Catholic Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Sunday, 7 September 2014Meditations: Romans 13:8-10 Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Love your neighbor as yourself. (Romans 13:9)
Have you ever noticed how the commandments that we hear most often are the ones we have the hardest time fulfilling? Take today’s second reading as an example. We all have to deal with people who try our patience or rub us the wrong way. Then there’s the pull of the world, urging us toward a self-centered approach to life. And all the time, we hear in the back of our minds Jesus telling us to love one another, even to prefer one another to ourselves.
This is a demanding call, isn’t it? Like Jesus, we should seek to serve instead of being served (Matthew 20:28). He asks us to take the “lowest place” at the banquet (Luke 14:9). He even warns us that if we strive to be first, we will be last, but if we strive to be last, we will be first (Matthew 20:16).
In today’s readings, God is inviting us to do a little self-examination. How have you done lately in loving your neighbor as yourself? Think about hurtful things you may have said about another person. Think about ways you may have failed to defend a friend or judged someone unfairly. Or maybe you have neglected to help a friend who needed you because it was inconvenient.
These are uncomfortable questions to ask, to be sure. But God knows your heart. He knows how much you want to do good, even though you fail at times. He also knows that he has placed his Spirit in you to give you divine strength and to make changes that seem impossible. So don’t be afraid to open up to him and ask him to help you. Remember: God is love. And that love is generous and overflowing. Let him love you, and you’ll find yourself loving other people more and more.
“Heavenly Father, forgive me for putting myself first. By your Spirit, teach me how to love. Father, unite all your children as one!” Amen!
Ezekiel 33:7-9 “You, son of man, are the watchman. I’ve made you a watchman for Israel. The minute you hear a message from me, warn them. If I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked man, wicked woman, you’re on the fast track to death!’ and you don’t speak up and warn the wicked to change their ways, the wicked will die unwarned in their sins and I’ll hold you responsible for their bloodshed. But if you warn the wicked to change their ways and they don’t do it, they’ll die in their sins well-warned and at least you will have saved your own life.
Psalms 95:1-2 Come, let’s shout praises to God,
raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!
Let’s march into his presence singing praises,
lifting the rafters with our hymns!
6-7 So come, let us worship: bow before him,
on your knees before God, who made us!
Oh yes, he’s our God,
and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.
7-11 Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks:
“Don’t turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising,
As on the day of the Wilderness Test,
when your ancestors turned and put me to the test.
For forty years they watched me at work among them,
as over and over they tried my patience.
And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked!
‘Can’t they keep their minds on God for five minutes?
Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?’
Exasperated, I exploded,
‘They’ll never get where they’re headed,
never be able to sit down and rest.’”
Matthew 18:15-17 “If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.
18-20 “Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”
Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion:
(Ezekiel 33:7-9 “You, son of man, are the watchman. I’ve made you a watchman for Israel. The minute you hear a message from me, warn them. If I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked man, wicked woman, you’re on the fast track to death!’ and you don’t speak up and warn the wicked to change their ways, the wicked will die unwarned in their sins and I’ll hold you responsible for their bloodshed. But if you warn the wicked to change their ways and they don’t do it, they’ll die in their sins well-warned and at least you will have saved your own life.
Psalms 95:1-2 Come, let’s shout praises to God,
raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!
Let’s march into his presence singing praises,
lifting the rafters with our hymns!
6-7 So come, let us worship: bow before him,
on your knees before God, who made us!
Oh yes, he’s our God,
and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.
7-11 Drop everything and listen, listen as he speaks:
“Don’t turn a deaf ear as in the Bitter Uprising,
As on the day of the Wilderness Test,
when your ancestors turned and put me to the test.
For forty years they watched me at work among them,
as over and over they tried my patience.
And I was provoked—oh, was I provoked!
‘Can’t they keep their minds on God for five minutes?
Do they simply refuse to walk down my road?’
Exasperated, I exploded,
‘They’ll never get where they’re headed,
never be able to sit down and rest.’”
Romans 13:8-10 Don’t run up debts, except for the huge debt of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has been after all along. The law code—don’t sleep with another person’s spouse, don’t take someone’s life, don’t take what isn’t yours, don’t always be wanting what you don’t have, and any other “don’t” you can think of—finally adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can’t go wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law code, the sum total is love.
Matthew 18:15-17 “If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.
18-20 “Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”)
Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion:
1. In the first reading, the Lord tells Ezekiel that he has appointed him to be a “watchman” for his people, to warn them of their wickedness. As a Christian, in what way has the Lord called you to be a watchman to speak out against wickedness in our society? Do you do this? Why or why not?
2. The response to the responsorial psalm is, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.” How easy it is for us to ignore the many words of Scripture we hear at Mass or in our times of prayer and Scripture reading. What steps can you take to be more alert to the Lord’s words to you through Scripture or his promptings during your day?
3. In the letter to the Romans, St. Paul writes that all the commandments can be summed up with one command, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” What do you think Paul meant by these words? How can you better live these words out in your own life?
4. In the Gospel reading, Jesus speaks of the importance of those in the church being accountable to one another for their actions. Why is this important? In what ways can you take some small steps to increase this accountability in your life?
5. In the meditation, we hear these words: “We all have to deal with people who try our patience or rub us the wrong way. Then there’s the pull of the world, urging us toward a self-centered approach to life. And all the time, we hear in the back of our minds Jesus telling us to love one another, even to prefer one another to ourselves. This is a demanding call, isn’t it?” Why is this “a demanding call”? What are the some obstacles that can keep you from seeking “to serve instead of being served (Matthew 20:28)”?
6. The meditation ends with these words: “God is love. And that love is generous and overflowing. Let him love you, and you’ll find yourself loving other people more and more.” Why do you think this is so? What are some ways you can open yourself more to God’s love?
7. Take some time now to pray and ask the Lord for the grace to love others as he has loved you. Use the prayer at the end of the meditation as the starting point.
“Heavenly Father, forgive me for putting myself first. By your Spirit, teach me how to love. Father, unite all your children as one!” Amen!
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