Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

The centurion always makes me stop to consider how immense Jesus’ mercy is. What boundless compassion He has for those who suffer. This man, this centurion, commands a hundred men, leads them and directs them. When he comes before Jesus he is so humbled, he simply admits that he is unworthy. This should strike us as somewhat strange because he is not an ordinary man, he is not a follower, he is not someone who just goes with the flow. Most of us, if we are honest, would be in agreement with this centurion – we are not worthy for Jesus to visit our house. However the difference is that this centurion is of higher standing than most of us. Even the mighty and those of high estate in this world must recognize their lowliness and humble themselves before the Lord.

The centurion may surprise us with his simplicity and humility. Saint Augustine suggests that the reason for this is that his heart was already open and welcomed Jesus. Having made space for Jesus in his heart he was completely blown away, his life was transformed. He understood that the Great God of all did not need to come to his house. The Great God had already passed through and touched his heart – he understood how much he was loved in his smallness, even if the world held him in esteem. If Caesar himself had offered to come visit his ailing servant he would not have reacted in the same way. To have a great and important person visit you, or help you, that is an honor. To have God Himself tenderly place His hands on someone you care about is humbling. The more Jesus enters our hearts, the more we understand we are unworthy, the more we are humbled to witness His passage through our lives.

GREGORY THE GREAT:

For in sacred language, teachers are sometimes called prophets, in that, by pointing out how fleeting present things are, they point out the things that are to come. And these are the ones the divine discourse convinces of seeing false things, because, while fearing to reprove faults, they vainly flatter evildoers by promising security; neither do they discover the iniquity of sinners, since they refrain their voice from chiding. For the language of reproof is the key of discovery, because by chiding it discloses the fault of which even he who has committed it is often himself unaware.¹

JEROME:

If righteousness and truth terrify him, mercy and peace may encourage him to seek salvation.²

[…]weep rather for those who by reason of their crimes and sins go away from the church and who, suffering condemnation for their faults, shall no more return to it. It is in this sense that the prophet speaks to ministers of the church, calling them its walls and towers and saying to each in turn, “O wall, let tears run down.” In this way, it is prophetically implied, you will fulfill the apostolic precept: “Rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep.” By your tears you will melt the hard hearts of sinners until they too weep.³

Footnotes

PASTORAL RULE 2.4. Wenthe, D. O. (Ed.). (2009). Jeremiah, Lamentations (p. 282). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
LETTER 122.3. Wenthe, D. O. (Ed.). (2009). Jeremiah, Lamentations (p. 282). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Wenthe, D. O. (Ed.). (2009). Jeremiah, Lamentations (p. 283). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Daily Readings

Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
by USCCB on November 23, 2024 at 9:30 am
Reading Rv 11:4-12 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me: Here are my two witnesses: These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain. They have the power to close up the sky so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying. They also have power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them. Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city, which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,” where indeed their Lord was crucified. Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days, and they will not allow their corpses to be buried. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and be glad and exchange gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth. But after the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them. When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.” So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on. Responsorial Psalm Psalm 144:1, 2, 9-10 R. (1b) Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!Blessed be the LORD, my rock,who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!My mercy and my fortress,my stronghold, my deliverer,My shield, in whom I trust,who subdues my people under me.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!O God, I will sing a new song to you;with a ten stringed lyre I will chant your praise,You who give victory to kings,and deliver David, your servant from the evil sword.R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock! Alleluia See 2 Tm 1:10 R. Alleluia, alleluia. Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel. R. Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel Lk 20:27-40 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the scribes said in reply, “Teacher, you have answered well.” And they no longer dared to ask him anything. Readings for the Optional Memorial of Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, priest and martyrReadings for the Optional Memorial of Saint Columban, abbotReadings for the Optional Memorial of Saint Clement I, pope and martyr - - - Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

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