Feast of St Benedict, Abbot, Patron of Europe - Proper readings
St. Benedict, Abbot (c. 480-547)
1st Reading - Genesis 44:18-21.23b-29.45:1-5.
Judah approached Joseph and said: “I beg you, my lord, let your servant speak earnestly to my lord, and do not become angry with your servant, for you are the equal of Pharaoh. My lord asked your servants, 'Have you a father, or another brother?'So we said to my lord, 'We have an aged father, and a young brother, the child of his old age. This one's full brother is dead, and since he is the only one by that mother who is left, his father dotes on him.'Then you told your servants, 'Bring him down to me that my eyes may look on him.'But you told your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes back with you, you shall not come into my presence again.'When we returned to your servant our father, we reported to him the words of my lord."Later, our father told us to come back and buy some food for the family.So we reminded him, 'We cannot go down there; only if our youngest brother is with us can we go, for we may not see the man if our youngest brother is not with us.'Then your
servant our father said to us, 'As you know, my wife bore me two sons.One of them, however, disappeared, and I had to conclude that he must have been torn to pieces by wild beasts; I have not seen him since.If you now take this one away from me too, and some disaster befalls him, you will send my white head down to the nether world in grief.'Joseph could no longer control himself in
the presence of all his attendants, so he cried out, "Have everyone withdraw from me!" Thus no one else was about when he made himself known to his brothers.But his sobs were so loud that the Egyptians heard him, and so the news reached Pharaoh's palace."I am Joseph," he said to his brothers. "Is my father still in good health?" But his brothers could give him no answer, so dumbfounded were they at him."Come closer to me," he told his brothers. When they had done so, he said: "I am your brother Joseph, whom you once sold into Egypt.But now do not be distressed, and do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here. It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here
ahead of you.
Psalm 105(104):16-17.18-19.20-21.
When the LORD called down a famine on the land
and ruined the crop that sustained them, He sent a man before them,
Joseph, sold as a slave. They had weighed him down with fetters,
and he was bound with chains, Till his prediction came to pass
and the word of the LORD proved him true. The king sent and released him,
the ruler of the peoples set him free. He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions.
Gospel - Matt 10:7-15.
Jesus said to his Apostles: “As you go, make this proclamation: 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.
Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep.
Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave.
As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you.Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words--go outside that
house or town and shake the dust from your feet.Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
Commentary of the day
I used to frequently comment that my ministry would have been much more effective if I had been given the power of raising the dead. Do you ever really think about those disciples of Jesus going around raising the dead? Healing lepers? Driving out demons? No wonder their numbers of supporters rose so dramatically!
Any of you who have had me visit your house will recall my first words before I cross the lintel were always, "Peace to this house and to all who live here"... then I had to explain why I said that.
Jesus told us to be people who bring peace with us wherever we go..
But the key point of this passage is that Jesus gave His power freely to His followers to use however, it was never their power that they were using.
So I was always sceptical of any 'Healing Preachers' who wanted to come to our visit to conduct a 'healing ministry' because they always stipulated that they wanted to take up a collection at the end.
I would have been completely willing to welcome them to our parish to conduct a healing Mass or service as long as they asked no money for doing so.
So if you believe in Bo Sanchez or some other healing priest from the Philippines who is going to come and heal your ailing relative, think again!
They never do it for free.. so they are disobedient to our Lord and therefore to be classified as one of the false prophets.
I also felt that way about asking for a 'fee' for sacraments which is clearly forbidden by Canon Law and God's law. This and other contradictions of our Lord's teachings should show you who are the true shepherds and who are the 'hired workers'.
Saint Ephrem (c.306-373), Deacon in Syria, Doctor of the Church
Diatesseron 8, 3-4 (cf SC 121, p.159)
"If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it"
“As you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house,'” (Lk 10:5) so
that the Lord himself might enter and remain there, as with Mary... This
greeting is the mystery of faith, which shines forth in the world. Through it
enmity is stifled, war is stopped, and people acknowledge one another. The
effect of that greeting was hidden by a veil in spite of the fact that it
prefigures the mystery of the resurrection... when the light rises and dawn
chases night away. From the moment Christ sent out his disciples, people began
to give and receive this greeting, a source of healing and blessing...
This greeting with its hidden power... is amply sufficient for us all. That is
why Our Lord sent it out, together with his disciples, as forerunner, so that
it might bring about peace and, carried by the voice of the apostles whom he
sent, prepare the way before them. It was sown in every dwelling...; it
entered into all who heard it so as to separate and set apart the children it
recognized as its own. It remained in them but it denounced those who were
alen to it, for they did not welcome it.
This greeting of peace did not dry up; it began in the apostles and then
sprang up in their brethren, revealing the Lord's inexhaustible treasures...
Present in those who offered greetings in this way and in those who welcomed
the greeting, this announcement of peace was neither diminished nor divided.
It announced that the Father is near and is in everyone; it revealed that the
Son's mission is bound up with all even if its object is to be with his
Father. It will not cease to proclaim that images are now brought to
completion and truth will cast all shadows away at last.
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