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Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

First Reading

Deuteronomy 6:2-6

Moses teaches the people to love and worship God alone.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 18:2-3,3-4,47,51

A prayer of praise to God our strength

Second Reading

Hebrews 7:23-28

Jesus intercedes for us as our eternal high priest.

Gospel Reading

Mark 12:28b-34

Jesus is questioned by a scribe about the greatest commandment.

Background on the Gospel Reading

As we continue to read from Mark’s Gospel, our Lectionary skips a chapter that helps set the context for today’s reading. If we were to read the sections skipped (chapter 11 and part of chapter 12), we would hear about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, his cleansing of the Temple, and the questioning of Jesus’ authority by the chief priests, scribes, and elders. The context, therefore, for this Gospel is Jesus’ growing exposure before the Jewish authorities. Jesus is being questioned and tested by the Jewish authorities, yet the scribe who addresses Jesus in today’s Gospel seems to be an admirer; he is not testing Jesus.

The question posed in today’s Gospel requires Jesus to interpret the Law of Moses. The Mosaic Law consists of the Ten Commandments and many additional commandments, numbering into the hundreds. For a devout Jew, adherence to the Mosaic Law is an expression of faithfulness to God’s covenant with Israel. The ranking of these commandments was regularly debated among the teachers of the Law.

Jesus was not the only Jewish religious teacher to connect these two commandments, love of God and love of neighbor. Both of these commandments were central elements of the religious tradition that Jesus learned from his Jewish community. Indeed, these commandments continue to be central aspects of contemporary Jewish religious understanding. Jesus’ response to his questioners proposed an integral connection between these two aspects of the Jewish Law. Love of God finds its expression in our love for our neighbor. Many believe, however, that this connection was heard in a new and fresh way when spoken by Jesus.

The scribe who questions Jesus in today’s Gospel engages in a positive dialogue with Jesus. He agrees with Jesus’ teaching that the commandments to love God and love neighbor stand above the commandment to offer worship and sacrifice in the Temple. With this dialogue, Jesus appears to close the debate with the Jewish authorities. Mark reports that no one dared to question Jesus further. Layola Press

Lord Jesus Christ, eternal High Priest,

You offered yourself to the Father on the altar of the Cross 

and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit 

gave Your priestly people a share in Your redeeming sacrifice. 

Hear our prayer for the sanctification of our priests. 

Grant that all who are ordained to the ministerial priesthood 

may be ever more conformed to You, the Divine Master. 

May they preach the Gospel with pure heart and clear conscience.

Let them be shepherds according to Your own Heart, 

single-minded in service to You and to the Church 

and shining examples of a holy, simple and joyful life. 

Through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Your Mother and ours,

draw all priests and the flocks entrusted to their care 

to the fullness of eternal life where you live and reign 

with the Father and the Holy Spirit, 

one God, forever and ever. Amen.

  -Prayer by Pope Benedict XVI

Saint Narcissus of Jerusalem

Saint of the Day for October 29

(d. c. 216)

Life in second- and third-century Jerusalem couldn’t have been easy, but Saint Narcissus managed to live well beyond 100. Some even speculate he lived to 160.

Details of his life are sketchy, but there are many reports of his miracles. The miracle for which Narcissus is most remembered was turning water into oil for use in the church lamps on Holy Saturday when the deacons had forgotten to provide any.

Reflection

As our life spans increase and we face the bodily problems of aging, we might keep Saint Narcissus in mind and ask him to help us face our developing issues.

Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez

Saint of the Day for October 30

(1533 – October 30, 1617)



 “Acquire the habit of speaking to God as if you were alone with Him, familiarly and with confidence and love, as to the dearest and most loving of friends. Speak to Him often of your business, your plans, your troubles, your fears— of everything that concerns you. Converse with Him confidently and frankly; for God is not wont to speak to a soul that does not speak to Him.”

Saint Wolfgang of Regensburg

Saint of the Day for October 31

(c. 924 – August 31, 994)

Solemnity of All Saints

Saint of the Day for November 1



All Saints Day is NOT a Holy Day of Obligation this year!

