« Sunday, August 25 »
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 123
Il-Wiehed u Ghoxrin Hadd taz-Zmien ta’
Matul is-Sena
Reading 1 Isaiah 66:18-21
Thus
says the LORD: I know their works and their thoughts, and I come to gather
nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign
among them; from them I will send fugitives to the nations: to Tarshish, Put
and Lud, Mosoch, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have never
heard of my fame, or seen my glory; and they shall proclaim my glory among the
nations. They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as
an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots, in carts, upon mules and
dromedaries, to Jerusalem, my holy mountain, says the LORD, just as the
Israelites bring their offering to the house of the LORD in clean vessels. Some of these I will take as priests and
Levites, says the LORD.
QARI I mill-Ktieb tal-Profeta Isaija Is 66, 18-21
Dan
jghid il-Mulej: “Ghad nigi nigbor il-gnus kollha, u l-popli ta’ kull ilsien;
dawn jigu u jaraw is-sebh tieghi. Jiena ngholli ghalihom sinjal, u nibghat lil
xi whud mill-fdal ta’ Izrael ghand il-gnus, f’Tarsis, Put, Lud, u Mesek, Ros,
Tubal u Gawan, u lejn ix-xtut imbieghda li qatt ma semghu bija, u qatt ma raw
is-sebh tieghi, u huma jxandru s-sebh tieghi qalb il-gnus. U jgibu lil hutkom
kollha minn kull gens, bhala offerta lill-Mulej; igibuhom fuq zwiemel u
karrijiet, fuq suggetti u bghula u igmla, ghal fuq il-muntanja qaddisa tieghi,
f’Gerusalemm, jghid il-Mulej: bhalma wlied Izrael igibu l-offerti tal-qmuh
taghhom f’garar indaf fit-tempju tal-Mulej. U lil xi whud minnhom nehodhom
b’qassisin u leviti, jghid il-Mulej”. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 117:1, 2
Praise the LORD all you nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the world and tell the
Good News.
.
For steadfast is his kindness toward
us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures
forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the
Good News.
SALM RESPONSORJALI Salm 116 (117), 1.2
R/.
(Mk 16, 15): Morru fid-dinja kollha, xandru l-Evangelju
Fahhru
l-Mulej, intom gnus kollha,
sebbhuh,
intom popli lkoll! R/.
Ghax
kbira hi t-tjieba tieghu maghna,
il-fedeltà
tal-Mulej tibqa’ ghal dejjem. R/.
Reading 2 Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13
Brothers
and sisters, You have forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as children:
"My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when
reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son
he acknowledges." Endure your trials as "discipline"; God treats
you as sons. For what "son" is there whom his father does not
discipline? At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain,
yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are
trained by it. So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make
straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be disjointed but
healed.
QARI II mill-Ittra lil Lhud 12, 5-7. 11-13
Huti,
insejtuha ghalkollox il-kelma ta’ twissija li qalilkom ta’ wlied li intom:
“Ibni, la twarrabx it-twiddib tal-Mulej, u la taqtax qalbek meta jcanfrek; ghax
il-Mulej iwiddeb lil min ihobb, jolqot lil kull min jilqa’ b’ibnu”. Hu
ghall-edukazzjoni taghkom li intom qeghdin tbatu! Alla qieghed jimxi maghkom
ta’ wlied. Min hu dak l-iben li missieru ma jwiddbux? Tassew li bhalissa kull
twiddiba ma tferrahniex, imma tnikkitna; izda mbaghad, lil dawk li jkunu
tharrgu biha, hija troddilhom il-frott ta’ hajja mimlija bis-sliem u
l-gustizzja. Mela erfghu l-idejn merhija u l-irkupptejn mitluqa taghkom, u
aqbdu triq dritta ghal riglejkom, biex min hu zopp, ma johrogx mit-triq, imma
jerga’ jiehu sahhtu. Il-Kelma
tal-Mulej
Gospel
Luke 13:22-30
Jesus
passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to
Jerusalem.
Someone
asked him, "Lord, will only a few people be saved?" He answered them,
"Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will
attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house
has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and
saying, 'Lord, open the door for us.' He
will say to you in reply, 'I do not know where you are from. And you will say, 'We
ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.' Then he will say
to you, 'I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!' And
there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And
people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and
will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will
be first, and some are first who will be
last."
