"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. " (John 12)
Photo copyright : John R Portelli

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Authority comes from serving

Readings for October 21, 2012

29th Sunday in Ordinary Times Year B

Id-29 Ħadd matul is-Sena                                            
            Messalin  B p 492




READING 1     Isaiah 53:10-11

The LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity. If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. This is the Word of The Lord.
L-EWWEL QARI      Isaija 53, 10-11
Il-Mulej ghogbu jghakksu bil-mard. Talli joffri ruhu b’sagrificcju ta’ riparazzjoni, huwa ghad jara nisel u jtawwal jiemu; u r-rieda tal-Mulej issehh bih. Wara t-tbatija tieghu ghad jara d-dawl, jixba’ bit-taghrif tieghu. Il-gust jiggustifika lill-qaddej tieghu quddiem il-kotra, u l-hazen taghhom jitghabba bih hu.   Il-Kelma tal-Mulej.
-------------------------
RESPONSORIAL PSALM        Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22 
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.     
R. (22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.                           
R. (22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.                           
R. (22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
SALM RESPONSORJALI        Salm 32 (33)
Sewwa hi l-kelma tal-Mulej,
kollox bil-fedeltà huwa ghamel.
Hu jhobb id-dritt u s-sewwa;
bit-tjieba tal-Mulej mimlija l-art.
 Rit: Ha tkun it-tjieba tieghek fuqna, Mulej, kif fik hi t-tama taghna!

Ara, ghajnejn il-Mulej fuq dawk li jibzghu minnu,
fuq dawk li jittamaw fit-tjieba tieghu,
Biex jehilsilhom mill-mewt hajjithom,
u jahjihom fi zmien il-guh.      
 Rit: Ha tkun it-tjieba tieghek fuqna, Mulej, kif fik hi t-tama taghna!

Ruhna tixxennaq ghall-Mulej,
hu l-ghajnuna u t-tarka taghna.
Ha tkun, Mulej, it-tjieba tieghek fuqna,
kif fik hi t-tama taghna.
Rit: Ha tkun it-tjieba tieghek fuqna, Mulej, kif fik hi t-tama taghna!
 ------------------------------

READING 2    Hebrews 4:14-16

Brothers and sisters: Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.  This is the Word of The Lord.
IT-TIENI QARI        Lhud 4, 14-16
Huti, meta ahna ghandna l-qassis il-kbir, li hu tassew kbir, qassis li dahal fis-smewwiet, Gesù, Bin Alla, ha nzommu shiha l-fidi taghna u nistqarruha. Ghax ahna ma ghandniex qassis kbir li ma jistax jaghder id-dghufija taghna, imma ghandna wiehed li kien imgarrab bhalna f’kollox, minbarra d-dnub.  Ha nersqu, mela, b’qalbna qawwija lejn it-tron tal-grazzja, biex naqilghu hniena u nsibu f’waqtha l-grazzja li nehtiegu.  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
 -----------------------------------