All Saints' Day is a solemn holy day of the Catholic Church celebrated annually on November 1. The day is dedicated to the saints of the Church, that is, all those who have attained heaven. It should not be confused with All Souls' Day, which is observed on November 2, and is dedicated to those who have died and not yet reached heaven.

Although millions, or even billions of people may already be saints, All Saints' Day observances tend to focus on known saints --that is those recognized in the canon of the saints by the Catholic Church.

All Saints' Day is also commemorated by members of the Eastern Orthodox Church as well as some protestant churches, such as Lutheran and Anglican churches. All Saints' Day was formally started by Pope Boniface IV, who consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs on May 13 in 609 AD. Boniface IV also established All Souls' Day, which follows All Saints.

Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

Saint of the Day for November 2

Historically, the Western tradition identifies the general custom of praying for the dead dating as far back as 2 Maccabees 12:42-46. The custom of setting apart a special day for intercession for certain of the faithful on November 2 was first established by St. Odilo of Cluny (d. 1048) at his abbey of Cluny in 998. From Cluny the custom spread to the other houses of the Cluniac order, which became the largest and most extensive network of monasteries in Europe. The celebration was soon adopted in several dioceses in France, and spread throughout the Western Church. It was accepted in Rome only in the fourteenth century. While 2 November remained the liturgical celebration, in time the entire month of November became associated in the Western Catholic tradition with prayer for the departed; lists of names of those to be remembered being placed in the proximity of the altar on which the sacrifice of the mass is offered.

Saint Martin de Porres

Saint of the Day for November 3

(December 9, 1579 – November 3, 1639)

Saint Charles Borromeo

Saint of the Day for November 4

(October 2, 1538 – November 3, 1584)

Saint Charles Borromeo made his own the words of Christ: “…I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me” (Matthew 25:35-36). Borromeo saw Christ in his neighbor, and knew that charity done for the least of his flock was charity done for Christ.

The Veil Removed

I am not quite sure how it happened so quickly that October is turning to November. Where did the time go? Enjoying the Month of the Holy Rosary I tried (keyword tried) to pray the rosary every day. With the help of the Blessed Mother, I increased that prayer during October ALMOST to everyday. I plan on continuing my new habit of praying the Most Holy Rosary (again with the help of the angels and saints.) The month of November in the Catholic Church is dedicated to the Souls in Purgatory. As we focus our attention on this I think of the prayer by St. Gertrude. According to tradition, Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great that each time she piously recited the following prayer, it would greatly ease the suffering of those holy souls in purgatory:

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.

St. Gertrude the Great was a 13th-century German nun, writer, and mystic who was graced with many heavenly visions, including being one of the earliest mystics to whom Jesus encouraged a devotion to his Sacred Heart. It is recounted that Jesus showed her a vast number of souls entering heaven from purgatory as a result of her faithful and frequent recitation of this prayer. So, I was discussing all this with a friend and thinking about this prayer and the souls in purgatory, thinking about the Mass, and the communion of saints when she said have you seen the short video called The Veil Removed? I said no and she should you have to, it’s amazing! I watched the film and was amazed as she said I would be!

The Veil Removed is a short film that reveals the coming together of heaven and earth at Mass, as seen by saints and mystics, revealed by scripture and in the catechism of the Catholic Church. In her liturgy, the Church joins with the angels to adore the thrice-holy God. She invokes their assistance (in the funeral liturgy’s In Paradisum deducant te angeli. . .[“May the angels lead you into Paradise. . .”]). Moreover, in the “Cherubic Hymn” of the Byzantine Liturgy, she celebrates the memory of certain angels more particularly (St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and the guardian angels) CCC 335. As a cradle Catholic I always believed the angels and saints were at the table of the Lord during every celebration of Mass. However, by watching the film it just really moved me to envision them truly there. When we go to Mass the absolute connection to the communion of saints and angels. WOW!

I hope you will watch and enjoy the film; I have attached it next. I pray it will move you as it did me to truly envision the coming together of heaven and earth. The love in the celebration of Mass. Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all. CCC 1326 Amen. J. Geeting