Daily Readings September 11, 2012

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 438

First Reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians
1 Cor 6:1-11

We are still in the first letter of the Corinthians

Brothers and sisters:
How can any one of you with a case against another
dare to bring it to the unjust for judgment
instead of to the holy ones?
Lawsuits.  Apparently, they are not just a modern problem.  St. Paul is admonishing the Corinthians for taking their lawsuits to Judge Judy instead of trying to resolve their problems in the Church.

Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world?

This is something which many forget.  In the end times, it is the Saints of God who will judge the world in the name of Christ.  Let me show you what Scripture says:

Revelation 20:4
King James Version (KJV)
⁴ And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

That is a reference to the Apostles and the Saints of God.  We, you and I may be amongst them, sitting on our own thrones.  You see, judgment comes first to the Church, through the Sacraments.  The Sacraments are prejudgment events and if we submit to them in the proper disposition, we will walk with those spirits made perfect in Christ:

Hebrews 12:22-24
King James Version (KJV)
²² But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,²³ To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,²⁴ And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

This is a very powerful reason to make friends with our advocates, the Saints, because they (i.e. we) will be judging the world.  

If the world is to be judged by you,
are you unqualified for the lowest law courts?

Do you not know that we will judge angels?
Then why not everyday matters?
If, therefore, you have courts for everyday matters,
do you seat as judges people of no standing in the Church?
I say this to shame you.


And so St. Paul asks a very logical question.  If we are to judge the world on spiritual matters are we unqualified to judge the material concerns of this day?

Can it be that there is not one among you wise enough
to be able to settle a case between brothers?
But rather brother goes to court against brother,
and that before unbelievers?

And then he asks, "Are you really willing to air your dirty laundry before the world?"  This may sound unimportant to many.  But it takes me back to what God said to King David:

2 Samuel 12:13-14King James Version (KJV)¹³ And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.¹⁴ Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

When we, the People of God, argue with each other, we give very bad example before the world.

Now indeed then it is, in any case,
a failure on your part that you have lawsuits against one another.
Why not rather put up with injustice?
Why not rather let yourselves be cheated?

And here, St. Paul repeats Jesus' injunction to turn the other cheek:

Matthew 5:38-40
King James Version (KJV)
³⁸ Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:³⁹ But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.⁴⁰ And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.

Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and this to brothers.

Now, this is a logical conclusion.  If two brothers are at law against each other, one of them is trying to take advantage of the other.  Therefore, one of them is inflicting injustice and cheating.

Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the Kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived;
neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers
nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves
nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers
will inherit the Kingdom of God.

Therefore, St. Paul warns, "remember that those who commit any sin and remain unrepentant, will not inherit the Kingdom of God."  In other words, if the one who is cheating, wins the lawsuit, when will he repent of his sin?  He will feel justified by the verdict.  He will remain unrepentant and thereby condemn himself to hell.

Another thing.  Many people, especially Protestants, say that the Ten Commandments are not longer necessary for salvation.  Look at those sins which prevent one from entering the Kingdom of God and tell me which one of them is not against the Ten Commandments.    They are all against the Ten Commandments.

Those who do not keep the Commandments of God will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

That is what some of you used to be;
but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified,
you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and in the Spirit of our God.

Lol!  And of course, that is one of my favourite lines from Scripture.  We are washed, sanctified and justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God, when we present ourselves to receive the Sacraments through which Our Lord washes our souls by the grace which the Holy Spirit pours into our souls.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 149:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6A And 9B

Response. (see 4) The Lord takes delight in his people.

Sing to the LORD a new song
of praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.

R. The Lord takes delight in his people.

Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the LORD loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory.

R. The Lord takes delight in his people.

Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy upon their couches;
Let the high praises of God be in their throats.
This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia.

R. The Lord takes delight in his people.

THAT is our job:

Isaiah 43:21
King James Version (KJV)
²¹ This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.

Gospel
Lk 6:12-19

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.

Jesus is our example.  We should frequently spend time in prayer.  And we should not neglect prayer to the Father.

When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus first prayed and then He acted.  This is also something we should hold as an example.  Before we begin any project, we should pray.  Ora et labora, pray and work.

And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground.
A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon
came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.
Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him
because power came forth from him and healed them all.

And then the people presented themselves to Him as we continue to do today, in the Holy Sacraments.

Sincerely,

De Maria