Tuesday, 10 November 2009

Tuesday of the Thirty-second week in Ordinary Time

Today the Church celebrates : St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (+ 461) – Memorial,  St. Andrew Avellino, Priest (1561-1608)

See commentary below or click here
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta : “We are unprofitable servants”

Book of Wisdom 2:23-25.3:1-9.

For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it. But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble; They shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the LORD shall be their King forever. Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with the elect.

Psalms 34(33):2-3.16-17.18-19.

I will bless the LORD at all times; praise shall be always in my mouth.
My soul will glory in the LORD that the poor may hear and be glad.
The LORD has eyes for the just and ears for their cry.
The LORD’S face is against evildoers to wipe out their memory from the earth.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears and rescues them from all distress.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, saves those whose spirit is crushed.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 17:7-10.

Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.'”

Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB

Commentary of the day :

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), founder of the Missionary Sisters of Charity
A Simple Path

“We are unprofitable servants”

Do not worry about why problems exist in the world – just respond to people’s needs. Some say to me that if we give charity to others it’ll diminish the responsibility of government towards the needy and the poor. I don’t concern myself with this, because governments do not usually offer love. I just do what I can do: the rest is not my business.

God has been so good to us: works of love are always a means of becoming closer to God. Look at what Jesus did in His life on earth! He spent it just doing good (Acts 10,38). I remind the sisters that three years of Jesus’s life were spent healing the sick and the lepers, children and other people; and that’s exactly what we’re doing, preaching the Gospel through our actions.

It is a privilege for us to serve, and it’s a real, wholehearted service that we try and give. We feel what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean, but that ocean would be less without that drop.