MASS READINGS
June 30, 2013 (Readings on USCCB website)
COLLECT PRAYER
O God, who through the grace of adoption chose us to be children of light, grant, we pray, that we may not be wrapped in the darkness of error but always be seen to stand in the bright light of truth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
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"As they were going along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head (Luke 9:57-58).'" Today, Jesus calls us to follow him as he makes his way toward Jerusalem, where the mystery of death and rebirth is to be accomplished to follow these requires wholehearted commitment, the commitment of love. Nothing less is fit for the reign of God.
Click here for commentary on the readings in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
Sunday Readings
The first reading is taken from 1 Kings 19:16; 19-21. We have here an account of the call of Elisha to the prophetic office.
The second reading is from Galatians 5:1; 13-18. In this reading, St. Paul tells the Galatians that they were called for freedom. He then makes an important distinction that needs to be reiterated often in our world, and that is the distinction between freedom and license. St. Paul says "do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love." Many people seem to have the idea that freedom is all about doing what I want, when I want, how I want, etc. This is not freedom, but license. License is selfish, the opposite of the love to which St. Paul exhorts us.
The Gospel is from St. Luke 9:51-62. Among the various incidents gathered together by Luke in these verses of his gospel we have read today, perhaps the lesson that should strike all of us most is his insistence on total dedication on the part of his true followers to his service. We cannot be for Christ and against him at the same time. "He who gathers not with me. scatters," he himself said. We are followers of Christ since our baptism. In theory this is the fact, but in practice how real is this fact for many of us? Are we really following Christ during the twenty-four hours of every day of our lives? Are our eyes always fixed on the true future which awaits us? Are we prepared to plow a straight furrow no matter what snags or obstacles may be on our way? How few of us can answer "yes, we are," to these straight questions?
We have, of course, explanations ready at hand for our forgetfulness, our laxity, our earthly entanglements. We are tied down by family and a hundred other earthly cares. Our days, our weeks, our year are so fully occupied that we fmd it hard to spare even a short hour on Sundays to give to God. This answer shows a misunderstanding of what Christ demands of us. He knows his followers must live for a few years in this world and must, for the most part, struggle to earn a living for themselves during that period. But it is by living this earthly life properly, by being loyal to spouse and family, by earning one's living honestly, by living not only peacefully but helpfully with one's neighbors, that we are living our Christian life.
The man who keeps within the limits that Christian law lays down for him, while working his way through this life. is a true follower of Christ and is on the road to heaven, plowing a straight furrow. He may not have much time for prayer, and each morning he may rush off to work. But God understands half-sentences and even single words. At night he needs recreation and relaxation. and God does not expect long prayers from him—if he has worked honestly and has given the example of true Christianity to his fellow-workers, he has honored God all day. He has prayed well. A few words of thanks to God, a request for pardon for all the mistakes made since morning, before lying down to sleep at night, will give such a man nothing to fear should God call him to judgement during the night hours.
If we only realized how reasonable God's demands are, and how every demand he makes on us is for our own benefit and not his, we would be a little more generous in our. response to his calls. He does not need us—we need him. We could slip in a few more short prayers during the day: we could find more time to take a true interest in the eternal and less in the temporal. We could manage to give a helping hand and a word of encouragement to a needy neighbor. Yes, all of us could do a lot more to show to Christ and to the world that we are following him gladly and honestly. We are not looking back while plowing our Christian furrow.
Excepted from The Sunday Readings, Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.
Commentary for the Readings in the Extraordinary Form:
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
"Taking the seven loaves. He gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to distribute; and they set them before the crowd. . .(about four thousand). . .And they ate and were satisfied" (Gospel).
"I have compassion on the crowd." Some of us may "have (had to) come from a distance" in our wanderings from God. But this sentiment of His Heart, so Divine, so human, inspires our plea to "save" us from eternal hunger in "the pit" of hell (Introit).
At Baptism we were reborn to a new life, to be "dead to sin, but alive to God" (Epistle). Daily with Christ we must die to sin and evil. Daily with Him we must rise to God and good works. Daily we would "faint on the way," famished with hunger, crying out: "How will anyone be able to satisfy (us in (the) desert" of life(Gospel)?
At the altar of sacrifice God will not allow the hopes of anyone to be "in vain" (Secret). Only at the altar will our instinctive hunger for God be really "filled" (Postcommunion).
Excerpted from My Sunday Missal, Confraternity of the Precious Blood