EVANGELJU Qari skont San Luqa 13, 22-30
F’dak
iz-zmien, huwa u sejjer lejn Gerusalemm, Gesù ghadda jghallem f’xi bliet u
rhula. U kien hemm wiehed qallu: “Mulej, jaqaw ftit huma dawk li jsalvaw?”. U
huwa wegibhom: “Thabtu biex tidhlu mill-bieb id-dejjaq, ghax kif nghidilkom
jien, hafna ghad ifittxu li jidhlu u ma jirnexxilhomx. Ghax meta sid id-dar
ikun qam jaghlaq il-bieb, intom tibqghu barra, u tibdew thabbtu l-bieb u
tghidu: “Mulej, ifthilna!”. Izda hu jwegibkom u jghid: “Ma nafx mnejn intom”.
Imbaghad taqbdu tghidulu: “Kilna u xrobna mieghek ahna, u int ghallimt
fil-pjazez taghna”. Hu jwiegeb u jghidilkom: “Ma nafx mnejn intom; morru minn
quddiemi, intom ilkoll li taghmlu dak li mhux sewwa!”. Hemmhekk ikun hemm
il-biki u tghazziz tas-snien, meta taraw lil Abraham u lil Izakk u lil Gakobb u
l-profeti kollha fis-Saltna ta’ Alla, u intom imkeccija ’l barra. U jigu nies
mil-Lvant u mill-Punent, mit-Tramuntana u min-Nofsinhar, u joqoghdu ghall-mejda
fis-Saltna ta’ Alla. U araw, hawn min hu tal-ahhar u ghad ikun l-ewwel, u hawn
min hu tal-ewwel u ghad ikun l-ahhar”. Il-Kelma
tal-Mulej
//////// REFLECTION:
Father Cantalamessa on
The Narrow Gate
Here is a translation of a
commentary by the Pontifical Household preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero
Cantalamessa, on the readings from Sunday’s liturgy.
* * *
There is a question that has always
nagged believers: Will there be many or few people saved? During certain
periods this problem became so acute as to cause some people terrible anxiety. This
Sunday’s Gospel informs us that Jesus himself was once asked this question.
“Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his
way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, ‘Lord, will only a few people be saved?'”
The question, as we see, focuses on
the number — How many will be saved? Will it be many or few? In answering the
question, Jesus shifts the focus from “how many” to “how” to be saved, that is,
by entering “through the narrow gate.”
We see this same attitude in regard
to Jesus’ second coming. The disciples ask “when” the return of the Son of Man
will happen and Jesus answers indicating “how” we should prepare ourselves for
that return, and what to do during the time of waiting (cf. Matthew 24:3-4).
Jesus’ way of responding to these
questions is not strange or discourteous. He is just acting in the way of one
who wants to teach his disciples how to move from a life of curiosity to one of
true wisdom; from the allure of idle questions to the real problems we need to
grapple with in life.
From this we already see the
absurdity of those who, like the Jehovah Witnesses, believe they know the
precise number of the saved: 144,000. This number, which recurs in the Book of
Revelation has a purely symbolic value (the square of 12 — the number of the
tribes of Israel — multiplied by 1,000) and is explained by the expression that
immediately follows: “A great multitude that no man could number” (Revelation
7:4, 9).
Above all, if 144,000 is really the
number, then we can both close up shop. Above the gate to heaven there must be
a sign like the ones parking lots put up: “Full.”
If, therefore, Jesus is not so much
interested in revealing to us the number of the saved as he is in telling us
how to be saved, we can understand what he is trying to tell us here. In
substance, there are two things: one negative and the other positive.
It is useless, or rather it is not
enough, to belong to a certain ethnic group, race, tradition, or institution,
not even the chosen people from whom the Saviour himself comes. What puts us on
the road to salvation is not a title of ownership (“We ate and drank in your
presence…”), but a personal decision, followed by a consistent way of life.
This is even more clear in Matthew’s text which contrasts two ways and two
gates, one narrow and the other wide (cf. Matthew 7:13-14).
Why are these ways respectively
called “narrow” and “wide”? Is it perhaps that the way of evil is always easy
and pleasant to follow and the way of goodness always hard and tiresome?
Here we must be careful not to cede
to the usual temptation of believing that here below everything goes
magnificently well for the wicked and everything goes terribly for the good.
The way of the wicked is wide, but
only at the beginning. As one goes down this way it gradually becomes narrow
and bitter. In any case, it becomes very narrow at the end because it finishes
in a blind alley.
The joy that is experienced in it
has the characteristic of diminishing more and more as one tastes it, and it
finally causes nausea and sadness. We see this in certain forms of intoxication
experienced in drugs, alcohol and sex. A larger dose or stronger stimulation is
needed each time to produce pleasure of the same intensity.
Finally the organism no longer
responds and it begins to break down, even physically.
The way of the just is instead
narrow at the beginning, when one starts off on it, but it then becomes a
spacious boulevard because hope, joy and peace of heart are found in it.
//////////////////////
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