{"id":1937,"date":"2022-10-24T09:47:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T09:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=1937"},"modified":"2022-12-07T14:59:07","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T14:59:07","slug":"30-october-2022-c-thirty-first-sunday-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=1937","title":{"rendered":"30 October 2022 (C) Thirty-First SUNDAY of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue: <\/em><\/strong>The love and mercy\nof God. The Last Things<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading <\/em>(Wisdom 11:22-12:2). You are merciful to all because you love all that exists. <\/em>There is\nreference in many places of the Old Testament to the mercy of God and to his\nlove for the human race and for all that he has created, but none of them is\nnear being so beautiful as what is said in this reading: \u201cYou are merciful to\nall, because you can do all things and overlook people\u2019s sins so that they can\nrepent. Yes, you love all that exists, and hold nothing of what you have made\nin abhorrence, for had you hated anything, you would not have formed it. And\nhow, had you not willed it, could a thing persist, how be conserved if not\ncalled forth by you?\u201d These sentiments are at the very core of what the author\nhas to say in this passage. This is not to say that God does not punish nations\nfor their sins. The reading comes between two passages in which the author says\nthe very opposite. Immediately before this reading he recalls that God had\npunished the Egyptians by the plagues and immediately after it he describes the\nvarious sins that the nations of Canaan were\nsupposed to have committed over the ages and for which God will punish them,\nalthough he was patient with them and had given them time to repent. At the\noutset of this reading the author contrasts God Almighty and the whole world,\nwhich in his presence is like a grain of dust or a drop of morning dew. But\ntowards his frail creatures this Almighty God shows compassion and love. It is\nhe who created them, and is responsible for their existence, a thought which the\nauthor expresses with a variety of images. It is God who called them into\nexistence. They belong to God, God who is the lover of all the living. God\u2019s\nimperishable spirit is in all that live; it is this spirit that gives them\nlife. God is the lover of all the living. His aim in creation was to establish\nfriendship with humankind. Sin breaks this friendship, but God is gentle and\nloving, and little by little corrects the sinner, reminds them of their errors\nin an effort to have them return to him and trust in him. This beautiful\nreading is aptly chosen to go with today\u2019s Gospel reading in which Jesus\ndeclares that he, the Son of Msn, has come to seek out and save what was lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial Psalm <\/em>(Psalm 144[145]). I will bless your name for ever, O God my King.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading <\/em>(2 Thessalonians\n1:11-2:2). The name of Christ will be\nglorified in you and you in him.<\/em> A central theme in this letter is the Second\nComing of Christ \u201cand how we shall all be gathered round him\u201d (2:1). In a sense\nit thus concerns the Last Things, and it may be for this reason that readings\nare chosen from it for the three last Sundays of the liturgical years, before\nthe Feast of Christ the KIng. The letter itself has an eschatological theme,\nbut the Sunday readings only give a section of one of these (today\u2019s reading).\nThe other such readings would probably be too difficult to understand. It is\nquite clear when Paul wrote the First Letter to the Thessalonians, and the\nsituation that gave rise to it. It is the oldest Christian writing we possess,\nwritten in the year 51 A.D. That letter shows Paul\u2019s love for the Church at\nThessalonica and its aim was to give them encouragement. This letter does\nmention the (Second) coming of Christ and the Day of the Lord, and Paul reminds\nhis readers that they know full well that this Day will come like thief in the\nnight, thus suddenly. It is not so easy to determine the time or the occasion\nof this Second Letter to the Thessalonians. It is clear from the letter that\nthat Church was experiencing a crisis on the issue of this Coming at that time,\nsome maintaining that the Day of the Lord had already come. The letter (2:1-12)\nconfronts this problem head on, and openly states that there is no foundation\nfor rumours current concerning the Second Coming of Christ or of the Day of the\nLord. It says that that Day will not come suddenly, but that its coming will be\npreceded by signs. When biblical scholars consider the relevant evidence, some\nare of the view that Paul wrote the Second Letter soon after the first. Other\nscholars maintain that the Second Letter was not written that early, and possibly\nis not directly from Paul himself, but from someone else under his influence\nand inspiration, perhaps even from about the year 68 when both Jerusalem\nand the Temple\nwere