Fr. Roger J. Landry
Columbia Catholic Ministry, Notre Dame Church, Manhattan
Monday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I
Memorial of St. Joseph Cupertino
September 17, 2023
1 Tim 2:1-8, Ps 28, Lk 7:1-10
To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
The following points were attempted in today’s homily:
- Today St. Paul tells us emphatically God’s will is for “everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” God’s direct will is that 100 out of 100 be saved, that all his prodigal children return home, that each receive his love and gratuitous offer of salvation and align their lives with it. That doesn’t eliminate the responsibility of human freedom to accept that gift of salvation and live in accordance with it. God’s permissive will allows us to choose communion or definitive self-alienation, but God does provide the means of salvation, somehow, to everyone. That’s the context to understand St. Paul’s words that “supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority.” He was writing this letter from a prison cell in Rome during the time of the emperor Nero, who would massacre Christians for sport. He was saying that we need to pray even for leaders like Nero who persecute the Church, just as St. Stephen prayed for Saul himself, just as the faithful in Milan prayed for Ambrose, just as we pray for the conversion of so many political leaders who trample human dignity, who oppose the gift of life, love or the family, and for their salvation and growth in wisdom and doing good. God wills not just Jews, not just Christians, but all to be saved, to come to the knowledge of Christ the Truth incarnate, and we cooperate in that will by our prayers, petitions, supplications and thanksgivings, in every place “lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.”
- We see the beauty of God’s saving will shown in today’s Gospel, when a pagan centurion is praised by Jesus for having greater faith than he had found in Israel. We see that faith on display in the way that the centurion asks for a miracle for his dying slave. He came to faith in Jesus in a particular way through the exercise of authority. Jesus had already demonstrated in Capernaum his authority over demons, storms, illnesses and the crowds. The centurion faithfully grasped that with that power came the ability to say “come” and “go” and “do this” over diseases, even from a distance. The centurion himself had used his authority to do good to others, like building a synagogue for the Jews. It helped him to grasp how Jesus could and might use his power and authority, to command even unseen spiritual realities, and to do good even to the slave of a pagan. Even though the Jewish leaders said to Jesus, “he deserves” this to be done for him as a quid pro quo for his generosity, the centurion was humble and knew that he deserved nothing, that everything would be a grace, that he wasn’t fit even to welcome Jesus into his home. And Jesus was amazed at the faith he had. Even though he hadn’t received the same formation as the Jews in the Psalms, in the miracles of the Exodus, in the liberation from Babylon, in the litany of wonders God had worked, he had total trust in Jesus’ power and goodness. Since we need to be saved by grace through faith, this shows us the type of faith that can happen, thanks to God’s grace, in those raised with natural virtues. Jesus wants all to be saved, for all to have great faith. Today we pray for those like the Centurion who do not yet fully follow Jesus in the way, that they may respond to the seeds of faith God has implanted and amaze Jesus and us all.
- Today we celebrate the feast of someone great in faith, St. Joseph of Cupertino. Because of his slowness and ineptitude, he was considered a burden to his family, to the Franciscans and to the Capuchins who rejected his petition to enter, and anew to the Franciscans, who finally accepted him as a lay brother to work in the stable. Eventually, however, his great faith radiated through his foibles. Through a series of unforeseen interventions, he was ordained a priest, but still not really respected for who he was. When he started to levitate and even fly across Churches to embrace Christ on high crucifixes, he was denounced to the Inquisition as if he were possessed. But through it all, he grew in faith. His example shows us that even in those places we’re not appreciated, even when others — including in the Church — don’t respect us according to our dignity and just see our faults, God can be helping our faith to grow. Whereas he lived with many other very capable Franciscans, Capuchins and others, he was the one who was “great in faith,” and he’ll forever be an inspiration to the rest of us.
- As we today prepare, unworthy as we are, to receive Jesus under our roofs, let us ask him to help us, like the Centurion and like St. Joseph Cupertino, to open the door to him through faith. And as we in this Mass, at the altar, lift up the most important prayer of all — Christ’s from the Last Supper, the Cross and leaving the empty tomb — let us pray with assistance for kings and all those in authority, that they may come to know Christ the Savior, Christ the Truth, and lead and help others to lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.
The readings for today’s Mass were:
Reading 1 1 TM 2:1-8
Beloved:
First of all, I ask that supplications, prayers,
petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone,
for kings and for all in authority,
that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life
in all devotion and dignity.
This is good and pleasing to God our savior,
who wills everyone to be saved
and to come to knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God.
There is also one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself as ransom for all.
This was the testimony at the proper time.
For this I was appointed preacher and Apostle
(I am speaking the truth, I am not lying),
teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray,
lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.
Responsorial Psalm PS 28:2, 7, 8-9
R. (6) Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard my prayer.
Hear the sound of my pleading, when I cry to you,
lifting up my hands toward your holy shrine.
R. Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard my prayer.
The LORD is my strength and my shield.
In him my heart trusts, and I find help;
then my heart exults, and with my song I give him thanks.
R. Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard my prayer.
The LORD is the strength of his people,
the saving refuge of his anointed.
Save your people, and bless your inheritance;
feed them, and carry them forever!
R. Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard my prayer.
Alleluia JN 3:16
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel LK 7:1-10
When Jesus had finished all his words to the people,
he entered Capernaum.
A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die,
and he was valuable to him.
When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him,
asking him to come and save the life of his slave.
They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying,
“He deserves to have you do this for him,
for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.”
And Jesus went with them,
but when he was only a short distance from the house,
the centurion sent friends to tell him,
“Lord, do not trouble yourself,
for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.
Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you;
but say the word and let my servant be healed.
For I too am a person subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, Go, and he goes;
and to another, Come here, and he comes;
and to my slave, Do this, and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him
and, turning, said to the crowd following him,
“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”
When the messengers returned to the house,
they found the slave in good health.
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