Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

459 Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

CCC Cross Reference:
Lk 10:16 87, 858

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Reading 1
Jb 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5

The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said:

Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning
and shown the dawn its place
For taking hold of the ends of the earth,
till the wicked are shaken from its surface?
The earth is changed as is clay by the seal,
and dyed as though it were a garment;
But from the wicked the light is withheld,
and the arm of pride is shattered.

Have you entered into the sources of the sea,
or walked about in the depths of the abyss?
Have the gates of death been shown to you,
or have you seen the gates of darkness?
Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all:
Which is the way to the dwelling place of light,
and where is the abode of darkness,
That you may take them to their boundaries
and set them on their homeward paths?
You know, because you were born before them,
and the number of your years is great!

Then Job answered the Lord and said:

Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you?
I put my hand over my mouth.
Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again;
though twice, I will do so no more.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 139:1-3, 7-8, 9-10, 13-14ab

R. (24b) Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

O Lord, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence where can I flee?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

If I take the wings of the dawn,
if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
Even there your hand shall guide me,
and your right hand hold me fast.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

Gospel
Lk 10:13-16

Jesus said to them,
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would long ago have repented,
sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon
at the judgment than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will go down to the netherworld.’
Whoever listens to you listens to me.
Whoever rejects you rejects me.
And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Job 38:1 - 40:5

Then from the heart of the tempest the Lord gave Job his answer. He said:
Have you ever in your life given orders to the morning
or sent the dawn to its post,
telling it to grasp the earth by its edges
and shake the wicked out of it,
when it changes the earth to sealing clay
and dyes it as a man dyes clothes;
stealing the light from wicked men
and breaking the arm raised to strike?
Have you journeyed all the way to the sources of the sea,
or walked where the Abyss is deepest?
Have you been shown the gates of Death
or met the janitors of Shadowland?
Have you an inkling of the extent of the earth?
Tell me all about it if you have!
Which is the way to the home of the light,
and where does darkness live?
You could then show them the way to their proper places,
or put them on the path to where they live!
If you know all this, you must have been born with them,
you must be very old by now!

Job replied to the Lord:
My words have been frivolous: what can I reply?
I had better lay my finger on my lips.
I have spoken once... I will not speak again;
more than once... I will add nothing.

Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 138(139):1-3,7-10,13-14

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

O Lord, you search me and you know me,

  you know my resting and my rising,

  you discern my purpose from afar.

You mark when I walk or lie down,

  all my ways lie open to you.

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

O where can I go from your spirit,

  or where can I flee from your face?

If I climb the heavens, you are there.

  If I lie in the grave, you are there.

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

If I take the wings of the dawn

  and dwell at the sea’s furthest end,

even there your hand would lead me,

  your right hand would hold me fast.

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

For it was you who created my being,

  knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I thank you for the wonder of my being,

  for the wonders of all your creation.

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

Gospel Luke 10:13 – 16

Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. And still, it will not go as hard with Tyre and Sidon at the Judgement as with you. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell.

Anyone who listens to you listens to me; anyone who rejects you rejects me, and those who reject me reject the one who sent me.

Readings and Commentary From Navarre

Friday, October 1, 2010

26h Week in Ordinary Time

Memorial: St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor

From: Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5

The Lord Speaks to Job
-----------------------------------
[1] Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:

[12] "Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
[13] that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?
[14] It is changed like clay under the seal,
and it is dyed like a garment.
[15] From the wicked their light is withheld,
and their uplifted arm is broken.
[16] Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
[17] Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
[18] Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.
[19] Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
and where is the place of darkness,
[20] that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?
[21] You know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!

Job bows before God
------------------------------
[3] Then Job answered the Lord:
[4] Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer thee?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
[5] I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but I will proceed no further."

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Commentary:

38:1-42:6. The theophany and the Lord's discourse that follow it form the climax of the book: after each of the friends and the impertinent Elihu have opined on Job's attitude and on the meaning of suffering, and after Job himself has repeatedly called on God to pronounce judgment, God's intervention gives a perfect finish to the whole debate. The Lord upbraids the friends for rejecting the very idea that he would appear in person to reply to Job, and he commends Job for his desire to meet with Him.

