St. Flora of Beaulieu

Friday of the Twenty-sixth week in Ordinary Time

Commentary of the day
Vatican Council II : "Whoever listens to you, listens to me; whoever rejects you, rejects me"

Reading

Baruch 1,15-22.
"Justice is with the LORD, our God; and we today are flushed with shame, we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem, that we, with our kings and rulers and priests and prophets, and with our fathers, have sinned in the LORD'S sight and disobeyed him. We have neither heeded the voice of the LORD, our God, nor followed the precepts which the LORD set before us. From the time the LORD led our fathers out of the land of Egypt until the present day, we have been disobedient to the LORD, our God, and only too ready to disregard his voice. And the evils and the curse which the LORD enjoined upon Moses, his servant, at the time he led our fathers forth from the land of Egypt to give us the land flowing with milk and honey, cling to us even today. For we did not heed the voice of the LORD, our God, in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us, but each one of us went off after the devices of our own wicked hearts, served other gods, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, our God.


Ps 79(78),1-2.3-5.8.9.
A psalm of Asaph. O God, the nations have invaded your heritage; they have defiled your holy temple, have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They have left the corpses of your servants as food for the birds of the heavens, the flesh of your faithful for the beasts of the earth. They have spilled their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and no one is left to bury them. We have become the reproach of our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us. How long, LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your rage keep burning like fire? Do not hold past iniquities against us; may your compassion come quickly, for we have been brought very low. Help us, God our savior, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, pardon our sins for your name's sake.


Lk 10,13-16.
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, 'Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.'" Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB

Commentary of the day

Vatican Council II
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World “Gaudium et Spes”, §40, 45 (copyright Libreria Vaticana editrice)

"Whoever listens to you, listens to me; whoever rejects you, rejects me"

Coming forth from the eternal Father's love, founded in time by Christ the Redeemer and made one in the Holy Spirit, the Church has a saving and an eschatological purpose which can be fully attained only in the future world. But she is already present in this world, and is composed of men, that is, of members of the earthly city who have a call to form the family of God's children during the present history of the human race, and to keep increasing it until the Lord returns... Thus the Church, at once "a visible association and a spiritual community," (Lumen Gentium 8) goes forward together with humanity and experiences the same earthly lot which the world does. She serves as a leaven and as a kind of soul for human society as it is to be renewed in Christ and transformed into God's family…That the earthly and the heavenly city penetrate each other is a fact accessible to faith alone; it remains a mystery of human history, which sin will keep in great disarray until the splendor of God's sons, is fully revealed. Pursuing the saving purpose which is proper to her, the Church does not only communicate divine life to men but in some way casts the reflected light of that life over the entire earth, most of all by its healing and elevating impact on the dignity of the person, by the way in which it strengthens the seams of human society and imbues the everyday activity of men with a deeper meaning and importance. Thus through her individual matters and her whole community, the Church believes she can contribute greatly toward making the family of man and its history more human…While helping the world and receiving many benefits from it, the Church has a single intention: that God's kingdom may come, and that the salvation of the whole human race may come to pass. For every benefit which the People of God during its earthly pilgrimage can offer to the human family stems from the fact that the Church is "the universal sacrament of salvation", simultaneously manifesting and a rising the mystery of God's love.