October 31

October 31, 2013:

Thursday, 30th week, Ordinary Time

All Hallows Eve 

How many connections can you find with today's readings?
Legend below

Listen to music for 1st reading

• I am persuaded/ Hettenhouser (remembered from CCF "noon sings" ~1974)
• If God is for us/ Carr
• If God be for us, from Messiah / Handel
• If God is for us/ Foley
• God is working for our good/ Hayes
• Persuaded/ Leath
• On our side/ Tomlin, Cash, Reeves
• I am convinced/ Brown, Doerksen 
• More than conquerers/ Grein
• Who shall separate us from the love of Christ/ Tate, Baroni
• Who shall separate us/ Worzel (lyrics)

Read

• Rom 8:31b-39  If God is for us, who can be against us?  If he gave his Son, won't he give us everything else too?  Who will condemn us--God?  Christ?  What will separate us from Christ's love:  distress, peril?  No; we super-conquer through him.  Neither death, life, angels, present, future things, powers, nor creatures can separate us from God's love in Christ.

• Ps 109:21-22, 26-27, 30-31  "Save me, O Lord, in your mercy."  Lord, deal kindly with me; in your generous mercy rescue me; for I am wretched and poor, and my heart is pierced within me.  I'll thank you who stood at the right hand of the poor to save them.

• Lk 13:31-35  “Go away, Jesus; Herod wants to kill you.”  “Tell him, ‘I'll eaccomplish my purpose.  I must continue on my way.’  “Jerusalem, I yearn to gather your children together, but your house will be abandoned.”

Bonus

I love the first reading!  I remember it from a ~1974 campus ministry retreat, I keep returning to it, I was blessed to take a course in Romans from Fr. Dan Harrington, S.J., and the passage remains a consolation in hard times.  I just posted a page with an exegesis of it and homily based on it that I prepared back then.

Reflect

• Pope Francis homily:   Paul's “no one can separate me from Christ's love” vs. Jesus weeping for unfaithful Jerusalem not receiving God's love:  Paul feels he's a sinner, but finds strength in God's love vs. Jerusalem's people rejecting or half-accepting it.  Is my love strong or tepid?

• 5-finger prayer attributed to Pope Francis:  Infographic, another (in line with yesterday's 1st reading about the Spirit helping us to pray)

• RC.net:  Do I flee or stand when faced with adversity?

• Creighton:  Are we are looking for the wrong signs?  Love in action, resurrection.

• Sacred Space

Dress legend

• 'Scales of justice' pin:  Courtroom metaphor of Rom 8:31-34 (1st reading)

• 'Angel' pin:  "Angels [spiritual beings not necessarily heavenly] won't be able to separate us from God's love" (1st reading)

• 'Pierced hearts' suspenders:  "My heart is pierced within me" (psalm)

• 'Hen' tie pin:  I yearned to gather you together as hen gathers brood (gospel) [sorry it's not upright here]

• 'Musical notes with skulls as note heads' tie:  Singing thanks (end of psalm), saints en route to eternal reward (Hallowe'en)

• 'Headless skeleton' tie pin:  A saint (also Hallowe'en) [missing head isn't significant; head just broke off]

Dress your life!

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