Bacaan Liturgi & RenHar. 16 Oktober 2016. Minggu Biasa XXIX.

Bacaan Liturgi.

16 Oktober 2016.
Minggu Biasa XXIX.
PF S. Margareta Maria Alacoque, Perawan
PF S. Hedwig, Biarawati.

Bacaan Pertama
Kel 17:8-13
Apabila Musa mengangkat tangan,

  lebih kuatlah pasukan Israel.

Pembacaan dari Kitab Keluaran:

Sekali peristiwa
datanglah orang Amalek
dan berperang melawan orang Israel di Rafidim.
Musa berkata kepada Yosua,
"Pilihlah orang-orang bagi kita,
lalu keluarlah berperang melawan orang Amalek!
Aku sendiri, besok akan berdiri di puncak bukit itu
dengan memegang tongkat Allah di tanganku."

Lalu Yosua melakukan seperti yang dikatakan Musa kepadanya
dan berperang melawan orang Amalek;
sedangkan Musa, Harun dan Hur naik ke puncak bukit.
Dan terjadilah hal berikut ini:
Apabila Musa mengangkat tangannya, lebih kuatlah pasukan Israel.
Sebaliknya, apabila Musa menurunkan tangannya,
Amaleklah yang lebih kuat.
Tetapi menjadi penatlah tangan Musa.
Maka Harus dan Hur mengambil sebuah batu,
meletakkannya di belakang Musa,
supaya ia duduk di atasnya;
lalu Harun dan Hur menopang kedua belah tangan Musa,
seorang di sisi yang satu, seorang di sisi yang lain,
sehingga tangan Musa tidak bergerak sampai matahari terbenam.
Demikianlah Yosua mengalahkan Amalek dan rakyatnya dengan mata pedang.

Demikianlah sabda Tuhan.

*

Mazmur
Mzm 121:1-2.3-4.5-6.7-8
R:2
Pertolongan kita ialah dari Tuhan
yang menjadikan langit dan bumi.

*Aku melayangkan mataku ke gunung-gunung;
dari manakah akan datang pertolongan bagiku?
Pertolonganku ialah dari Tuhan,
yang menjadikan langit dan bumi.

*Ia takkan membiarkan kakimu goyah,
Penjagamu tidak akan terlelap.
Sungguh, tidak akan terlelap dan tidak akan tertidur
Penjaga Israel.

*Tuhanlah Penjagamu,
Tuhanlah naunganmu di sebelah tangan kananmu.
Matahari tidak menyakiti engkau pada waktu siang,
tidak pula bulan pada waktu malam.

*Tuhan akan menjaga engkau terhadap segala kecelakaan;
Ia akan menjaga nyawamu.
Tuhan akan menjaga keluar masukmu,
dari sekarang sampai selama-lamanya.

*

Bacaan Kedua
2Tim 3:14-4:2
Orang-orang kepunyaan Allah diperlengkapi untuk setiap perbuatan baik.

Pembacaan dari Surat Kedua Rasul Paulus kepada Timotius:

Saudarakku terkasih,
hendaklah engkau tetap berpegang pada kebenaran
yang telah engkau terima dan engkau yakini,
dengan selalu mengingat orang
yang telah mengajarkannya kepadamu.
Ingatlah juga bahwa dari kecil engkau sudah mengenal Kitab Suci
yang dapat memberi hikmat kepadamu
dan menuntun engkau kepada keselamatan
oleh iman akan Kristus Yesus.

Segala tulisan yang diilhamkan Allah
memang bermanfaat untuk mengajar,
untuk menyatakan kesalahan,
untuk memperbaiki kelakuan
dan untuk mendidik orang dalam kebenaran.
Dengan demikian
orang-orang kepunyaan Allah diperlengkapi
untuk setiap perbuatan baik.

