September 8, 2013

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Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time 
Lectionary: 129

Reading 1WIS 9:13-18B

Who can know God’s counsel,

or who can conceive what the LORD intends?

I'm not really sure what this could mean.  The Lord's intention is a matter of revelation. He has revealed that He intends to save all who love Him.

For the deliberations of mortals are timid,

and unsure are our plans.

We are not omniscient.  Therefore, we must be careful in our planning.

For the corruptible body burdens the soul

and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.

The flesh is weak and the soul is burdened by it.  If it were not for the flesh, we would be like the angels, knowing everything instantly.  But God saw it fit to encase our souls in flesh in order to keep us humble.

And scarce do we guess the things on earth,

and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;

but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?

There are things which we can hardly know.  There are things which God alone knows.  And things which we must leave to God to bring to fulfillment.

Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom

and sent your holy spirit from on high?

And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.

And the only way to know God is to accept the guidance of the Holy Spirit which indwells all of us who are baptized:

1 Corinthians 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Responsorial PsalmPS 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17

R. (1) In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

God is sovereign Lord.  He is our Judge at every second of our life.  If anyone thinks they can do anything without God knowing about it they delude themselves.  Do not be deluded into thinking that God will Judge as on the last day only.   That will be the final judgement.  Not the only judgement.

Reading 2PHMN 9-10, 12-17

I, Paul, an old man,
and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment;

St. Paul has grown old preaching the Gospel of our Lord.  And he now speaks interceding for the slave Onesimus, whom he loves like his son.

I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
so that he might serve me on your behalf
in my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.

He is sending him to Philemon, the slave owner.  And urging Philemon to grant the faithful Onesimus his freedom.

Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave
but more than a slave, a brother,
beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
as a man and in the Lord.
So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.

Because Onesimus, the slave to Jesus Christ, should no longer be viewed as a slave to a human, but as a brother in Christ.

GospelLK 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,

and he turned and addressed them,

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,

wife and children, brothers and sisters,

and even his own life,

he cannot be my disciple.

All who come to Jesus must understand that He came to set the world on fire.  Not to bring peace.  Those who love Christ will find themselves at odds with the world, even their very family.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me

cannot be my disciple.

Those who follow Christ must put themselves to the side and focus on Christ who died for our sins and for our salvation.  We should live not for ourselves but for our fellow man.

Which of you wishing to construct a tower

does not first sit down and calculate the cost

to see if there is enough for its completion? 

Otherwise, after laying the foundation

and finding himself unable to finish the work

the onlookers should laugh at him and say,

‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’

Do not come into the Church half heartedly.  If you look at the Catholic sitting next to you and feel that you are better than him and can not show him love because you believe him to be a sinner and yourself to be righteous, then it is better that you not come into the Church.

For God loves a cheerful giver.  God loves those who love Him and thereby love also His people.  But those who exalt themselves, He debases.  If you do not have charity in your heart.  If no love resides in your soul, do not come into the Church.   

Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down

and decide whether with ten thousand troops

he can successfully oppose another king

advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? 

But if not, while he is still far away,

he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. 

In the same way,

anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions

cannot be my disciple.”

Therefore, if you can't give your whole being to your fellow man and to God through the Church, it is better for you if you remain away.  For those who claim to believe but don't, will have a special place in hell set aside.  God is not one to be fooled.  You can fool yourself, but you can't fool God.

2 Corinthians 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.