THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, Cycle B, November 8, 2009</ti= tle> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"City" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iamas-microsoft-com:office:smartt= ags"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"place" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"country-region" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"PlaceType" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"PlaceName" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/>  <style>  </style>  </head> <body lang=3DEN-US style=3D'tab-interval:.5in'> <div class=3DSection1> THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, Cycle B, November 8, 2009</s= pan><sp= an style=3D'font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";letter-sp= acing: -.15pt'><o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; Today's beautiful gospel story (Mark 12:38-44) ends the gospel proper according to = Mark. A more apt position for this story= could hardly be imagined. <o:p></o:= p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; In origin it was probably a Jewish parable of a poor widow who put relatively = more in the collection box for temple worship than all the well-to-do people who contributed larger sums. This Jewish parable was taken up into Christian teaching as a model of generosity and then later transformed into a story about Jesus, made into an incident in his life. The aut= hor of this gospel seems to have placed it here to form a contrast to the scribes = of his preceding section who devour the savings of widows. It sums up what has gone before in= the gospel and makes a superb transition to the passion account of how Jesus ga= ve everything for all.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; This author has pictured Jesus throughout his gospel showing how the scribes, who were the religious leaders and official interpreters of Scripture, were mistaken in their teaching. N= ow he is portrayed condemning the hypocrisy of their paraded religion—how t= hey wear long robes, take seats of honor, accept honorific titles, and demand respect while they look down upon others and even take advantage of them.<s= pan style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> So he tells this story of a poor w= idow surpassing all of them because she gave up all that she had, her whole livelihood (the word bios in Gr= eek, which we here translated “livelihood,” can also mean life itself).<sp= an style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> This reflects his overriding theme= that the true practice of religion involves absolute surrender to God’s wi= ll and devoting one’s life to others, just as Jesus did. The widow is thus presented as a m= odel for the disciples of Jesus and for all of us.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; To go with this beautiful story of a poor widow, we had for our first reading a selection from the Elijah cycle (1 Kings 17:10-16), an independent unit of tradition incorporated into a long series of seven books of the Old Testame= nt written or edited by someone we call the Deuteronomist. With stories about the greatness of Elijah (usually considered the first of <st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Isr= ael</st1:country-region>'s prophets), it portrays the deepest dimension of <st1:country-region w:st=3D= "on"><st1:place w:st=3D"on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s history: its encount= er with their God in the political and cultural crises of the time. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; This is literature dating from a time long before the Hebrews had adopted monotheism. Their God, the God of Israel, was known by the sacred name Yahw= eh, for which we substitute LORD out of respect for Jewish tradition. Their neighbors worshiped other gods. The background for the contest on <st1:place w:st=3D"on"><st1:City w:st=3D"on">Carmel</st1:City></= st1:place> between the God of Israel and the gods of the Phoenicians is a drought that paralyzed the country, as had happened periodically from time immemorial.<s= pan style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Seen through a veil of legend, Eli= jah the Tishbite suddenly appears on the scene. Elijah had a way of coming out of nowhere to surprise people. He supposedly lived in the desert, wearing only a loincloth made out of camel = skin and eating locusts and wild honey. <= /span>And then he would suddenly appear in the luxurious court of Israel and criticize the leaders of the people for living so comfortably while they had poor and hungry people in their midst. </span= >According to legend, his disappearance was just as mysterious as his appearance, for—to use the language of the well-known spiritual—a fiery &qu= ot;sweet chariot," swinging low, carried him in a whirlwind to heaven.<o:p></o:= p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; Today's story is a prelude to Elijah announcing a drought in the name of the God of Israel. What that meant again= st the cultural and religious background of the time is that he threw down a chall= enge to the Phoenician god Ba'al Melkart right in the sphere of that god's speci= al power—fertility! The re= st of the chapter is a series of vignettes illustrating the severity of the famine and the great wonders Elijah accomplished.= <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; These stories, favorites of popular tradition, are not meant to be taken literally. Their central conc= ern is to portray <st1:place w:st=3D"on"><st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Israel</s= t1:country-region></st1:place>’s God’s supreme authority over every sphere of human life, including the fertility of the land. One of= the most important features of today's story is the claim that the God of Israel controls fertility not only in <st1:City w:st=3D"on">Palestine</st1:City> b= ut in <st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Phoenicia</st1:country-region> as well—the special <st1:p= lace w:st=3D"on"><st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">province</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:Pla= ceName w:st=3D"on">Ba'al Melkart</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>. To symbolize this, Elijah is shown ministering to a widow in the Phoenician town of <st1:place w:st=3D"on"><st= 1:City w:st=3D"on">Zarephath</st1:City></st1:place> during the famine.<o:p></o:p>= <o:p></o:p> = ; And finally, our second reading continues selections from the anonymous Letter = to the Hebrews—really a homily to Jewish Christians later giv= en an epistolary ending.= In this section (9:24-28) the author interprets the death of Jesus o= n the cross as a definitive and final sacrifice.= Otherwise, he writes, his sacrifice would have had to be repeated ma= ny times, like the annual sacrifices on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Instead, the author argues for an eternal continuance of his one sacrifice. He says that Christ was "offer= ed up once to take away the sins of many."<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; The Greek verb he uses, anaphero, means both "to take away" and "to bear," and thus well expresses his idea of vicarious sacrifice—that Jesus took away sin by taking it upon himself. Then he refers to the parousia, the expected second coming of Christ, with perhaps an allusion to the Yom Kippur ritual when he writes, "He will appear a second time, not to take away sin, but to bring salvation to all."&= nbsp; To him, the appearance of Jesus will be like that of the high priest coming out of the Holy of Holies, and his presence will bring complete and final salvation.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; My sisters and brothers in Christ, we are winding down the liturgical year.<sp= an style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Next week’s reading will app= ly Jewish apocalyptic expectations to Jesus as early Christians hoped for his triumphal return. But since w= e have come to grips with the fact that Jesus did not return and we feel that we n= ow live in the age of his Spirit and in a church that proclaims him as our liv= ing and risen Lord, we will bring our liturgical year to a resounding close the following weekend with a celebration of the feast of Christ the King, before beginning a new cycle and a new liturgical year with the First Sunday of Advent. These final Sundays a= re meant to heighten our expectation, to increase our watchfulness, and to hel= p us get ready to commemorate and actualize for ourselves once again the great events of our salvation history. May we do so by imitating the total self-giving commitment of the po= or widow of today’s gospel story.<o:p></o:p> </div> </body> </html> ------=_NextPart_01CA5E7B.53B1A5A0 Content-Location: file:///C:/65538E39/32ordb09_files/header.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <html xmlns:v=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns=3D"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; charset=3Dus-ascii"> <meta name=3DProgId content=3DWord.Document> <meta name=3DGenerator content=3D"Microsoft Word 11"> <meta name=3DOriginator content=3D"Microsoft Word 11"> <link id=3DMain-File rel=3DMain-File href=3D"../32ordb09.htm"> <![if IE]> <base href=3D"file:///C:\65538E39\32ordb09_files\header.htm" id=3D"webarch_temp_base_tag"> <![endif]><o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"City" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iamas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"place" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"country-region" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"PlaceType" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"PlaceName" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> </head> <body lang=3DEN-US> <div style=3D'mso-element:footnote-separator' id=3Dfs> <![if !supportFootnotes]> <hr align=3Dleft size=3D1 width=3D"33%"> <![endif]> </div> <div style=3D'mso-element:footnote-continuation-separator' id=3Dfcs> <![if !supportFootnotes]> <hr align=3Dleft size=3D1> <![endif]> </div> <div style=3D'mso-element:endnote-separator' id=3Des> <![if !supportFootnotes]> <hr align=3Dleft size=3D1 width=3D"33%"> <![endif]> </div> <div style=3D'mso-element:endnote-continuation-separator' id=3Decs> <![if !supportFootnotes]> <hr align=3Dleft size=3D1> <![endif]> </div> </body> </html> ------=_NextPart_01CA5E7B.53B1A5A0 Content-Location: file:///C:/65538E39/32ordb09_files/filelist.xml Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8" <xml xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"> <o:MainFile HRef=3D"../32ordb09.htm"/> <o:File HRef=3D"header.htm"/> <o:File HRef=3D"filelist.xml"/> </xml> ------=_NextPart

MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="----=_NextPart_01CA5E7B.53B1A5A0" This document is a Single File Web Page, also known as a Web Archive file. If you are seeing this message, your browser or editor doesn't support Web Archive files. Please download a browser that supports Web Archive, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer. ------=_NextPart_01CA5E7B.53B1A5A0 Content-Location: file:///C:/65538E39/32ordb09.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, Cycle B, November 8, 2009</ti= tle> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"City" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iamas-microsoft-com:office:smartt= ags"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"place" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"country-region" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"PlaceType" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"PlaceName" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/>  <style>  </style>  </head> <body lang=3DEN-US style=3D'tab-interval:.5in'> <div class=3DSection1> THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, Cycle B, November 8, 2009</s= pan><sp= an style=3D'font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";letter-sp= acing: -.15pt'><o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; Today's beautiful gospel story (Mark 12:38-44) ends the gospel proper according to = Mark. A more apt position for this story= could hardly be imagined. <o:p></o:= p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; In origin it was probably a Jewish parable of a poor widow who put relatively = more in the collection box for temple worship than all the well-to-do people who contributed larger sums. This Jewish parable was taken up into Christian teaching as a model of generosity and then later transformed into a story about Jesus, made into an incident in his life. The aut= hor of this gospel seems to have placed it here to form a contrast to the scribes = of his preceding section who devour the savings of widows. It sums up what has gone before in= the gospel and makes a superb transition to the passion account of how Jesus ga= ve everything for all.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; This author has pictured Jesus throughout his gospel showing how the scribes, who were the religious leaders and official interpreters of Scripture, were mistaken in their teaching. N= ow he is portrayed condemning the hypocrisy of their paraded religion—how t= hey wear long robes, take seats of honor, accept honorific titles, and demand respect while they look down upon others and even take advantage of them.<s= pan style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> So he tells this story of a poor w= idow surpassing all of them because she gave up all that she had, her whole livelihood (the word bios in Gr= eek, which we here translated “livelihood,” can also mean life itself).<sp= an style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> This reflects his overriding theme= that the true practice of religion involves absolute surrender to God’s wi= ll and devoting one’s life to others, just as Jesus did. The widow is thus presented as a m= odel for the disciples of Jesus and for all of us.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; To go with this beautiful story of a poor widow, we had for our first reading a selection from the Elijah cycle (1 Kings 17:10-16), an independent unit of tradition incorporated into a long series of seven books of the Old Testame= nt written or edited by someone we call the Deuteronomist. With stories about the greatness of Elijah (usually considered the first of <st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Isr= ael</st1:country-region>'s prophets), it portrays the deepest dimension of <st1:country-region w:st=3D= "on"><st1:place w:st=3D"on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s history: its encount= er with their God in the political and cultural crises of the time. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; This is literature dating from a time long before the Hebrews had adopted monotheism. Their God, the God of Israel, was known by the sacred name Yahw= eh, for which we substitute LORD out of respect for Jewish tradition. Their neighbors worshiped other gods. The background for the contest on <st1:place w:st=3D"on"><st1:City w:st=3D"on">Carmel</st1:City></= st1:place> between the God of Israel and the gods of the Phoenicians is a drought that paralyzed the country, as had happened periodically from time immemorial.<s= pan style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Seen through a veil of legend, Eli= jah the Tishbite suddenly appears on the scene. Elijah had a way of coming out of nowhere to surprise people. He supposedly lived in the desert, wearing only a loincloth made out of camel = skin and eating locusts and wild honey. <= /span>And then he would suddenly appear in the luxurious court of Israel and criticize the leaders of the people for living so comfortably while they had poor and hungry people in their midst. </span= >According to legend, his disappearance was just as mysterious as his appearance, for—to use the language of the well-known spiritual—a fiery &qu= ot;sweet chariot," swinging low, carried him in a whirlwind to heaven.<o:p></o:= p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; Today's story is a prelude to Elijah announcing a drought in the name of the God of Israel. What that meant again= st the cultural and religious background of the time is that he threw down a chall= enge to the Phoenician god Ba'al Melkart right in the sphere of that god's speci= al power—fertility! The re= st of the chapter is a series of vignettes illustrating the severity of the famine and the great wonders Elijah accomplished.= <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; These stories, favorites of popular tradition, are not meant to be taken literally. Their central conc= ern is to portray <st1:place w:st=3D"on"><st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Israel</s= t1:country-region></st1:place>’s God’s supreme authority over every sphere of human life, including the fertility of the land. One of= the most important features of today's story is the claim that the God of Israel controls fertility not only in <st1:City w:st=3D"on">Palestine</st1:City> b= ut in <st1:country-region w:st=3D"on">Phoenicia</st1:country-region> as well—the special <st1:p= lace w:st=3D"on"><st1:PlaceType w:st=3D"on">province</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:Pla= ceName w:st=3D"on">Ba'al Melkart</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>. To symbolize this, Elijah is shown ministering to a widow in the Phoenician town of <st1:place w:st=3D"on"><st= 1:City w:st=3D"on">Zarephath</st1:City></st1:place> during the famine.<o:p></o:p>= <o:p></o:p> = ; And finally, our second reading continues selections from the anonymous Letter = to the Hebrews—really a homily to Jewish Christians later giv= en an epistolary ending.= In this section (9:24-28) the author interprets the death of Jesus o= n the cross as a definitive and final sacrifice.= Otherwise, he writes, his sacrifice would have had to be repeated ma= ny times, like the annual sacrifices on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Instead, the author argues for an eternal continuance of his one sacrifice. He says that Christ was "offer= ed up once to take away the sins of many."<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; The Greek verb he uses, anaphero, means both "to take away" and "to bear," and thus well expresses his idea of vicarious sacrifice—that Jesus took away sin by taking it upon himself. Then he refers to the parousia, the expected second coming of Christ, with perhaps an allusion to the Yom Kippur ritual when he writes, "He will appear a second time, not to take away sin, but to bring salvation to all."&= nbsp; To him, the appearance of Jesus will be like that of the high priest coming out of the Holy of Holies, and his presence will bring complete and final salvation.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> = ; My sisters and brothers in Christ, we are winding down the liturgical year.<sp= an style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Next week’s reading will app= ly Jewish apocalyptic expectations to Jesus as early Christians hoped for his triumphal return. But since w= e have come to grips with the fact that Jesus did not return and we feel that we n= ow live in the age of his Spirit and in a church that proclaims him as our liv= ing and risen Lord, we will bring our liturgical year to a resounding close the following weekend with a celebration of the feast of Christ the King, before beginning a new cycle and a new liturgical year with the First Sunday of Advent. These final Sundays a= re meant to heighten our expectation, to increase our watchfulness, and to hel= p us get ready to commemorate and actualize for ourselves once again the great events of our salvation history. May we do so by imitating the total self-giving commitment of the po= or widow of today’s gospel story.<o:p></o:p> </div> </body> </html> ------=_NextPart_01CA5E7B.53B1A5A0 Content-Location: file:///C:/65538E39/32ordb09_files/header.htm Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <html xmlns:v=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns=3D"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; charset=3Dus-ascii"> <meta name=3DProgId content=3DWord.Document> <meta name=3DGenerator content=3D"Microsoft Word 11"> <meta name=3DOriginator content=3D"Microsoft Word 11"> <link id=3DMain-File rel=3DMain-File href=3D"../32ordb09.htm"> <![if IE]> <base href=3D"file:///C:\65538E39\32ordb09_files\header.htm" id=3D"webarch_temp_base_tag"> <![endif]><o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"City" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iamas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"place" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"country-region" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"PlaceType" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name=3D"PlaceName" downloadurl=3D"http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/> </head> <body lang=3DEN-US> <div style=3D'mso-element:footnote-separator' id=3Dfs> <![if !supportFootnotes]> <hr align=3Dleft size=3D1 width=3D"33%"> <![endif]> </div> <div style=3D'mso-element:footnote-continuation-separator' id=3Dfcs> <![if !supportFootnotes]> <hr align=3Dleft size=3D1> <![endif]> </div> <div style=3D'mso-element:endnote-separator' id=3Des> <![if !supportFootnotes]> <hr align=3Dleft size=3D1 width=3D"33%"> <![endif]> </div> <div style=3D'mso-element:endnote-continuation-separator' id=3Decs> <![if !supportFootnotes]> <hr align=3Dleft size=3D1> <![endif]> </div> </body> </html> ------=_NextPart_01CA5E7B.53B1A5A0 Content-Location: file:///C:/65538E39/32ordb09_files/filelist.xml Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/xml; charset="utf-8" <xml xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"> <o:MainFile HRef=3D"../32ordb09.htm"/> <o:File HRef=3D"header.htm"/> <o:File HRef=3D"filelist.xml"/> </xml> ------=_NextPart_01CA5E7B.53B1A5A0--