Friday, 10th NOVEMBER. St Leo the Great, pope and Doctor of the Church. KOPI PAGI. MENGGUNAKAN UANG" Bacaan Liturgi 10 November 2017.

*KOPI PAGI  ☕*

_Bagi Tuhan tidak ada yang terlalu cepat, tidak ada yang terlalu terlambat. Semuanya tepat dan penuh berkat._

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"MENGGUNAKAN UANG"

Bacaan Liturgi 10 November 2017
Jumat Pekan Biasa XXXI
PW S. Leo Agung, Paus dan Pujangga Gereja

Bacaan Pertama Rom 15:14-21 Mazmur 98:1-4
Injil Luk 16:1-8.

Injil Lukas 16:8, menulis.
Yesus berkata:"Lalu tuan itu memuji bendahara yang tidak jujur itu, karena ia bertindak dengan cerdik."

Perumpamaan yang Yesus berikan hari ini tentang bendahara yang tidak jujur agak berbau kontroversial. Dalam kisah itu seakan Tuhan memuji ketidakjujuran sibendahara. Sibendahara melakukan manipulasi angka supaya dia dipecat oleh tuannya, ia bisa mendapat keuntungan dari selisih utang yang ia catat. 

Tentu maksud Yesus bukan untuk menganjurkan kita melakukan korupsi. Ajaran Yesus terletak pada bagian akhir:"Ikatlah persahabatan dengan mempergunakan mamon agar kita memperoleh keselamatan abadi disurga." 

Uang atau harta benda duniawi, kalau kita tidak hati-hati, bisa membuat kita jatuh kedalam dosa dan menjauhkan dari Tuhan. Banyak fakta membuktikan bahwa ketika kita punya uang banyak, kita tergoda untuk melakukan perbuatan-perbuatan dosa. Akan tetapi, uang atau harta benda duniawi pada hakekatnya netral, tergantung bagaimana kita menggunakannya. Justru kita diajarkan untuk menggunakan uang tersebut agar kita boleh masuk dalam Kerajaan surga. Caranya adalah dengan melakukan karya kasih untuk menolong sesama yang menderita.

Tuhan, ajarilah aku untuk secara bijaksana menggunakan mamon yang dipercayakan kepadaku untuk menggapai kebahagiaan surgawi dengan menolong sesamaku. Amin.
Met Hari Jumat.

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Friday, 10th NOVEMBER
St Leo the Great, pope and Doctor of the Church
Luke 16:1-8

Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. And he called him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward'...So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' He said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'...for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light."

This corrupt steward didn't feel guilty for having been dishonest. His only concern was not to lose his livelihood. So when it came to getting the approval of others in order to get a new job, he just had to be a bit 'more dishonest'. It didn't worry him that it involved cheating and stealing…Some people don't mind sacrificing the truth for the sake of their own comfort; in order to avoid upsetting people they don't hesitate to hide the truth. When the High Priest asked Jesus if He was the Son of God, Jesus knew what was going to happen to Him if He said the truth. And He still told the truth. Many saints have given their lives defending the truth.

Honest people don't bargain with half-truths. It is said that one day, Dionysius I of Syracuse, who thought himself to be a gifted poet, was reading some of his verses to a wise man called Filoxenus. The man criticised his verses and Dionysus sent him to prison. After a few days, trying to give him a second chance, the tyrant asked for Filoxenus to be brought into his presence and read him a few more verses he had composed. The only words of the wise man were addressed to the soldiers: 'Please, take me to prison again.'

St Maximilian Kolbe said: "No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it". God is Truth and we love the Truth. And even if the Truth gets us in trouble, the proverb says 'honesty is always the best policy'. For the truth is the truth, even if no one believes it. And a lie is a lie, even if everyone believes it.

Holy Mary, Mirror of Justice, help me to always stand up for the Truth.

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 Commentary of the day :

Saint John-Mary Vianney (1786-1859), priest, curé of Ars
Pensées choisies du Saint curé d'Ars

Store up treasure in heaven

The world passes and we pass with it. Kings, emperors, all pass away. We rush into the eternity from which we nevermore return. It is a question of only one thing: to save our poor souls. The saints were not attached to earthly possessions; they were thinking only of heavenly ones. Worldly people, on the other hand, are only thinking of the present moment.

We must act like kings. When they are going to be dethroned they send their treasures on ahead of them and those treasures await them. In the same way good Christians send on all their good works to the entrance to heaven (…).

Earth is a bridge for crossing the water; it only serves to support our feet… We are in this world but not of this world since every day we say: "Our Father who art in heaven…" Therefore we must wait for our reward when we are "at home" in the Father's house.

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St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church († 461) - Memorial

Friday, 10 November 2017


SAINT LEO THE GREAT
Pope and Doctor of the Church
(†461)

        Leo was born at Rome. He embraced the sacred ministry, was made archdeacon of the Roman Church by St. Celestine, and under him and Sixtus III. had a large share in governing the Church. On the death of Sixtus, Leo was chosen Pope, and consecrated on St. Michael's day, 440, amid great joy.

        It was a time of terrible trial. Vandals and Huns were wasting the provinces of the empire, and Nestorians, Pelagians, and other heretics wrought more grievous havoc among souls. Whilst Leo's zeal made head against these perils, there arose the new heresy of Eutyches, who confounded the two natures of Christ. At once the vigilant pastor proclaimed the true doctrine of the Incarnation in his famous "tome;" but fostered by the Byzantine court, the heresy gained a strong hold amongst the Eastern monks and bishops. After three years of unceasing toil, Leo brought about its solemn condemnation by the Council of Chalcedon, the Fathers all signing his tome, and exclaiming, "Peter hath spoken by Leo."

        Soon after, Attila with his Huns broke into Italy, and marched through its burning cities upon Rome. Leo went out boldly to meet him, and prevailed on him to turn back. Astonished to see the terrible Attila, the "Scourge of God," fresh from the sack of Aquileia, Milan, Pavia, with the rich prize of Rome within his grasp, turn his great host back to the Danube at the Saint's word, his chiefs asked him why he had acted so strangely. He answered that he saw two venerable personages, supposed to be Sts. Peter and Paul, standing behind Leo, and impressed by this vision he withdrew. If the perils of the Church are as great now as in St. Leo's day, St. Peter's solicitude is not less. Two years later the city fell a prey to the Vandals; but even then Leo saved it from destruction.

        He died A. D. 461, having ruled the Church twenty years.


Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]