The content of the Lord's speeches are along the lines of the previous Ones as regards created beings reflecting the power and wisdom of their Maker; but the tone is very different. The Lord does not take issue with Job's views or lament his misfortune, or even respond directly to Job's demand that his innocence be recognized; what he wants him to do is to watch a film documentary, as it were, recording the wonders of creation; to discover the beauty and endowments of created beings; and to acknowledge, in all simplicity, the sovereignty and wisdom of the Creator.

From a literary point of view, the Lord's discourses contain typical descriptions of all kinds of creatures, such as the ostrich (39:13-18), the warhorse (39:19-25), and Behemoth and Leviathan (40:15-41:26). These animals are depicted so expertly, with a mixture of realism and fantasy, that we don't know whether they belong to the world of reality or that of mythology. But they are all creatures of the Lord.

The theophany consists of two lengthy speeches by God (38:4-39:30; 40:15-41: 26), each preceded by an appeal to Job (38:1-3; 40:6-14) and each followed by a grateful and humble response from Job (40:3-5; 42:1-6).

38:1-39:30. The Lord's first speech is very rich in language and very skillfully constructed, but the message is quite simple: God is present in places where Job or no one else has ever been; he has acted and does act where no human being ever could or can: he arranges things most wisely and takes the greatest care of created beings (stars, birds, animals) far beyond man's reach. In other words, God is infinitely more powerful than Job; yet here he is, inviting him to engage in conversation and join him in contemplating the wonders of the cosmos and of the animal world.

This speech cannot be described as a class in Creation Theology; and in fact in few places does it overlap with creation accounts in Genesis or in the book of Wisdom; it is rather, a sapiential description of the entire universe and of the way created beings operate; no account is taken of secondary causes or of the usefulness these beings may have for man.

The speech consists of an introduction (38:1-3) and two lengthy sections. The first of these focuses on the inanimate world (38:4-38), and the second on the animal world (38:39-39:30). The first has a certain logical order to it, ranging out from the better known to the more remote phenomena -- earth, sea, light, the ends of the earth, and the abyss, the elements, stars … But the animal section seems to have no particular order to it; instead, the writer uses devices found in wisdom literature: his list of animals runs to ten (ten being a number symbolizing completeness) – lion, raven, goat, deer, wild ass, wild ox, ostrich, horse, lark, eagle; by choosing undomesticated animals, he accentuates the power of God.

38:1-3. The introduction to these speeches provides keys to their meaning. It uses the proper name of the God of Israel, the Lord (YHWH), as does the prologue (2:1-7) and epilogue (42:7-17) of the book itself, whereas in the preceding debate, as we have seen, the generic Greek name appears ('El, Eloah, Elohim, Shaddai). This serves to underline that genuine wisdom belongs to the God of Israel, and he communicates it to his people. The text keeps repeating that it is God who is speaking: "And the Lord said …", "the Lord answered." The theophany "out of the whirlwind" would alone have made this plain; it was a whirlwind that took Elijah up to heaven (2 Kings 2:1,11) and it figures in the eschatological appearances of the Lord (cf. Ezek 1:1-3; 15; Zech 9:14); even if God had made himself silently present, Job would have had his desire fulfilled: he would have met the Lord. But by responding to Job with words, God is bestowing on him the same sign of favor as he gave to the patriarchs and to Moses, with whom he spoke face to face. In this way the sacred writer shows how very worthy a person Job is.

"Who is this that darkens counsel" (v. 2): the Hebrew word translated as ''counsel"('esah) means God's plan, his purposes, which stay unchanged for all eternity (cf. Is 25:1) and are irrevocable (Is 14:24, 26). What the word primarily means here is governance of the universe, that is, divine providence: "Since hu- man reason on its own cannot comprehend the truth of divine providence, the argument between Job and his friends needed to he resolved by divine authority [...]. So the Lord, as arbitrator of the dispute, criticizes the friends whose words do not judge Job fairly and Elihu for his mistaken assumptions" (St Thomas Aquinas, Expositio super lob, 38, 2). But, given that in the Old Testament this word is always connected with divine intervention in the lives of nations and individuals (Jer 32:19), here it also applies to God's part in making Job's life so miserable. Job has raised objections to this. The Lord himself now invites him to view this counsel, these "plans", from the point of view of God, not man. Man's perspective is narrow and blurred.

