Gospel: September 28, 2024
(Saturday)
25th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 1 / (Green/Red/White)
Blessed Virgin Mary / St. Wenceslaus, king & martyr / St. Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila & Companions, martyrs
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 90: 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14-17
In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
1st Reading: Ecclesiastes 11: 9 – 12: 8
Rejoice, young man, in your youth and direct well your heart when you are young; follow your desires and achieve your ambitions but recall that God will take account of all you do.
Drive sorrow from your heart and pain from your flesh, for youth and dark hair will not last.
Be mindful of your Creator when you are young, before the time of sorrow comes when you have to say, “This gives me no pleasure,” and before the sun, moon and stars withdraw their light, before the clouds gather again after the rain.
On the day when the guardians of the house tremble, when sturdy men are bowed and those at the mill stop working because they are too few, when it grows dim for those looking through the windows, and the doors are shut and the noise of the mill grows faint, the sparrow stops chirping and the birdsong is silenced, when one fears the slopes and to walk is frightening; yet the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper is fat and the caperberry bears fruit that serves no purpose, because man goes forward to his eternal home and mourners gather in the street, even before the silver chain is snapped or the golden globe is shattered, before the pitcher is broken at the fountain or the wheel at the mill, before the dust returns to the earth from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Meaningless! meaningless! the Teacher says; all is meaningless!
Gospel: Luke 9: 43b-45
But while all were amazed at everything Jesus did, he said to his disciples, “Listen, and remember what I tell you now: The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men.” But the disciples didn’t understand this saying; something prevented them from grasping what he meant, and they were afraid to ask him about it.
Reflection: “The suffering Messiah”
Today’s Gospel narrates Jesus foretelling of his passion. This is the second foretelling of Jesus’ passion in the Gospel of Luke. The passage follows the Lucan account of the Transfiguration and the succeeding healing of a boy possessed by a demon. The people were amazed at God’s wonderful work, Jesus predicted again his passion. Jesus reminded his disciples that the Son of Man would be handed over to the hands of men. The disciples did not understand the words of Jesus. Moreover, they were afraid to ask him about what he told them. We may wonder why his disciples were afraid of asking him so that he may explain it to them and so that they would eventually grasp what Jesus was trying to tell them. Were they merely afraid to ask Jesus because Jesus might rebuke them? Or were they afraid to ask Jesus because they fear to hear from Jesus the things they would not want to hear like the reality of sufferings and death? Their understanding of messiahship and Jesus’ message about the offering of his life appeared to be irreconcilable at that time in the minds of his disciples. Can we really accept a suffering Messiah?
