Our first reading today comes from the Old Testament book of Sirach, written by the Jewish teacher Ben Sira, who lived about 200 years before Christ. This book gives us advice on how to live by faith each day, covering topics such as family, friendship, work, and worship. Sirach connects our everyday choices to our faith, teaching us that wisdom is not just about knowledge, but that wisdom grows from listening, praying, and doing what is right. Our reading from Sirach today reminds us that God does not favor the rich and the powerful, but rather that he hears the cries of the humble. Justice is rooted in God’s wisdom and his moral order. True worship of God does not just pertain to our rituals, but also to living a righteous life. Following God as his disciple entails reaching out to the poor and placing our trust in God and in the values of the Gospel. We are to live out our faith in humility, honesty, and sincerity.
This theme of humility reflected in Sirach is echoed in our Gospel today. Luke illustrates how God has mercy for those who are humble. In his humility and simplicity of heart, in the awareness he has for his sinfulness, the tax collector receives God’s mercy. The tax collector, however, is closed off from God’s mercy in his arrogance and pride. Luke highlights how God lifts up the lowly. God brings salvation to those who repent from their sins and who turn to God with humble hearts. Humility opens up the fullness of God’s kingdom to us.
Back on October 5, we commemorated a Mass for Respect Life Sunday, honoring Respect Life Month in October. Last weekend, we commemorated World Mission Sunday, honoring October also as the month of World Missions. October is also a month traditionally associated with the Blessed Mother and the Rosary. This dates back to the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571, when the Christian faithful prayed the rosary for the crucial victory of the Christian forces over the Ottoman Empire in battle. This feast was made universal in the Catholic Church in 1716 with the name Our Lady of the Rosary. As we honor Mary in a special way during the month of October, we can also connect her to this theme of humility, as Mary is always humble in the way she approaches her faith.
Since the pilgrimage we went on in September concentrated on Marian shrines, praying the rosary was an important part of that experience, something we did at least once a day and often more frequently than that. Bearing fruit in our life of faith and getting through those difficult moments we have on our journey is something that Mary can help us with. When we went to these pilgrimage sites and encountered so many thousands of people, it shows the influence that the Blessed Mother has on our journey of faith. I was listening to a podcast from England entitled “Bearing fruit with Mary”. The priest mentioned how any kind of spiritual or physical rebirth that we experience in life should be accompanied by thoughts of thanksgiving and gratitude to the Blessed Mother who brought about the birth of Jesus in the world and who always accompanies us on our journey.
In a talk with a Franciscan friar that we heard in Medjugorje, he explained that the apparition of Mary there emphasized in her message to the six youth visionaries five pillars that are important in our practice of our Catholic faith: the Eucharist, fasting, the sacrament of reconciliation, the rosary prayer, and reading the Bible. Mary's message always aims to bring us closer to her son and closer to the faith. It is often a basic simple message, one that emphasizes the fundamental aspects of our Catholic faith.
As we come to the last weekend in the month of October, which is certainly hard to believe that the year is passing by so quickly, one thing I want you all to take away is the message of the three commemorations we have had this month. That the respect and dignity of human life are not just words we hear in the month of October, but values we live out on our faith journey each day. That having a missionary spirit is not just for missionaries who work in foreign land, but a spirit that all of us in our hearts each day, a spirit of evangelization and a witness to the Gospel message. And that having a devotion to our Blessed Mother and inviting her to be a part of our journey of faith can be so enriching for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment