Scripture for meditation: Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
The Catechism of
the Catholic Church teaches us: 133: The Church "forcefully and
specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the
surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine
Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.
Here is some
interesting information on one source of the Second Reading at Mass: The
Epistles are the twenty-one books of the New Testament written in the form of
letters to churches or individuals. The fourteen Epistles of St. Paul are
called after the group or person to whom they were addressed. The remaining
seven are called by the name of the author. They are called
"Catholic" because they were intended for the Church at large,
although the second and third Epistles of St. John are addressed to individuals.
St. Paul's Epistles were not deliberate treatises and systematic expositions of
Christian theology. They were not something studied and literary. They were
simple letters, pastoral and not personal, written on a specific occasion and
to a particular body of converts. They were suggestions in regard to local
difficulties, or words of counsel, encouragement or consolation. They were supplementary to the
ordinary teaching, and he does not dwell in them on anything that is not a
matter of controversy or difficulty. Hence, they were not called forth by any
inward purpose or necessity on the part of the Apostle to formulate his
thought, but each of them was written in response to particular conditions in
the community to which it was addressed. And the contents and form are often
due to the Apostle's vivid realization of the situation to which he is
addressing himself.
http://www.cathtruth.com/catholicbible/letters.htm
My thoughts: The
Second Reading at Mass comes from the above mentioned Epistles, as well as from
the Acts of the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation. St. Paul wrote his
epistles before the gospels were written, as he was actively seeking to correct
errors in his young church communities and to set the newly formed Christians
on fire with a love and passion for Christ. His young church communities were
constantly falling back into their pagan ways, getting lazy about practicing
their faith, and falling prey to false teachers and ideologies. Sound familiar?
Nothing has changed, really. Today more than ever, we must listen to the Second
Reading at Mass to be reminded of the saving work of Jesus, of His love for us,
and of the practical life-changing attitudes we must adopt in order to be part
of the kingdom of God on earth. The Second Reading usually shows us how to turn
from sin and turn to Christ.
Prayer: Psalm
86:11-13
Teach me your way,
O Lord,and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.
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