HerbEly

Missing Verses on Pentecost Sunday

The lectionary is based on scripture - but it occasionally skips a few verses. In most cases this  is because they are repetitive and would lengthen the reading while adding little. (This, IMO,  seems to be the only case in which the liturgists are interested in shortening the Mass.) The Second reading for Pentecost Sunday is taken from 1 Corinthians 12 and focuses on the Gifts of the Spirit. Different gifts are intended for different persons "for some benefit." The reading, which I will proclaim on Sunday, omits verses 8-10. These verses specify some of the gifts mentioned in 1-7:

To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit;to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues.

 All too often, we have a tendency to think that we ought to be exercising the gifts intended for another. We think that the great commission to go out and proclaim the good news should be done in the way some other witness does.

 I'm reminded of a letter St. Francis de Sales wrote to a young woman, advising her not to wish to go to Africa and experience glorious martyrdom unless she were able to bear the trials of her present life.

 

Friendship on the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Do we image God as being angry Father, the loving father of the Prodigal Son story, mother as in Isaiah and Luke? Cursillo changed my image from God as some distant, unreachable being to one who approached us on foot and in friendship. I will be forever grateful for the gospel reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter: John 15:15

 

14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit —fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

 

Friendship is a much easier image for me to handle. May it always be true that we strive to hear everything that He has made known and that we bear lasting frui

 

Overly Serous on the Fifth Sunday of Easter

    The Second reading (1 John 3:18-24) for the fifth Sunday of Easter presents a challenge. The Workbook for Lectors cautions the tone of proclamation will be more important than the words in persuading listeners. To me this is an implicit admission that the translation is incomprehensible. Here are the challenging verses, as I will  read them this Sunday:

"Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth 

and reassure our hearts before him

in whatever our hearts condemn,

for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,

we have confidence in God

and receive from him whatever we ask,"…..

 

Here is the NIV translation:

 

19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence:

20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask,….

The Universalis website uses the Jerusalem bible translation

My children, our love is not to be just words or mere talk, but something real and active;

only by this can we be certain that we are children of the truth

and be able to quieten our conscience in his presence,

whatever accusations it may raise against us,

because God is greater than our conscience and he knows everything.

My dear people, if we cannot be condemned by our own conscience,

we need not be afraid in God’s presence, and whatever we ask him, we shall receive,….

 

    What I get out of all of this is that we have a tendency to judge our own shortcomings too harshly. We need to guard against having an overly critical conscience. As Rule 62 says: "Don't take yourself too seriously." If God does not condemn us but judges us with mercy, we should do the same for ourselves.

    If I get this across Sunday with the tone of my reading alone, it will be by the grace of God.