29th Week, Monday, Oct 21: St. Hilarion
Ephesians 2:1-10 / Luke 12:13-21
Paul talks about Christians: We were saved by God’s grace.
One Good Friday morning, a Protestant minister set up a stepladder in order to drape the cross outside his church with a black cloth. Because of the shrubbery encircling the cross, the ladder was resting in an awkward position. The minister climbed the ladder and tossed the end of the cloth over the cross. As he did, the ladder slipped and began to tip. The minister threw his arms out and grabbed the vertical bar of the cross, saving himself from what could have been a serious fall. After he regained his bearings, the minister said his experience gave him a new appreciation of how we have been saved by the cross of Christ. He acquired a new understanding of what Paul talks about in today’s reading.
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How aware are we of having been saved, in a personal way, by the cross of Christ? On Calvary, Christ crossed out our sins, individually and collectively.
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Saint Hilarion
Feast Day October 21
Shortly after St. Hilarion’s death, St. Jerome wrote about
the life of this hermit who had introduced monasticism into Palestine. Jerome
told of Hilarion’s lifelong pursuit of solitude, where he could encounter God
in prayer.
And he wrote about the divine irony of the fame that denied
it to him because his miracles attracted so many people. In this brief excerpt,
Jerome describes Hilarion’s faith and a typical miracle:
Once . . . when he was eighteen years old, brigands tried to
find him at night. Either they believed that he had something to steal or they
thought he would scorn them if they didn’t intimidate him. . . . From evening
till dawn, they hunted in every direction but couldn’t find him. In the broad
daylight, however, they came upon him and apparently as a joke asked him: “What
would you do if robbers attacked you?” He answered: “A naked person does not
fear robbers.” “You could be killed.” “I could,” he said. “But I am not afraid
of robbers because I am ready to die.” Admiring his faith, they confessed their
folly of the night before and their blindness, and promised to reform their
lives...
A woman of Eleutheropolis, despised by her husband of
fifteen years because of her sterility, . . . was the first who dared to
intrude upon blessed Hilarion’s solitude. While he was still unaware of her
approach, she suddenly threw herself at his knees saying: “Forgive my boldness.
. . ., he asked her why she had come and why she was weeping. When he learned
the cause of her grief, raising his eyes to heaven, he commanded her to have
faith and to believe. He followed her departure with tears. When a year had
gone by, he saw her with her son.
Like Anthony, Hilarion took only a little food once a day at
sunset. When tempted sexually, he ate even less. “I’ll see to it, you jackass,”
he said, “that you shall not kick.” He never bathed nor changed his tunic until
it wore out. He said, “It is idle to expect cleanliness in a hair shirt.”
Jerome relates that even though Hilarion suffered extreme dryness of spirit, he
persevered in prayer and cured many people of sickness and demon possession.
The parade of petitioners and would-be disciples drove Hilarion to retire to
more remote locations. But they followed him everywhere. First he visited
Anthony’s retreat in Egypt. Then he withdrew to Sicily, later to Dalmatia, and
finally to Cyprus. He died there in 371.
Even for saints like Hilarion who steadfastly pursued God,
life is a battle of wills. Hilarion desired solitude, believing it was God’s
will for him. But God had other ideas and sent crowds to disrupt his aloneness.
Before we get too far along on our journey, we need to check to see if we are
following God’s roadmap, not our own. Or we may be like Yogi Berra, who once
said, “We’re making good time, but we’re lost.”
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It can be said that life is the most difficult exam. Many people fail because they try to copy others, without realizing that everyone has a different question paper. Who among us can say that we never desired to be richer, higher and have more. We get these desires not out of nowhere, but from looking at others and then wanting to get what they have and even be who they are.
In the gospel, Jesus has a teaching for us that will help us in looking at life when He says: Watch, and be on your guard against avarice of any kind, for a man's wealth is not made secure by what he owns even when he has more than he needs.
