Saturday of the Twentieth
Week in Ordinary Time
The voice said to me: Son of man, this is where
my throne shall be, this is where I will set the soles of my feet; here I will
dwell among the children of Israel forever. Ezekiel 43:7AB
“The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but
whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Matthew 23:11-12
Piety
A great way to pray is to
look for God’s presence in your life. More than 400 years ago, St. Ignatius
Loyola encouraged prayer-filled mindfulness by proposing what has been called
the Daily Examen. The Examen is a technique of prayerful reflection on the
events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and to discern his
direction for us. Try this version of St. Ignatius’s prayer. - See more at: http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-examen/how-can-i-pray/#sthash.kmX6bqhI.dpuf
Study
Whose glory is all this
about? If the reading from Ezekiel did
not make the glory of the Lord, not the people, abundantly clear, Jesus knocks
down anyone – especially the Pharisees – who may exhibit an attitude of moral
superiority. Practice what you preach
and stop fishing for praise and recognition for every action you take.
Jesus is pretty clear in
denouncing the abuses of the scribes and Pharisees. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus forbids not only
the titles but the spirit of superiority and pride that is shown by their
acceptance.[1] He goes on to a series of seven “woes” which
further point out practices which must be avoided.
Ascent toward heaven “is made
through the humility of this present life,” not through the kinds of actions
Jesus condemns in the Pharisees. The
Rule of St. Benedict prescribes twelve degrees of humility for his brothers and
sisters. By taking on such practices, the
Rule explains the end result obtained in walking these humble steps:
Having
climbed all these steps of humility, therefore, the monk will presently
come to that perfect love of God which casts out fear. And all those
precepts which formerly he had not observed without fear, he will now
begin to keep by reason of that love, without any effort, as though
naturally and by habit. No longer will his motive be the fear of hell, but
rather the love of Christ, good habit and delight in the virtues which
the Lord will deign to show forth by the Holy Spirit in His servant now
cleansed from vice and sin. (RB:
Chapter 7)
Action
This exhortation in
Matthew is not about “them.” It’s about
us. It’s about me. If we take these words to heart, how should
we look at and evaluate our own conduct and attitudes? There are many examples
of how to do that in prayer resources but the Jesuit Examen (one version here: http://www.diocese.cc/upload/images/originals/Examens070510A.pdf)
provides substantive steps.
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