GOSPEL   Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." He replied, "What do you wish me to do for you?" They answered him, "Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left."
Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" They said to him, "We can."
Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared." When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus summoned them and said to them, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."  This is the Word of The Lord.
L-EVANGELJU      Mark 10: 35-45
F’dak iz-zmien, Gakbu u Gwanni, ulied Ûebedew, resqu lejh u qalulu: «Mghallem, dak li sa nitolbuk irriduk taghtihulna.» «Xi triduni naghmlilkom?» staqsiehom. U huma wegbuh: «Hallina noqoghdu wiehed fuq il-lemin tieghek u l-iehor fuq ix-xellug fil-glorja tieghek.»  Imma Gesù qalilhom: «Ma tafux x’intom titolbu. Ghandkom hila tixorbu l-kalci li sa nixrob jien, u titghammdu bil-maghmudija li biha sa nitghammed jien?» «Ghandna,» qalulu. Imbaghad qalilhom Gesù: «Il-kalci li sa nixrob jien tixorbuh, iva, u titghammdu wkoll bil-maghmudija li biha sa nitghammed jien; imma li wiehed joqghod fuq il-lemin jew fuq ix-xellug tieghi, din mhijiex haga tieghi li naghtiha jien, imma hi ghal dawk li ghalihom kienet imhejjija.» L-ghaxra l-ohra, meta semghu dan, sahnu ghal Gakbu u ghal Gwanni. Imma Gesù sejhilhom u qalilhom: «Tafu intom, dawk in-nies, li l-bnedmin jghodduhom bhala kapijiet tal-pagani, jahkmu fuqhom, u l-kbarat taghhom ihaddmu s-setgha taghhom fuqhom. Fostkom ma ghandux ikun hekk, imma min irid ikun kbir fostkom, ghandu jkun qaddej taghkom, u min irid ikun l-ewwel fostkom, ghandu joqghod ilsir ta’ kulhadd. Ghax hekk ukoll Bin il-bniedem, hu ma giex biex ikun moqdi, imma biex jaqdi u biex jaghti hajtu b’fidwa ghall-kotra.»   Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
NOTA  - Il-kitbiet  li jinsabu f'dan is-sit mhux qed jinkitbu bil-karattri Maltin biex kulhadd ikun jista' jaqrahom bil-font standard tas-sistema tieghu.   Ghal min jaqra l-Kelma:  Kopja tat-test li jinqara waqt il-quddies jista jinstab ukoll fis-sit: http://liturgijamalta.org//rizorsi-liturgija/Qari-Hdud-B/B%20Matul%2029.pdf  
===============================================
COMMENTARY  
FATHER CANTALAMESSA ON POWER   
   Here is a translation of a commentary by the Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, on this Sunday's liturgical readings.The Great Exercise Power
 After the Gospel on riches, this Sunday's Gospel gives us Christ's judgment on another of the great idols of the world: power.  

Power, like money, is not intrinsically evil. God describes himself as "the Omnipotent" and Scripture says "power belongs to God" (Psalm 62:11).

However, given that man had abused the power granted to him, transforming it into control by the strongest and oppression of the weakest, what did God do?   To give us an example, God stripped himself of his omnipotence; from being "omnipotent," he made himself "impotent."

He "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant" (Philippians 2:7). He transformed power into service. The first reading of the day contains a prophetic description of this "impotent" Savior. "He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth. ... He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity."

Thus a new power is revealed, that of the cross: "Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise" (1 Corinthians 1:27). In the Magnificat, Mary sings in advance this silent revolution brought by the coming of Christ: "He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones" (Luke 1:52).

Who is accused under this denunciation of power? Only dictators and tyrants? Would that it were so! It would refer, in this case, to exceptions. Instead, it affects us all. Power has infinite ramifications, it gets in everywhere, as certain sands of the Sahara when the sirocco wind blows. It even gets into the Church.

The problem of power, therefore, is not posed only in the political realm. If we stay in that realm, we do no more than join the group of those who are always ready to strike others' breast for their own faults. It is easy to denounce collective faults, or those of the past; it is far more difficult when it comes to personal and present faults.

Mary says that God "dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart; he has thrown down the rulers from their thrones" (Luke 1:51ff.). She singles out implicitly a precise area in which the "will to power" must be combated: our own hearts.Our minds -- the thoughts of the heart -- can become a kind of throne on which we sit to dictate laws and thunder against those who do not submit to us. We are, at least in our wishes if not in deeds, the "mighty on thrones."

Sadly, in the family itself it is possible that our innate will to power and abuse might manifest itself, causing constant suffering to those who are victims of it, which is often -- not always -- the woman.

What does the Gospel oppose to power? Service: a power for others, not over others!

Power confers authority, but service confers something more, authority that means respect, esteem, a true ascendancy over others. The Gospel also opposes power with nonviolence, that is, power of another kind, moral, not physical power.

Jesus said that he could have asked the Father for twelve legions of angels to defeat his enemies who were just about to crucify him (Matthew 26:53), but he preferred to pray for them. And it was in this way that he achieved victory.

Service is not always expressed, however, in silence and submission to power. Sometimes it can impel one to raise one's voice against power and its abuses. This is what Jesus did. In his life he experienced the abuse of the political and religious power of the time. That is why he is close to all those -- in any environment (the family, community, civil society) --who go through the experience of an evil and tyrannical power.

With his help it is possible not "to be overcome by evil," as he was not -- more than that, to "overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21).
[Translation by ZENIT]

No comments:

Post a Comment