tortured with them were beheaded. All testified with their deaths to the One who is Life, and who received the offering of their extraordinary, ordinary We thank Vatican News for this testimony.     .... Editor

The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A
We are the New Vineyard of the Lord

FIRST READING                        

A reading from the book of Isaiah      5:1-7
The vineyard of the Lord God of hosts is the House of Israel.

Let me sing to my friend the song of his love for his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
He dug the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted choice vines in it. In the middle he built a tower, he dug a press there too. He expected it to yield grapes, but sour grapes were all that it gave.

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
I ask you to judge between my vineyard and me.
What could I have done for my vineyard that I have not done? I expected it to yield grapes. Why did it yield sour grapes instead?

Very well, I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge for it to be grazed on, and knock down its wall for it to be trampled on.
I will lay it waste, unpruned, undug; overgrown by the briar and the thorn. I will command the clouds to rain no rain on it.
Yes, the vineyard of the Lord God of hosts is the House of Israel, and the men of Judah that chosen plant. He expected justice, but found bloodshed, integrity, but only a cry of distress.

The Word of the Lord.            Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm          Ps 79: 9. 12-16. 19-20. Is 5:7
Response                               The vineyard of the Lord is the House of Israel

1. You brought a vine out of Egypt; to plant it, you drove out the nations.
It stretched out its branches to the sea, to the Great River it stretched out its shoots.       Response

2. Then why have you broken down its walls?
It is plucked by all who pass by.
It is ravaged by the boar of the forest,
devoured by the beasts of the field.             Response    

3. God of hosts, turn again, we implore,
look down from heaven and see.
Visit this vine and protect it,
the vine your right hand has planted.         Response

4. And we shall never forsake you again: give us life that we may call upon your name.
God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.                      Response

SECOND READING                    

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Philippians       4:6-9
The God of peace will be with you.

There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. Keep doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you.

The Word of the Lord                  Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation              Jn 15: 15
Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends, says the Lord, because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!

Or                                               Jn 15: 16
Alleluia, alleluia!
I chose you from the world to go out and to bear fruit,
fruit that will last says the Lord
Alleluia!

GOSPEL


A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew      21:33-43
He will lease the vineyard to other tenants.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people : 'Listen to another parable.
There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third.
Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way.

Finally he sent his son to them. "They will respect my son" he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, "This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance." So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?'
They answered, 'He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives'.
Jesus said to them, 'Have you never read in the scriptures: It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone. This was the Lord's doing and it is wonderful to see?

I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.'

The Gospel of the Lord    Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here:  https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/




Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966, by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.