Settling Disputes
Oct. 25: Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Yesterday’s readings were about division; today’s are about resolving disputes. It helps to remember that we’re all part of the Body of Christ, and we don’t need to seek outside help to adjudicate our differences.
Reading 1
Eph 4:1-6
Brothers and sisters: I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace; one Body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
God equips everyone differently for ministry, but he wants everyone to participate. But that participation is as a group, as Paul says, “One Body, one spirit,” which we quote often in the mass, with the Eucharistic Prayer III. For that to happen, we have to bear with one another with patience and humility.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
R. (see 6) Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
This is a song to be sung when carrying the Ark into the Temple. The people who want to join God inside must declare their intentions to be sinless. Of course, no one is really sinless.
Symbolically, this can be seen as Jesus allowing us, through the sacrament of Reconciliation, to join Him in Heaven.
Alleluia
See Mt 11:25
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This reminded me of Amelia looking up at an icon of Mary we saw on Olvera Street when we visited on a class trip last year—
She can’t talk, but I could tell Amelia knew who this was.
Gospel
Lk 12:54-59
Jesus said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain–and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot–and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
"Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."
You1 check the weather report every day. But do we consult God, in prayer and scripture? In person, in the Eucharist? We should.
But we also have to figure things out for ourselves sometimes. With knowledge and discernment, we ought to be able to settle many disputes. Rather than suing each other, Jesus wants us to find way to resolve our differences.
I say “you,” because I live in Los Angeles and rarely check the weather.