Di hadapan Allah dan di hadapan Kristus Yesus
yang akan menghakimi orang yang hidup dan yang mati,
aku berpesan dengan sungguh-sungguh kepadamu
demi penyataan-Nya dan demi Kerajaan-Nya:
Wartakanlah sabda Allah!
Siap-sedialah selalu, baik atau tidak baik waktunya.
Nyatakanlah apa yang salah,
tegur dan nasihatilah dengan segala kesabaran dan pengajaran.

Demikianlah sabda Tuhan.

*

Bait Pengantar Injil
Ibr 4:12
Sabda Allah itu hidup, kuat dan tajam.
Ia sanggup membedakan pertimbangan dan pikiran hati kita.

Bacaan Injil
Luk 18:1-8
Allah akan membenarkan orang-orang pilihan-Nya
yang berseru kepada-Nya.

Inilah Injil Yesus Kristus menurut Lukas:

Sekali peristiwa
Yesus menyampaikan suatu perumpamaan kepada murid-murid-Nya,
untuk menegaskan bahwa mereka harus selalu berdoa
dengan tidak jemu-jemu.

Ia berkata,
"Di sebuah kota ada seorang hakim
yang tidak takut akan Allah dan tidak menghormati siapa pun.
Dan di kota itu ada pula seorang janda
yang selalu datang kepada hakim itu dan berkata,
'Belalah hakku terhadap lawanku!'
Beberapa waktu lamanya hakim itu menolak.
Tetapi kemudian ia berkata dalam hatinya,
'Walaupun aku tidak takut akan Allah
dan tidak menghormati siapa pun,
namun karena janda ini menyusahkan aku,
baiklah aku membenarkan dia,
supaya ia jangan terus menerus datang dan akhirnya menyerang aku'."

Lalu Tuhan berkata,
"Camkanlah perkataan hakim yang lalim itu!
Tidakkah Allah akan membenarkan orang-orang pilihan-Nya
yang siang malam berseru kepada-Nya?
Dan adakah Ia mengulur-ulur waktu sebelum menolong mereka?
Aku berkata kepadamu:
Ia akan segera membenarkan mereka!
Akan tetapi, jika Anak Manusia itu datang,
adakah Ia menemukan iman di bumi?"

Demikianlah Injil Tuhan.

*

⭕Mutiara Iman

*DOA DAN IMAN*

Minggu, 16 Oktober 2016

_"..jika Anak Manusia itu datang, adakah Ia mendapati iman di bumi?"_
(Luk 18:8)

Lectio
Kel 17:8-13; Mzm 121:1-2,3-4,5-6,7-8; 2Tim 3:14-4:2; Luk 18:1-8

Rita dan beberapa ibu berdiskusi tentang masalah-masalah yang mereka hadapi, lalu ia mengusulkan untuk mengadakan doa Novena di gereja.
"Kita mohon agar Bunda Maria mendoakan kita kepada Puteranya" kata Rita.
Dan mereka pun setuju untuk melakukannya.

 Ketika memasuki hari ke-7, sebelum masuk gereja salah satu dari temannya bertanya :
"Ada yang sudah dijawab doanya? Kok doa saya belum dijawab yah."
"Mungkin tunggu sampai 9 kali." kata salah 1 dari temannya. 

Kemudian, seorang ibu di kursi roda berkata :
"Syukur kepada Tuhan, Ia telah menjawab doa saya!" 

Lalu Rita bertanya :?
"Ibu sudah dikabulkan ya doanya? Kok bisa?" 

Dan ibu itu menjawab :
"Saya percayakan agar Tuhan menjawab doa saya sesuai rencana-Nya. Dan Tuhan telah menjawab doa saya." 

Lalu Rita berkata kepada teman-temannya :
"Kita harus memiliki iman seperti ibu ini."

Aku berkata kepadamu :
"Ia akan segera membenarkan mereka. Akan tetapi, jika Anak Manusia itu datang, adakah Ia mendapati iman di bumi?"

Ketika doa didaraskan, imanlah yang menggerakan.

Oratio
Ya Tuhan, tambahkanlah iman kami. Amin.

Missio
_Marilah kita melakukan karya kerahiman dengan setia dalam setiap doa yang didasarkan pada iman._

*Have a Blessed Sunday.*

*

Sunday, 16th OCTOBER.