"I will question you, and you shall declare to me" (v. 3). In keeping with the tone of irony that surfaces elsewhere in the speech (38:4, 18, 21), the Lord grants Job the status of interlocutor and implies that he is capable of answering all the great questions and of supplying the sort of sapiential argument he will use in his speech. At no point does God try to humiliate Job; he is simply encouraging him to accept with a good grace the teaching he is going to offer him.

38:4-15. The description of the earth (vv. 4-7), the sea (vv. 8-11) and the sunlight (vv. 12-15) contains a lot of symbolism. For example, the earth is depicted as an impressive building which the stars find awesome. St Gregory the Great does well to apply this description to the Church, God's beloved, built on the foundation of the apostles and with Christ as its cornerstone; earth and Church are a source of amazement to the angels (cf. Moralia in lob, 6:28, 5-7, 14-35).

The ocean, which was full of bluster in the high seas, becomes all mild when it reaches the shore, just as a restless baby becomes quiet when it is held and clothed. "The gates of the Holy Church", St Gregory explains, "may he battered by the waves of persecution, but they cannot he destroyed; the wave of persecution may rock the gates from without, but it cannot break through to the heart of the Church" (Moralia in lob, 6, 28, 18, 38).

The light of dawn dispels the darkness (vv. 12-13), which is an accomplice of evildoers, as Job previously acknowledged (cf. 24:13-17): "Evildoers love the dark of night, and flee in despair at the dawning of the day. For this reason he adds: "And you shook out the wicked", that is, you forced them to flee into hiding when the light of day stripped away their cover of darkness" (Fray Luis de Leon, Expositio lob, 38, 13).

38:16-38. The elements mentioned in this section were things that ancient man found difficult to fathom, so much so that they were often mythologized. First come earthly phenomena -- sea, the deeps, death, light-and-darkness (vv. 16-21); then weather phenomena -- snow, hail, ice, floods, lightning; and finally the constellations and heavenly bodies (vv. 31-38). But God knows them to perfection and controls them. In other words, all these things manifest his omnipotence; he has created them with wisdom and love; (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 268).

The lesson is clear. We should believe in the sovereignty of God and in his kindly providence, even though we cannot fully grasp that human suffering and evil in general fit into the divine plan: "We firmly believe that God is master of the world and of its history. But the ways of his providence are often unknown to us. Only at the end, when our partial knowledge ceases, when we see God's face to face' (1 Cor 13:12) will we fully know the ways by which -- even through the dramas of evil and sin -- God has guided his creation to that definitive sabbath rest (cf. Gen 2:2) for which he created heaven and earth" (CCC, 314).

40:1-5. The Lord's speech is interrupted at this point by a short but significant exchange between God and Job. The style of sapiential dispute is employed again, and the author uses this literary device to retain the reader's attention at this decisive moment in the encounter between God and Job.

From: Luke 10:13-16

Jesus Condemns Cities For Their Unbelief
-------------------------------------------------------------
(Jesus said,) [13] "Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. [14] But it shall be more tolerable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. [15] And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to Heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

[16] "He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me."

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Commentary:

16. On the evening of the day of His resurrection, our Lord entrusts His Apostles with the mission received from the Father, endowing them with powers similar to His own (John 20:21). Some days later He will confer on Peter the primacy He had already promised him (John 21:15-17). The Pope is the successor of Peter, and the bishops the successor of the Apostles (cf. "Lumen Gentium", 20). Therefore, "Bishops who teach in communion with the Roman Pontiff are to be revered by all as witnesses of divine and Catholic truth [...]. This loyal submission of the will and intellect must be given, in a special way, to the authentic teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, even when he does not speak "ex cathedra" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 25).

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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

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