{"id":690,"date":"2019-05-10T11:32:48","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=690"},"modified":"2019-05-10T11:56:14","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:56:14","slug":"17-march-2019-st-patrick-bishop-patron-of-ireland-reflection-and-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=690","title":{"rendered":"17 MARCH 2019 ST PATRICK, BISHOP, PATRON OF IRELAND Reflection and Dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue<\/em><\/strong>: <\/strong>The\nLiturgical Readings and St Patrick\u2019s Lasting Heritage<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of today\u2019s readings helps us to reflect on St Patrick and his\nlast heritage. In his Confession <\/em>he\nintroduces himself as a rustic, unlearned, a simple country person, yet much of\nwhat the learned scribe Ben Sira has to say in praise of the learned and pious\nscribe applies to him. Like Paul\u2019s second letter to Timothy, his Confession <\/em>is his testament to the people of\nIreland, and like Paul he would solemnly urge all concerned among those he has\nwon for Christ to proclaim the full Gospel message whether the time is\nfavourable or unfavourable, and to convince, rebuke and encourage with the\nutmost patience in teaching, and to be on guard about false teachers and\nteaching to come. The Gospel reading brings us two aspects of St Patrick\u2019s\nheritage. That of the mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds that grows to\nbecome the greatest of shrubs and a tree, is a reason to give thanks for the\ngrowth and spread a home and abroad of Irish Catholicism. However, that the\nnational Patron\u2019s Feastday is not all about the what is positive in our\ntradition. Paul warned Timothy to be on his guard about false teaching. Jesus\u2019\nparable on the weed among the wheat should remind us of scandals and weaknesses\nin recent Irish Church history, the weed sown not so much by an enemy or Satan but\nfrom within, yet not altogether a cause of despair or dismay. We have been\nwarned by Jesus himself on such issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternative Readings<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading <\/em>(Amos 7:12-15). Go, prophesy to my people Israel.<\/em> When he hear or read\nthe word \u201cprophet\u201d many of us will think of persons such as Amos, Isaiah,\nJeremiah or one of the prophets of the canon, recognized as prophets by Israel\nand the Church, those we may refer to as canonical or charismatic prophets.\nThis particular line of prophets began with Amos, about 760-750 B.C. Prophecy\nin Israel\nand the surrounding countries, however, had a much longer history than this.\nProphets were persons believed to have the gift of contact with the invisible,\nto predict the future and such like. There were bands of them in Israel\nand in surrounding countries, in temples, in royal palaces (sometimes hundreds\nof them) and elsewhere. There were prophets of the false god Baal as well as of\nthe God of Israel. In Israel\nsuch bands of prophets were known as \u201csons of prophets\u201d, \u201cson\u201d here in the\nsense of a person belonging to a particular group. In the Bible \u201cprophesying\u201d\nat times in such contexts means falling into a prophetic trance. Outside of Israel,\nin any event, such prophets could indulge in self mutilation. Not everyone\nwould wish to be descried as a \u201cson of a prophet\u201d. Amos came from the southern kingdom of Judah,\nand was prophetically directed by God to go to the northern kingdom of Israel\nto pronounce God\u2019s coming wrath on the royal house and kingdom by reason of\ntheir neglect of the covenant with God. Amos did this in the royal sanctuary of\nBethel, and was told by Amaziah, priest of this\ntemple, to return to his own country of Judah and do his prophesying there.\nIn view of the ambiguity then prevailing with regard to the term \u201cprophet\u201d Amos\ndenies that he was prophet or the son of a prophet (member of a prophetic\nband), but still said that he had been sent by God to prophesy. With Amos prophecy\nenters a new stage in Israel.\nThis new glorious line of Israelite prophecy implies a special relationship\nwith God, with the divine will and divine plan. These prophets are witnesses\nthat God is in contact with his chosen people, and their mission to humanity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial\nPsalm <\/em>(Psalm\n138[139])<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading <\/em>(1\nThessalonians 2:2-8). We preach the\nGospel not to please mortals, but to please God. <\/em>When Paul was in Troas, in\nthe north of present-day Turkey,\none night a vision appeared to him: a man of Macedonia\nwas standing beseeching him and saying: \u201cCome over to Macedonia and help us\u201d. The text\nwill later resonate with the young Patrick and the voice of the Irish saying:\n\u201cWe beg you, holy boy, to come and walk again among us\u201d. Paul answered the\nvoice and came to the city of Philippi in Macedonia\nwhere he had much to suffer. He then moved on to the city of Thessalonica,\nwhere he had great success, but met with bitter opposition from adversaries who\nattacked the Gospel he preached and also the person of Paul himself,\nquestioning his character and motives, and accusing him of error, guile, greed,\nimpurity and dishonesty. These charges he strongly rejects in this present\nreading, stressing something already well known to the recipients of the\nletter: Paul\u2019s love for them and the uprightness of all his behaviour, in\nkeeping with the nature of the Gospel message he preached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel<\/em>\n(Luke 5:1-11). In this beautiful Gospel reading Luke highlights the special\nrole of Peter in the early Church, and indeed in the Christian community. Luke\nhas chosen this episode to narrate the calling of the Christ\u2019s first followers.