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

  He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Vindicate me against my adversary.'

  For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.'" 

And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Jesus wants us to pray without losing heart. But this Gospel passage finishes with a reproach for the lack of faith. Many people don't pray because they don't expect their prayers to be answered. 

For some, prayer is the last resort. After trying everything and finding that nothing succeeds, then the only thing left is to pray.

 A doctor had a reputation of being incompetent.

 After a check-up his patient asked, 'Is it something serious, doctor?'

 The doctor replied, 'We are in the hands of God, madam' and left the room. The woman turned to the nurse and said, 'Is it that bad?' 

The nurse smiled at the lady and answered: 'Believe me, madam: it's way better to be in the hands of God than in the hands of this doctor!'

It is definitely way better to be in the Hands of God than in the hands of men, but people lack trust in those Divine Hands. If we had faith in the power of prayer we could turn the world upside down in a tick.

 The founder of an orphanage undergoing financial hardships came to St John Mary Vianney to seek advice.

  He was considering the idea of attracting public opinion by using the press to make, as he said 'a bit of noise.' 

 The holy priest of Ars replied: 'Instead of making noise in the newspapers, go and make noise in front of the Tabernacle." It's a good piece of advice. Let's trust in the power of prayer. The world needs more Christians on their knees than Christian websites and posts on Facebook and tweets.

Mary, Help of Christians, help me to never give up on prayer; to have faith in the power of prayer.

*

Oct. 16:

 St. MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE, Virgin. 

Promoter of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Dear brethren in Christ, though tomorrow's Sunday Mass precedes the memorial of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, let us remember her and ask her intercession so we would be more in love with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whose devotion Our Lord asked her to spread.

St. Margaret Mary, pray for us!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

+++BRIEF PROFILE OF THE SAINT BEGINS HERE+++

Born in France, St. Margaret (1647-1690) became a religious of the Visitation Order and had many mystical experiences and revelations concerning the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She endeavored to propagate this devotion to the whole Church.

During the reign of King Louis XIV, in a convent in France, the reaction against the devastating influence of Bishop Cornelius Jansen's book "Augustinus" was initiated by a St. Margaret Mary. Jansen's book led a revolution against Christian piety and obedience to the pope. 

Jansen thought that God had not loved men so much so as to die for all of them, presenting God as a cold, distant, indifferent Being before the good or bad behavior of men, who act good or badly in an irresistible manner; God for Jansen is a judge rather than a father. The consequences for Christian piety were disastrous, from the despise for prayer to the practical neglect of the sacraments. 

Bishop Cornelius Jansen was called; he died in 1638. He died regretting his mistakes and united with the Church, but his death prevented his public retraction.

Margarita was born in Lauthecourt on July 22, 1647. She studied at the Poor Clares at Charolle. She got ill and paralyzed but miraculously got cured of it, attributing her cure to the Virgin Mary. 

She spent her youth full of vitality, with plenty of social life and desirous for affection. 

At 22 years of age, and after receiving communion, she took the firm decision to enter into religious life. She told her family with the added request that they dissuade and deal with her suitors. The Bishop approved her decision and allowed to add the name of Mary to her name.

In May 25, 1671, she entered the monastery of the Salesians in Paray-le-Monial. She professed her vows in the Order of the Visitation of Our Lady on November 6, 1672. Margaret Mary was soon to be recognized by her love for Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

In the years 1673-1674, she had visions of Christ who showed to her his compassionate and bleeding heart, bottomless abyss of love for men: this will be the foundation of the Catholic devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Margarita understood that private revelation she received is a Divine will which she couldn't just keep it for herself. She told her Superior about it and to the competent Church authorities, who thought it so strange that sent it to be examined by some experts. The result: she was treated as a "visionary. 

From this moment onwards, part of her daily cross was to obey and remain at their disposal. Nevertheless, Father Claude de la Colombiere, superior of the Jesuits believed and encouraged her when she opened her soul to him in a retreat he preached to the Visitation nuns.

