November 20, 2012

Tuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 498

Reading 1 from St. John's book of Revelations
Rv 3:1-6, 14-22

I, John, heard the Lord saying to me:"To the angel of the Church in Sardis, write this:

God spoke to St. John and said, write to the Pastor of the Church at Sardis.

"'The one who has the seven spirits of God
and the seven stars says this: "I know your works,
that you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

I, Jesus, who am the Head of the Church know what you are doing.  I know that many believe you are faithful, but you are not.

Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is going to die,
for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
Remember then how you accepted and heard; keep it, and repent.
If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief,
and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you.

Repent and turn completely back to God or your Judgment will come upon you when you least suspect.

However, you have a few people in Sardis
who have not soiled their garments;
they will walk with me dressed in white,
because they are worthy.

Despite your shortcomings, many of your flock have behaved themselves worthy of salvation.

"'The victor will thus be dressed in white,
and I will never erase his name from the book of life
but will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father
and of his angels.

And their names will be written in the book of Life.

"'Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"

Listen t the Spirit of God speaking to the Church.

"To the angel of the Church in Laodicea, write this:

To the Pastor of the Church of Laodicea say this:

"'The Amen, the faithful and true witness,
the source of God's creation, says this:
"I know your works;
I know that you are neither cold nor hot.
I wish you were either cold or hot.
So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold,
I will spit you out of my mouth.

I, Jesus, say to you that I know what you do.  And I know that you do nothing.  You do neither good nor bad, you sit on the fence.  I wish you did something.  But since you don't, you will be cut off the vine and tossed in the furnace.

For you say, 'I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,'
and yet do not realize that you are wretched,
pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich,
and white garments to put on
so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed,
and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see.
Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise.
Be earnest, therefore, and repent.

You say to yourself, I have everything, I don't need God.  But you need God more than you know.  Since you have everything, I advise you to trade what you have for the Wisdom of God which is more valuable than any riches.  And having obtained wisdom, you will be ashamed of your nakedness and clothe yourself in the Word of God.   A father reproves whom he loves.  If you have not experienced the chastisement of God, you are not his son, but a bastard:

Hebrews 12:8
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

"'Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
then I will enter his house and dine with him,
and he with me.
I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne,
as I myself first won the victory
and sit with my Father on his throne.

As Our Lord said in another place:

John 14:21-24
King James Version (KJV)
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

"'Whoever has ears ought to hear
what the Spirit says to the churches.'"

Listen to the Word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 15:2-3a, 3bc-4ab, 5

R. (Rev. 3: 21) I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.

He who walks blamelessly and does justice;
who thinks the truth in his heart
and slanders not with his tongue.

R. I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.

Who harms not his fellow man,
nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;
By whom the reprobate is despised,
while he honors those who fear the LORD.

R. I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.

Who lends not his money at usury
and accepts no bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
shall never be disturbed.

R. I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.

As St. Paul has said:

1 Corinthians 6:8-10
King James Version (KJV)
8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Therefore, repent of your sins and do right before God.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke
Lk 19:1-10

At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.

One of my favourite stories.  The conversion of Zacchaeus.  St. Zacchaeus was a tax collector and thus was considered a sinner by the Jews.  And they avoided him as though he were a heathen.  However, he had heard of Jesus and was very interested to see Him.

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,who was about to pass that way.

Because he was so short, he needed a high vantage point in order to see Jesus as He came by.

When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
"Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house."

As Jesus came by, He stopped, looked at St. Zaccheaus and called him by name, saying, "Come down, because I will stay at your house tonight."

And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying,
"He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner."
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
"Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over."

The people grumbled because they knew Zacchaeus as a sinner.  But St. Zacchaeus, on his part, had a complete conversion and told our Lord that he repented of all his sins and would amend for them four times over when he could.

And Jesus said to him,
"Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost."

And Jesus said that St. Zacchaeus had found salvation that day.

Many people have the courage to sin and should use that courage to do right in the eyes of God, as St. Zacchaeus did on that day.

Sincerely,

De Maria