Saturday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Scripture

In today’s first reading we have seemingly dark, yet joyful song about both Passover (the night that God’s angel passed over the houses of the Hebrews because the blood of the lamb was on their doorposts) and the Exodus (the deliverance of God’s People from enslavement by the Egyptians). In this song, God’s action in the world is described as His “word” and what a powerful word! This is the same “word” that we see in the beginning of the book of Genesis – God creates through His life-giving word.

This is the word in the Prologue to John’s Gospel that “became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Perhaps Jesus had this passage from the Book of Wisdom in mind when he told His disciples that he came “to bring not peace but the sword” (Matthew 10:34). Jesus was indeed warning of the division that he would bring, but this is not cause for fear! Jesus, as He so often does, turns the emphasis. He goes to Calvary as the Sacrificial Lamb of Passover, who’s blood is shed for out salvation.
In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus’ command to pray unceasingly. He knows that what He asks is not possible without God’s help. Even praying is not possible without His help! Unceasing prayer is, indeed, a seemingly impossible task. To do so, our entire lives must become a prayer. So that the times when we pray shape the rest of our lives such that they become offerings to God.

The Eucharist makes this possible. The blood of Christ, the Sacrificial Lamb is on the “doorpost” of our lips every time that we receive the Eucharist and it indeed teaches us to stay the course, to carry the cross, to follow our Lord, even unto Calvary. The Eucharist is both the source and summit of the lives of Catholics – our lives flow into it and they flow out of it. Because of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, we are shaped and formed into Christ as we partake of it. It is no mistake that we are sent – “Ite missa est!” “Go, the Mass (has been completed)!” – after partaking of the Eucharistic meal. That prayer, that sacrifice of the altar enables us to become like God. And we know, all things are possible with God.

-Tim Gabrielli