28th Week, Monday, Oct 16
Romans 1:1-7 / Luke 11:29-32
Paul discusses his calling; God called him to preach to the Gentiles.
Edward R. Murrow was one of the first news commentators to use the media with real power and skill. Recently a television spokesman recalled a prediction Murrow made in the 1950s: “Someday we'll be able to talk to our audience from any place in the world almost any time we want. When that day comes, what will we say?" The television spokesman then observed: “Murrow's prediction has come true, but we still haven't figured out what to say.”
Paul would know what to say to the world. It would be what he says in effect in today's reading: “Jesus is the Lord, and he calls all people to holiness.”
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Do we support efforts to use the media to spread the Gospel in our time? Jesus said, “What you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.” Matthew 10:27
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Starting today and for the next four weeks, we shall listen to Paul’s letter to the Romans. Today he presents himself as the Lord’s apostle, especially for the gentiles, and then he goes straight to the heart of the message he has to proclaim: that Jesus Christ is the son of David and our risen Savior.
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There are many lessons we can learn from the events of history and from the peoples of the past. These events also help us to create a greater awareness of our current situation and we also see that we have many advantages over the peoples of the past. We may feel anything from feeling sorry to being critical of the people in the gospel passage.
They were asking Jesus for a sign when THE sign was standing right before them. Jesus could only ask them to reflect upon the events of their own history and upon the lessons of their past, and He quoted two figures of the past for their reflection - Jonah and the Queen of the South.
Similarly, Jesus is also asking us to reflect on the events of our history so as to be more aware of our present spiritual state. Events like our baptism and our experiences of God all point to God's love for us and His mercy and forgiveness of our sins. We don't need more signs from God. We only need to remember and reflect upon the marvellous deeds He has done for us.
May we also respond to the call of Jesus for repentance and conversion.
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Jesus reprimands the Jews for not believing unless they see spectacular signs. But Christ proclaims that faith consists in trust in the word and in the person of the one who is sent. The early Christian community specified further: faith rests in confidence in the risen Christ. The preeminent sign is Jesus Christ himself. We believe not because of this or that wonder or proof but because Jesus makes God visible to us.
Prayer
Lord God, our Father, we too wish at times we could see signs that brace our hesitant faith. Give us a faith that is strong enough not to ask for wonders and proofs but simply to trust in you and in your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Deepen this faith and make it the very foundation of the whole of our life. We ask you this through Christ our risen Lord. Amen
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Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque
Margaret Mary was chosen by Christ to arouse the Church to a realization of the love of God symbolized by the heart of Jesus.
Her early years were marked by sickness and a painful home situation. “The heaviest of my crosses was that I could do nothing to lighten the cross my mother was suffering.” After considering marriage for some time, Margaret Mary entered the Order of the Visitation nuns at the age of 24.
A Visitation nun was “not to be extraordinary except by being ordinary,” but the young nun was not to enjoy this anonymity. A fellow novice termed Margaret Mary humble, simple, and frank, but above all, kind and patient under sharp criticism and correction. She could not meditate in the formal way expected, though she tried her best to give up her “prayer of simplicity.” Slow, quiet, and clumsy, she was assigned to help an infirmarian who was a bundle of energy.
On December 21, 1674, three years a nun, she received the first of her revelations. She felt “invested” with the presence of God, though always afraid of deceiving herself in such matters. The request of Christ was that his love for humankind be made evident through her.
During the next 13 months, Christ appeared to her at intervals. His human heart was to be the symbol of his divine-human love. By her own love Margaret Mary was to make up for the coldness and ingratitude of the world—by frequent and loving Holy Communion, especially on the first Friday of each month, and by an hour’s vigil of prayer every Thursday night in memory of his agony and isolation in Gethsemane. He also asked that a feast of reparation be instituted.
Like all saints, Margaret Mary had to pay for her gift of holiness. Some of her own sisters were hostile. Theologians who were called in declared her visions delusions and suggested that she eat more heartily. Later, parents of children she taught called her an impostor, an unorthodox innovator. A new confessor, the Jesuit Claude de la Colombière, recognized her genuineness and supported her. Against her great resistance, Christ called her to be a sacrificial victim for the shortcomings of her own sisters, and to make this known.
After serving as novice mistress and assistant superior, Margaret Mary died at the age of 43, while being anointed. She said: “I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of Jesus.”
