Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

CHRYSOSTOM:

If ignorant, how could they be sorrowful? Because they were not altogether ignorant. They knew that he was soon to die, for they had continually been told about it. But just what this death might mean, they did not grasp clearly, nor that there would be a speedy recognition of it, from which innumerable blessings would flow. They did not see that there would be a resurrection. This is why they grieved.¹

AUGUSTINE:

Observe a tree, how it first tends downwards, that it may then shoot forth upwards. It fastens its root low in the ground, that it may send forth its top towards heaven. Is it not from humility that it endeavors to rise? But without humility it will not attain to higher things. You are wanting to grow up into the air without a root. Such is not growth, but a collapse.²

GREGORY OF NYSSA:

Let vanity be unknown among you. Let simplicity and harmony and a guileless attitude weld the community together. Let each remind himself that he is not only subordinate to the brother at his side, but to all. If he knows this, he will truly be a disciple of Christ.³

CHRYSOSTOM:

If you are in love with precedence and the highest honor, pursue the things in last place, pursue being the least valued of all, pursue being the lowliest of all, pursue being the smallest of all, pursue placing yourselves behind others.⁴

DOROTHEUS OF GAZA:

A monk who truly sets out to serve God, according to Wisdom, must prepare his soul against temptation lest he might at any time become separated from God or be overwhelmed by what happens to him. He must also believe that nothing happens without the providence of God. And since, in the providence of God, everything that happens is surely good and for the advantage of the soul, everything that happens is for our good and happens because God loves us and protects us. And we should, as the apostle says, “give thanks in all things for his goodness to us” and not drag ourselves down or lose heart about what happens to us but accept the events convinced, as I have said, that all those things that God does to us, he always does out of goodness because he loves us. And what he does is always right. Indeed, it would be impossible for things to go well otherwise except for this mercy of God.⁵

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM:

God often holds some kind of threat over our heads—not so that he may inflict it on us but so that he can draw us to himself. When we return to him, the fear quickly dissipates. Certainly, if we were the same person in temptations that we are when at ease, there would be no need for temptations.

[…]

Being conscious of all these things, according to the wise saying, let us “not be hasty in time of calamity.” Rather, let us teach ourselves only one thing: how to bear all nobly and not to be curious or inquisitive about any of the things that are happening. For to know when our tribulations will be over and done with belongs to God who permits them to happen to us. But to bear what is brought on us, with all thankfulness, is all the work of a good disposition on our part. And if this is the case, then all our blessings will follow.⁶

GAUDENTIUS OF BRESCIA:

With even greater clarity another passage of the Scriptures that sounds quite similar says, “Gold and silver are refined in the fire, the just, however, in the furnace of humiliation.” This is because, after the just have felt the heat of temptation and been weighed down by the burden of tribulations, there will be not even the slightest rise in them of pride over the merits of the justice they have received for their past actions, knowing that they will soon be rewarded with the very price of immortality. Indeed, the just become even more commendable in Christ when in good will they persevere in humility as those who are rich in sacred virtue and humble in heart.⁷

Footnotes

THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW, HOMILY 58. Oden, T. C., & Hall, C. A. (Eds.). (1998). Mark (Revised) (p. 119). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, SERMON 38. Oden, T. C., & Hall, C. A. (Eds.). (1998). Mark (Revised) (p. 120). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
ON THE CHRISTIAN MODE OF LIFE 8.1. Oden, T. C., & Hall, C. A. (Eds.). (1998). Mark (Revised) (p. 120). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW, HOMILY 58. Oden, T. C., & Hall, C. A. (Eds.). (1998). Mark (Revised) (p. 120). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
SPIRITUAL INSTRUCTIONS 13.138. Voicu, S. J. (Ed.). (2010). Apocrypha (p. 186). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 10.8. Voicu, S. J. (Ed.). (2010). Apocrypha (p. 187). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
TO BENIVOLUS 51–53. Voicu, S. J. (Ed.). (2010). Apocrypha (p. 188). 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.

Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

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