Then He tells a parable about a rich man who had a bountiful harvest and made plans for securing his future with his wealth. And he was called a "fool" because he thought that his wealth was the security for his soul, without realizing that his wealth may belong to him but his soul belongs to God.
We can say that the rich man failed in the exam of life because he was foolish enough to think that his wealth can save him.
But as the 1st reading will remind us, that is by the grace of Jesus Christ that we have been saved through faith. Not by anything of our own, but by a gift from God. Not by anything that we have done so that nobody can claim the credit.
Let us not be so foolish as to fail in the exam of life. We must realize that there is no greater wealth in this world than peace of mind and that God loves us with so much love and He is so generous with His mercy that He has already given us a place in heaven. We only need to be grateful and thankful to pass the exam of life.
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Monday of 29th Week of Ordinary Time
SAVED BY GRACE
Introduction Ephesians gives us the very fundamental message of our gratuitous salvation by the death and resurrection of Christ. Life, real life, comes through him. We have not done anything to deserve it and we can’t do anything to merit it. All we are, we are by the grace of God. It goes perhaps against the grain of our human thinking, but we are dependent beings, a gift from God living by the gifts of God. And yet, this should not be humiliating, for it is in accordance with our human nature. We are dependent, yes, but we are loved – and this is what changes everything. When Jesus speaks out against the rich, he does not intend to condemn them but to liberate them. What he denounces is not the fact that they have material goods, but their own attachment to them and the use they make of their riches: for hoarding, for selfish enjoyment, or – as some rich countries do – stockpiling wheat in silos or using oil for economic and political pressure. The value of possessions is relative to the goods of the kingdom, to justice and love. What counts is to be rich and wise before God.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God, we are your work of art. When we were vowed to death through sin, you called us to life through the death of your Son. God, open us to your love and life given for free as a gift without charge or regret and give us thankful hearts. May we learn from you and your Son to place ourselves in the service of our brothers and sisters, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Commentary
Our psalm today speaks of God’s steadfast love, which endures forever. If these were the sentiments of an Old Testament believer, how much more do these words resound in the Christian heart? Paul speaks of his pre-Christian life and that of his fellow Christians. This was a life lived in the darkness of sin, subject to ethereal powers. Dominated by desires of the flesh, we were, says Paul, “children of wrath,” destined for destruction. But God in his great mercy has raised us up with Christ as Exhibit A of his boundless grace in Christ Jesus. By that grace we have been saved through faith. When we read this in conjunction with today’s Gospel, in our hearts we know that there are better things in life than barns filled with grain. The trouble is that we don’t always act that way. If we had an estate in the Hamptons or a yacht that took us on a tour each year, they would be overshadowed by that great gift of new life in Christ Jesus. Our hearts are lifted up by philanthropists who use their fortunes on behalf of the less fortunate. With their millions they are fighting our most devastating diseases and giving hope to the desperately poor. They are not waiting for some future date to make their bequests but acting now. This is a lesson from today’s scripture. Yes, wealth is to be shared.
Points to Ponder
Using our goods for others
The danger of wealth
God’s greatest gift: our faith
Intercessions
– For grateful hearts, that we can thank God for changing us from strangers to him into his sons and daughters in Christ, we pray:
– For loving hearts, that God has brought us peace with himself, with one another, and even with ourselves, we pray:
– For wide-open hearts, with which we can love the many brothers and sisters God’s grace has given us in the Church, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God, you let us use these offerings as gifts from your hands to eat and drink the life of your Son. Confirm us in your grace without any claim to our own merits and let the Spirit of Jesus help us to live the good life of your Son which you had meant us to live from the beginning and for ever.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God, what else can we do than give you thanks and praise for speaking to us through Jesus and strengthening us with his bread of life? May what we say and do and all of our lives be a gift to those around and an act of gratitude to you, our God for ever and ever.
Blessing
All is grace, all is a gift freely given. Even the use of our talents and our work is God’s gift. Let us also give freely to our neighbor, like our love to the people close to us, but also our help to people who suffer, even if far away from us. And may almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