\nIt is set in the context of Jesus\u2019 consciousness of his mission to preach the\ngood news of salvation. In the text immediately preceding, when people wanted\nJesus to stay with them in one place and not leave them, he declined with the\nwords: \u201cI must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities\nalso; for I was sent for this purpose\u201d (Luke 4:43). Jesus is now about to begin\nthis mission in new way by choosing a core group, beginning with Simon (also\nknown as Peter, or in its original Aramaic form Cephas). This work will begin\nwith a very symbolic marvellous catch of fish. Jesus chooses the boat he will\nuse for the marvel \u2013 it is that of Simon. When invited by Jesus to go out\nfishing, Simon gives a calculated human reply: they have already been fishing\nand caught nothing. Jesus\u2019 thoughts are different, not those of human\ncalculations. They netted a huge number of fish, and Peter had to call on his\ncompanions, James and John sons of Zebedee. Simon Peter fell in awe at the feet\nof Jesus at the manifestation of divine power. Like Isaiah at his vocation he\nmakes profession of his sinfulness.While\nthree persons are mentioned, Jesus addresses Simon Peter alone: He is not to be\nafraid, and will have the great mission of a larger catch of humans, not fish.\nThis is in keeping with other texts in Luke on Peter\u2019s special role. At the\nLast Supper Jesus tells him that Satan wishes to sift him like wheat, destroy\nhim, but Christ has prayed for him so that, even though Peter fail, on\nconversion he may strengthen his brethren (Luke 22:31-32). After the\nresurrection Christ appears first to Peter\/Cephas (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians\n15:5). When Peter was imprisoned and in danger of execution the Church prayed\nfervently for him and he was miraculously saved (Acts 12:1-19). Peter\nstrengthened the faith of the early Church and worked to keep it united in its\nexpansion beyond Judaism to the Gentile world (Acts 10-11; 15:6-11). . He saw\nthis expansion as the work of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nwe read about Peter and his divine mission in the Gospel, we think of his\nsuccessor, the Holy Father, bishop of Rome,\nand pray that his faith may be strong, confirming his brothers and sisters in\nthe faith, and working for Christian unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection\n& Dialogue: We preach the Gospel not\nto please mortals, but to please God. Eternal voices: Christ, Peter, Patrick.\nMessages for St Patrick\u2019s Day<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this feast of\nour national apostle there are many voices inviting us to listen. It is Christ\nhimself who speaks when Holy Scripture is read in the church, and this voice is\naddressing Church authorities and all of us through the prophet Amos: \u201cGo and\npreach to my people\u201d, preaching to all to be faithful to the covenant, to the\nteaching of Christ and his Church. The voice of Paul reminds us that there will\nalways be accusations (not all of them true), difficulties and obstacles to the\npreaching of the Gospel message. The voice of Paul also reminds us of the need\nof honesty and transparency for all involved in teaching the Christian message.\nThen we are reminded of the \u201cvoice of the Irish\u201d to Patrick to return to Ireland\nand walk again among its people. His voice and his prayer for our fidelity are\nstill with us. Then we have the voice of Jesus concerning Peter to have\nconfidence, since his Saviour has prayed for him that his faith may not fail,\nbut that he might confirm his brothers and sisters in this faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now as we have a call for a new evangelization we have the\nsuccessors of Peter, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, gently, but\nfirmly, calling on the Church to return to her true self. Shortly before he\nretired, Pope Benedict XVI reminded the Church that while she was in this world\nshe was not of this world. In his very first days is office Pope Francis has\ncalled on the Church to be faithful to her true self, and called on believers\nhelp facilitate a spiritual renewal or face the possibility of the Church being\nconsidered a compassionate, pitiful, NGO. Not of course that the Church is not\nconcerned about such work; it is central to her mission. But her fundamental\ncall is her relation to Christ her founder, and participation in his sufferings\nand resurrection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            It is hoped that reflections such as\nthese may help on this feast of our national patron, to revive the fervour of\nthe faith he preached and lived. As he tells us in his Confession, <\/em>StPatrickprayed that God may grant that he may\nnever loose the Irish people which God possessed for himself at the ends of the\nearth. In this time of great danger for the faith in Ireland let us pray to God, through\nthe intercession of our National Apostles, that this may be so<\/p>\n\n\n


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B. Reflection & Dialogue: The Liturgical Readings and St Patrick\u2019s Lasting Heritage Each of today\u2019s readings helps us to reflect on St Patrick and his last heritage. In his Confession … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":691,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690\/revisions\/691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}