in danger of being destroyed by the Roman armies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            With regard\nto today\u2019s reading: Paul tells the Church that he is continually praying for\nthem that their faith may be a living one and that God may fulfil all their\ndesire for goodness, because in this way the name of the Lord Jesus will be\nglorified in them, and they in him, all this by the grace of God and the Lord\nJesus Christ, spoken of as one. With this glorification of the name of Jesus\nand of believers, taken together, Paul probably has glorification at the\nParousia, Christ\u2019s coming, in mind. This takes Paul to what has been unsettling\nthe Thessalonian church concerning the coming of Christ and the rumours and\nletters that have been falsely attributed to Paul himself concerning this\nComing, as if the Day of the Lord had already come. Paul will go into this\nquestion in some greater detail in the continuation of this reading in the\nletter itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel<\/em> (Luke 19:1-10). The Son of Man has come to seek out and save\nwhat was lost. <\/em>Jesus earlier told a parable on the good shepherd\u2019s search\nfor the sheep that had been lost. This present reading is a narrative about a\nsimilar quest, with the same theme of seeking out and saving what was lost.\nZacchaeus is presented as a senior tax collector and a wealthy man.  We are in the city of Jericho where there would have been many\ntrees. One of these was a sycamore tree of the Palestinian type, a fig or\nmulberry tree. These would be tall tress, with high branches but with the lower\nones close enough to the ground to permit a person climb up on it. Jesus had\nspoken of how difficult it was for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.\nZacchaeus would have been an exception. Jesus here takes the initiative and\nseeks out Zacchaeus on the tree branch, inviting himself to enjoy the tax\ncollector\u2019s hospitality. Zacchaeus gladly accepts. As a tax collector Zacchaeus\nwould in popular estimation have been regarded as a sinner, and association\nwith him would be regarded as improper by Jews. Zacchaeus admits wrongdoing and\nexpresses repentance, ready to give half his wealth to the poor and repay any\nwrongdoing in his tax collecting fourfold, thus going beyond what the Bible in\ngeneral demanded and in keeping with Roman law for patent theft. The reaction\nof the bystanders to Jesus going to enjoy a tax collector\u2019s hospitality was in\nkeeping with what had often earlier occurred in Jesus\u2019 life. Jesus\u2019 reply sums\nup the meaning of the entire event: Zacchaeus may have been a sinner, but he\nwas a son of Abraham, and Jesus, the Son of Man, had come to seek out and save\nwhat was lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection &\nDialogue<\/em><\/strong>: The love and mercy of God. The Last Things<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s readings present ample opportunity for reflection\nand for dialogue within the Church of our own day, and with the world beyond\nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection. The\nlove and mercy of God. <\/em>Peter\u2019s successor\nwas not very long in office when as Pope Francis he reminded the Church that we\nshould reflect and speak much more about the love and them mercy of God than on\ncertain specified current moral hotly debated topics. Today\u2019s first reading and\ngospel make the very same point. They invite us to reflect on the matter. God\nis love and he loves all he has created. He is full of mercy for the human race\nand for each individual. Jesus still seeks out all that is lost, through his\nown presence, through the Holy Spirit, and through his faithful followers. It\nis only necessary to read and reread today\u2019s readings to be convinced of this.\nHow bear witness to these truths in our own day is a matter that can exercise our\nminds and consciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dialogue with members of the Church and with those outside. The Last Things \u2013 death, judgment, hell and heaven. <\/em>The second reading today reminds us that we are drawing near the end of the church\u2019s liturgical year. This is an apt time for clergy and laity to reflect on the Last Things. In Catholic Tradition the last things are Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven. Not too many in our own day are anxious to reflect on these truths, especially on death, which is the only certain one of these for believer and unbeliever alike. The Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/em> (paragraphs 1006-1065) treats of them as part of its consideration of the Apostles\u2019 Creed.Death. <\/em>The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World <\/em>(paragraph 18) has a very deep and touching reflection on \u201cthe mystery of Death\u201d, well worth reading and reflecting on. \u201cIt is in regard to death that man\u2019s condition is most shrouded in doubt\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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