June 9, 2013

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Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 
Lectionary: 90

Reading 11 KGS 17:17-24

This is a beautiful story.  And it very clearly illustrates the intercession of the Saints in our behalf.  Elijah the Tisbit, a very powerful prophet and saint in the eyes of God, prayed and the widow's jar of flour never ran out.  But then, her child became ill and died.  But she beseeched Elijah and he prayed to God on behalf of the woman who had given him much care and the boy's life was restored.  Read it from the beginning.

Elijah went to Zarephath of Sidon to the house of a widow.
The son of the mistress of the house fell sick,
and his sickness grew more severe until he stopped breathing.
So she said to Elijah,
“Why have you done this to me, O man of God?
Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt
and to kill my son?”
Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.”
Taking him from her lap, he carried the son to the upper room
where he was staying, and put him on his bed.
Elijah called out to the LORD:
“O LORD, my God,
will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying
by killing her son?”
Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times
and called out to the LORD:
“O LORD, my God,
let the life breath return to the body of this child.”
The LORD heard the prayer of Elijah;
the life breath returned to the child’s body and he revived.
Taking the child, Elijah brought him down into the house
from the upper room and gave him to his mother.
Elijah said to her, “See! Your son is alive.”
The woman replied to Elijah,
“Now indeed I know that you are a man of God.
The word of the LORD comes truly from your mouth.”

Responsorial PsalmPS 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13

R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

If you are a child of God it is because He has rescued you from sin.  We must always acknowledge our sinfulness and praise God for removing from us the filth of sin.  It is not by our own power that we conquer sin but by the grace of God.  And that is why the Sacraments are such important helps for us to overcome sin.  It is in the Sacraments that we receive the sanctifying grace which permit us to overcome temptation.

Reading 2GAL 1:11-19

I want you to know, brothers and sisters,
that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin.
For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it,
but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

St. Paul taught the Galatians that he received the Gospel directly from the           The resurrected Jesus.
For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism,
how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure
and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism
beyond many of my contemporaries among my race,
since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.

Saint Paul was raised a Pharisee, zealous for his faith to the point that he          persecuted the Church.
But when God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart
and called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were apostles before me; 
rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.

When Jesus knocked him off his horse and commanded him to desist his persecution and begin to preach the Gospel, St. Paul did not immediately go before the Apostles. He   went first to Arabia and then to Damascus and was there Baptized by Ananias.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem
to confer with Cephas and remained with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other of the apostles,
only James the brother of the Lord.

Three years later, he went to Jerusalem and met St. Peter (Cephas) and remained with him 15 days.  He also met  St. James there.

GospelLK 7:11-17

Another beautiful story involving a widow and her dead son brought back to life.

Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain,
and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him.
As he drew near to the gate of the city,
a man who had died was being carried out,
the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
A large crowd from the city was with her.
When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”
He stepped forward and touched the coffin;
at this the bearers halted,
and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak,
and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming,
“A great prophet has arisen in our midst, ”
and “God has visited his people.”
This report about him spread through the whole of Judea
and in all the surrounding region.

Jesus Christ, moved with pity for the grieving mother, restored her son to life.  This is a picture of Baptism, where our children brought to Jesus by loving parents, are restored to everlasting life in the washing of the Holy Spirit.