June 3, 2015

Charles Lwanga et soc.

June 3, 2015:  St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs


  • 'Kneeling person' tie bar:  Tobit's prayer (1st reading)
  • 'Scales of justice' tie:  "You are the judge of the world." (1st reading)
  • 'Angel' pin:  Angel Raphael healed Tobit and Sarah (1st reading)
  • 'Stick figures' tie pin:  There were seven brothers....  (gospel)
  • Red shirt, 'blood drop' pin:  Ugandan martyrs' witness to the death
Listen

Pope Francis audience
Poverty afflicts too many families.  How much misery and degradation!  And in some areas there's even war, the ‘mother of poverties,’ impoverishing families and stealing lives, souls, feelings, and loved ones.  Many poor people persevere with dignity in horrible circumstances, often entrusting themselves to God's, but that shouldn't justify our indifference; it must increase our shame that so much poverty exists!  It’s a miracle that amidst such poverty families continue to be formed and sustained.  Those who consider family ties secondary with respect to quality of life just don't understand!
Kneel before these families; they're a school of humanity and save us from barbarity.  Our economies often promote individual well-being at the expense of families, a grave contradiction as budgets count on work families carry out.  Look for ways to strengthen and support families, especially poorer ones.  Mother Church can never be blind to her children's sufferings; she too must be poor to become fruitful and to respond to misery.  Choose simplicity individually and institutionally, to break down walls of division, especially poverty.  Pray and act accordingly.
Read

 For weekday
  • Tb 3:1-11a, 16-17a  I, Tobit, wept and prayed:  “Lord, look with favor on me.   We sinned, so you made us the reproach of the nations.  Your judgments are true.  Deal with me as you please.  It's better for me to die; I'm overwhelmed with grief.  Deliver me from such anguish!”  Sarah also had to listen to abuse; she'd been married to seven husbands, but a wicked demon killed them before they could have intercourse with her:  “You strangle your husbands!  May we never see a child of yours!”  Deeply saddened, she planned to hang herself but reconsidered:  “No! People would level this insult against my father, and I'd cause my father to die sorrow-laden.  It's  better for me to beg the Lord to have me die.”  She prayed:  “Blessed are you, Lord, in all your works for ever!”  God heard the prayer of  both of them.  Raphael was sent to heal them both:  to restore Tobit's sight and to marry Sarah to Tobit’s son Tobiah, and drive the demon from her.
  • Ps 25:2-5ab, 6, 7bc, 8-9  "To you, O Lord, I lift my soul."  Teach me your ways.  Your compassion and kindness are from of old.  Remember me....
  • Mk 12:18-27  Sadducees (who say there's no resurrection) / “There were seven brothers.  The first married and died, leaving no children.  So too the other six.  Then the woman died.  Whose wife will she be at the resurrection?”  / “You do not know the Scriptures or God's power!  When they rise, they don't marry; they're like angels.  As for the dead being raised, God told Moses, I'm God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?  He's not God of the dead but the living!”
For St. Charles celebration
  • Ps 124:2-5, 7b-8  "Our soul has been rescued like a bird from the fowler's snare."
Reflect
    • Creighton:  "Easier said than done":  Tobit and Sarah, filled with grief and anguish, wanted to die, but they escaped their living hell by fervent prayer.  Deepening our prayer life, like improving our diet or exercise regimen, is easier said than done.  Be more conscious of God, imagine God next to you and give thanks; it'll give you a deeper relationship with God and power to overcome obstacles....
    • One Bread One Body:  "Persevere in hope":  God heard and answered Tobit's and Sarah's prayers, but it took time for the answers to unfold.  They had to persevere in faith, despite not seeing results.  They clung to God's past mercies, trusting in future ones.
    • DailyScripture.net:  We're sometimes like Sadducees, who didn't believe in bodily resurrection; we don't recognize spiritual realities because we try to make heaven into something we can see.  Sadducees didn't believe in immortal beings, whether humans, angels, or evil spirits.  Jesus responds to them by showing that God is a living God of a living people....
      • Charles Lwanga and +21 companions, Ugandan martyrs
      • Kevin, monastery founder
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