September 28, 2012

Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 453

A reading from the Holy Book of Ecclesiastes
Eccl 3:1-11

There is an appointed time for everything,
and a time for every thing under the heavens.

Everything has its appointed time.

A time to be born, and a time to die;

New life runs its course and dies.

a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.

There is sowing and reaping.

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

Killing and saving.

a time to tear down, and a time to build.

breaking and making.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

Crying and rejoicing.

a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

Sadness and happiness.

A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them;

Throwing stones and collecting them.

a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

Hugging and missing those hugs.

A time to seek, and a time to lose;

Searching and losing.

a time to keep, and a time to cast away.

holding and hurling away.

A time to rend, and a time to sew;

Tearing and mending.

a time to be silent, and a time to speak.

a time to remain quiet and a time to talk

A time to love, and a time to hate;

a time to care and a time to despise

a time of war, and a time of peace.

a time to fight and a time to befriend

What advantage has the worker from his toil?

What does one gain from work?

I have considered the task that God has appointed
for the sons of men to be busied about.

I thought about the work which God has prepared for man to do.

He has made everything appropriate to its time,
and has put the timeless into their hearts,
without man's ever discovering,
from beginning to end, the work which God has done.

From beginning to end, God has set up an appropriate time for man's actions.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 144:1b And 2abc, 3-4

Response. (1) Blessed be the Lord, my Rock! 

Blessed be the LORD, my rock,my mercy and my fortress,my stronghold, my deliverer,My shield, in whom I trust. 

R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock! 

LORD, what is man, that you notice him;the son of man, that you take thought of him?Man is like a breath;his days, like a passing shadow. 

R. Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!

Who is the Rock?  That is a question which Protestants frequently level at Catholics because they are upset that we recognize the St. Peter as the Rock.  But they should not be upset at us.  We didn't give him that name.  Jesus did.  It is Jesus who renamed Simon and gave him His own name.  Why would Jesus give Simon a name that has previously only been used to signify God?  Because Jesus thus signified that Simon would be God's representative on earth.

Yes, God is the Rock!  And the Rock gave Simon His own name.  Peter means Rock.

Matthew 16:18
King James Version (KJV)
¹⁸ And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke

 Lk 9:18-22

Once when Jesus was praying in solitude,
and the disciples were with him,
he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"

Jesus asked His disciples, who do the people say that I am?

They said in reply, "John the Baptist; others, Elijah;
still others, 'One of the ancient prophets has arisen.'"

They responded saying, some say you are John the Baptist, some say you are Elijah and they went through all the ancient Prophets whom the people were comparing to Jesus.

Then he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

Then Jesus put them on the spot and asked, "but who do you think that I am?"

Peter said in reply, "The Christ of God."

And Simon bar Jonah, otherwise known as St. Peter, said, "You are the Messiah of God."

He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.

And Jesus directed them not to tell that to anyone else.

He said, "The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised."

And He revealed to them that He must undergo His passion and be rejected by the Jews and crucified and on the third day come back to life.

Sincerely,

De Maria