Margarita is a nun in whom one can trust: a nun who was always sick, very shy, timid but dependable for any work entrusted to her. She was a nurse, a teacher of the students of distinguished families living at the school, head of the novices, and among those considered to be the superior.

During the octave of Corpus Christi of 1675, she witnessed the apparition of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who told:

"BEHOLD THE HEART WHICH HAS SO LOVED MEN THAT IT HAS SPARED NOTHING, EVEN TO EXHAUSTING AND CONSUMING ITSELF, IN ORDER TO TESTIFY ITS LOVE; AND IN RETURN, I RECEIVE FROM THE GREATER PART ONLY INGRATITUDE, BY THEIR IRREVERENCE AND SACRILEGE, AND BY THE COLDNESS AND CONTEMPT THEY HAVE FOR ME IN THIS SACRAMENT OF LOVE. BUT WHAT I FEEL MOST KEENLY IS THAT IT IS HEARTS WHICH ARE CONSECRATED TO ME, THAT TREAT ME THUS.

THEREFORE, I ASK OF YOU THAT THE FRIDAY AFTER THE OCTAVE OF CORPUS CHRISTI BE SET APART FOR A SPECIAL FEAST TO HONOR MY HEART, BY COMMUNICATING ON THAT DAY, AND MAKING REPARATION TO IT BY A SOLEMN ACT, IN ORDER TO MAKE AMENDS FOR THE INDIGNITIES WHICH IT HAS RECEIVED DURING THE TIME IT HAS BEEN EXPOSED ON THE ALTARS.

I PROMISE YOU THAT MY HEART SHALL EXPAND ITSELF TO SHED IN ABUNDANCE THE INFLUENCE OF ITS DIVINE LOVE UPON THOSE WHO SHALL THUS HONOR IT, AND CAUSE IT TO BE HONORED. "

After experience, Margaret Mary did all she could in promoting the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus with all the means at her disposal: by letter, person conversations, communicating favors, distributing small prayer cards, writing to the chaplain of King Louis XIV to ask him to consecrate himself, his family and the palace to the Sacred Heart.

  She tried to get the approval to celebrate the Mass of the Sacred Heart. She spread God's Will in a special way to the nuns and priests. The devotion began in of Paray-le-Monial  and from there to the Salesian communities in Dijon, Moulins, Saumur; then, Lyon and Marseille; then to Europe and America. The result of this activity is an explosion of fervor and a desire to seek holiness. 

  She did not succeed, nevertheless, without bitter difficulties and obstacles from those who were influenced by Jansenism and by those who considered unnecessary a new practice of piety.

The devotion to the Heart of Jesus propagated by Margaret is not a surge of sentiments nor is founded on feelings which are at the same time sugary and fleeting. She understood that the love for Jesus Christ suffering in the Garden has to be expressed by atonement and reparation for the offenses committed all the time. It is to participate in the pain, anguish, loneliness and abandonment that Jesus suffered for the sins of mankind. This is carried out with desires of fidelity and of personal purification, in continuous search of the Eucharist to accompany Our Lord, in a living desire  of communion, and in the need to live dying unto oneself for God's glory and for the salvation of mankind,  thus, counteracting the destructive work of sin. 

For this reason, the devotion's message to the Christian world consists in simple and strong practices impregnated with firm faith, and at the reach of anyone: Mass, frequent Communions, visits, prayer and holy hours.

Margaret Mary died on October 17, 1690.

Pope Benedict XV canonized her on 13 May 1920. In the Bull of canonization an explicit mention of the promise of final perseverance to  those who communicate on the First Friday of nine consecutive months was made.

Dear friends, let us thank St. Margaret Mary of Alacoque for her generous correspondence to God's Will in spreading the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

May her feast today lead us to atone and repair for all the sins of mankind by loving Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, through the frequent attendance of the Holy Mass, reception of the Holy Communion and visits to the Blessed Sacrament.

-Fr. Rolly Arjonillo, priest of Opus Dei

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