Jan. 18

January 18, 2020:  Saturday, 1st week, Ordinary Time

See 18 connections with today?
Legend below

Listen

• Requiem for the unborn/ Bonaduce, for OneLife LA

For gospel

• I will follow/ Tomlin

• I will choose Christ/ Booth; Troccoli has same refrain, different verses and bridge

• Digo Sí, Señor/ Peña

• Day by day/ St. Richard of Chichester, Schwartz:  more

For Psalm 21

• Psalm 21:  Victory/ Silver

• Psalm 21

For week of prayer for Christian unity

• We are the body of Christ/ Hampton, Brown:  lyrics/chords

• Make us one/ Cymbala

• Make us one/ Keyes, Wickham, Gungor, Brown (music, lyrics, chords)

• Bind us together/ Gillman

• With one voice/ Redman, Chapman

Read

• 1 Sm 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1  The Lord assured Samuel, “Saul is to govern my people.”  Saul met Samuel who anointed him:  “The Lord anoints you commander.  Govern his people and save them from their enemies.”

• Ps 21:2-7  "Lord, in your strength the king is glad."  You welcomed, blessed, and crowned him and gave him life, majesty, and joy.

• Mk 2:13-17  Jesus taught the crowd.  He invited Levi to follow him, and he got up and followed.  Scribes saw Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors and asked his disciples why.  Jesus:  “The healthy don't need a doctor; sick people do.  I came to call sinners.”

Reflect

• Creighton:  Today's gospel doesn't provide much context about Levi, but most scholars believe he was a tax collector.  Jesus encountered many tax collectors, sinners, and troubled souls, and when scholars of his time challenged his disciples time about it, he responded, “I came to call sinners.”  We're all imperfect, thirsting for spiritual nourishment and healthy faith.  Pope Francis has said that wearing the 'Christian' or 'Catholic' label isn't enough to belong to Jesus; we need to speak Jesus' language of love.  He challenged us to ask, “Do I have at least one poor person as a friend?”  Let's improve our relationships with the poor, including the spiritually poor, who may have lost their way or never found it, listening to their stories, avoiding judgment, and modeling Christ’s disposition....

Feast in the House of Levi/ Veronese

• One Bread, One Body:  "Great sinners to great saints":  Levi (Matthew), apostle, evangelist, missionary, and martyr, was also a great sinner; Jesus implied he was spiritually sick.  Even after Jesus transformed his life, Matthew abandoned him on the cross, but Matthew repented, received the Spirit, and became a great saint.  Each of us is called to greatness; we're privileged to do our part in God's saving plan. By grace and faith, we can do even greater things than Jesus.  We're God's adopted children, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people he claims for his own."  But we've sinned and still do, contributing to Jesus' sufferings on the cross (Catechism 598), but the Lord calls us to repent, wanting to give us a new Pentecost and restore us to greatness and make us even greater.  May we like Matthew rise from sin to the greatness of God's children.

• Passionist:  Levi was despised for 'bullying' and exploiting people, but Jesus, seeing something in him, joined him and other tax collectors for dinner, maybe hoping to get an insight into them or to challenge their practices.  When the Pharisees challenged Jesus, he challenged them with their own false righteousness, essentially saying, you think you don't need God’s help.  We need to ‘check in’ with Jesus every day through prayer and conversation, listening, seeing him in our activities, and allow him to move and shape us and prevent us from drifting away from him; we need to let him see something in us and call us; then we need to respond and follow.

Meal with sinners/ Köder

• DailyScripture.net:  "Sinners sitting with Jesus":  Many were drawn to Jesus, including the unwanted, unlovable, sick, homeless, public sinners, and despised men like Matthew/Levi.  Jesus shocked the Orthodox Jews, who divided people into those who rigidly kept the Law, and everyone else, whom they avoided, didn't do business with, didn't marry, and didn't eat with. When the Pharisees challenged him, he said doctors are for the sick.  Jesus, the divine physician, sought out those in need to restore them to wholeness, while orthodox Jews were so preoccupied with their religious practice that they neglected the needy.  Ironically, the orthodox were as needy as those they despised.  The Lord, who fills us with grace and mercy, wants us to seek others' good, showing them the kindness and mercy we've received..

Dress legend

• 'Crown' tie bar:  Samuel anointed Saul king (1st reading); in your strength the king is glad; you placed a gold crown on him (psalm)

• 'Prize' pin:  In your victory the king greatly rejoices (psalm)

• 'Heart' pin, You granted him his heart’s desire;... (psalm)

• 'Car with mouth' pin:  ...you refused not the wish of his lips (psalm)

• 'Musical notes with 'joy'" pin:  You gladdened the king with the joy of your face (psalm)

• Gold-colored accessories:  You placed a gold crown on his head (psalm)

• 'Celebrate teaching' pin:  Jesus taught the crowd (gospel)

• 'Phone' tie bar:  Jesus 'called' Levi/Matthew; Jesus came to 'call' sinners (gospel)

• 'Money bag' pin:  Levi/Matthew, tax collector

• '?' tie pin, 'silverware' tie bar:  "Why does Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners?" (gospel)

• 'Doctor's office' tie:  Sick people need a doctor (gospel)

• 'WWJD' pin:  Jesus:  "Follow me" (gospel)

• Blue and green in shirt:  Blue for sea (gospel), green for Ordinary Time season

• 'Precious feet' pin:  The unborn deserve respect and protection...

• OneLife LA button:  ...as does all human life:  event is today!

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