Author: Michael J. Cunningham

THE DAILY GOSPEL AND READINGS 16 SEPTEMBER 2023

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Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs

Lectionary: 442

Reading 1

1 Tm 1:15-17

Beloved:
This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
Of these I am the foremost.
But for that reason I was mercifully treated,
so that in me, as the foremost,
Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example
for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life.
To the king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God,
honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 113:1b-2, 3-4, 5 and 6-7

R. (2) Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.
Praise, you servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the name of the LORD
both now and forever.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.
From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the name of the LORD to be praised.
High above all nations is the LORD;
above the heavens is his glory.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.
Who is like the LORD, our God,
and looks upon the heavens and the earth below?
He raises up the lowly from the dust;
from the dunghill he lifts up the poor.
R. Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever.

Alleluia

Jn 14:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Lk 6:43-49

Jesus said to his disciples:
“A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,
nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.
For every tree is known by its own fruit.
For people do not pick figs from thornbushes,
nor do they gather grapes from brambles.
A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good,
but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil;
for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?
I will show you what someone is like who comes to me,
listens to my words, and acts on them.
That one is like a man building a house,
who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock;
when the flood came, the river burst against that house
but could not shake it because it had been well built.
But the one who listens and does not act
is like a person who built a house on the ground
without a foundation.
When the river burst against it,
it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.”

The Beauty of Disinterest

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The Beauty of Disinterest

What a strange title! The beauty of disinterest. Recently, I was reading an essay by a 14th-century Dominican Mystic (as one does) on the way to work. Rather I was listening, as I was driving at the time. His topic was on the importance of disinterest. Meister Eckhart described what was on his heart, despite the response he sometimes received. The instability of the Church at this time made any prognostications on theology very polarized. However, I digress.

Meister was a priest, philosopher, mystic, and scholar like no other. And he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. As a result, some of his teachings remain controversial to this day, but here I wanted to take you on his internal journey regarding disinterest.

Now disinterest is a very interesting word. (Excuse the pun here). It is because our modern vernacular often brings us to a disposition of “I don’t care”, “I will ignore the issue or person”, and “putting something aside”. These are just a few of the negative connotations, there are more of course. When we say the word, we even illustrate that not only do I not care, but I am going to “tune you out”. More negative thoughts here.

However, the way Eckhart was talking about the word had a huge spiritual and theological meaning. Eckert put disinterest very high on the list of where our hearts, minds, and souls needed to be in order to fully encounter God. By pitching our own interests and desires into touch, we would find ourselves ready and prepared to receive the divine which already beats within us. This was not just a disinterest in worldly goods, passions, or other needs that stroked our ego and “selfish nature” but trying to clear the deck completely. To create a blank slate where all we had written before could be erased so a new lesson could start. One written by God.

This driving interest in disinterest, (wow that does sound funny when you read it), made him put disinterest above all other virtues including Love! His thinking was if we leave the space open for God, then God’s love will pour into and out of us, purely by making way for this to happen. Even humility (which is always viewed as the ideal state for us to receive God into our lives), was second to disinterest in Eckhart’s world. Why is that? Well, he viewed disinterest as being a pre-requisite to humility, by clearing the decks of our own needs and desires, we would automatically place ourselves in a disposition of humility, and a humility without any needs, attachments, or expectations. This starts to make sense to me.

The word disinterest may be better described in the modern world as detachment or moving to a state of nothingness. It is this perhaps that upset the Church leaders of the time with his teachings. However, if we consider his intention behind all of this, to become closer and encounter God in all our interactions in the world, he can be forgiven for the misunderstandings of the day.

Eckert is not preaching total detachment, but rather an open detachment, surrender, and willingness to be open to God through a deliberate channel where the God within us, works through us.

So, the next time someone asks you if you are disinterested perhaps you may think is not such a bad thing. Food for thought?

An Unclear Window (Alcatraz, San Francisco, Federal Prison)

Reflection and image Copyright © 2023 Michael J. Cunningham OFS

THE DAILY GOSPEL AND READINGS 15 SEPTEMBER 2023

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Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows

Lectionary: 441/639

Reading 1

1 Tm 1:1-2, 12-14

Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our savior
and of Christ Jesus our hope,
to Timothy, my true child in faith:
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father
and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord,
because he considered me trustworthy
in appointing me to the ministry.
I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man,
but I have been mercifully treated
because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief.
Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant,
along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 16:1b-2a and 5, 7-8, 11

R. (see 5) You are my inheritance, O Lord.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.”
O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
R. You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Sequence (Optional) — Stabat Mater

At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful Mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.

Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,
All his bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword had passed.

Oh, how sad and sore distressed
Was that Mother highly blessed
Of the sole begotten One!

Christ above in torment hangs,
She beneath beholds the pangs
Of her dying, glorious Son.

Is there one who would not weep,
‘Whelmed in miseries so deep,
Christ’s dear Mother to behold?

Can the human heart refrain
From partaking in her pain,
In that mother’s pain untold?

Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,
She beheld her tender Child,
All with bloody scourges rent.

For the sins of his own nation
Saw him hang in desolation
Till his spirit forth he sent.

O sweet Mother! font of love,
Touch my spirit from above,
Make my heart with yours accord.

Make me feel as you have felt;
Make my soul to glow and melt
With the love of Christ, my Lord.

Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Savior crucified.

Let me share with you his pain,
Who for all our sins was slain,
Who for me in torments died.

Let me mingle tears with you,
Mourning him who mourned for me,
All the days that I may live.

By the cross with you to stay,
There with you to weep and pray,
Is all I ask of you to give.

Virgin of all virgins blest!
Listen to my fond request:
Let me share your grief divine.

Let me to my latest breath,
In my body bear the death
Of that dying Son of yours.

Wounded with his every wound,
Steep my soul till it has swooned
In his very Blood away.

Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,
Lest in flames I burn and die,
In his awful judgment day.

Christ, when you shall call me hence,
Be your Mother my defense,
Be your cross my victory.

While my body here decays,
May my soul your goodness praise,
Safe in heaven eternally.
Amen. (Alleluia)

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary;
without dying you won the martyr’s crown
beneath the Cross of the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Jn 19:25-27

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

or

Lk 2:33-35

Jesus’ father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
and you yourself a sword will pierce
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”