Texts taken from the Missalette “On Your Word” September-October 2024

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
2nd week, Psalter

FIRST READING

From the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer 31:7-9)
Thus says the Lord: “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and exult for the first of the nations; proclaim your praise and say: ‘The Lord has saved his people, the remnant of Israel.’ Behold, I am going to bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth; among them are the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor: a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back; I will let them walk by brooks of water, on a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” – The Word of God.

Commentary on the first reading

Exile and deportation to a foreign land are always viewed, in biblical language, as a punishment. The term, however, is positive if punishment truly serves to correct, is given to us by someone who loves us (a parent toward their children), and is intended for our genuine good. And God truly is a parent, as today’s reading from the prophet Jeremiah affirms: “I am a father to Israel.” We can never doubt the goodness of the Father in heaven: out of love he created heaven and earth, out of love he created us human beings, and out of love he “conceived” the sublime idea of the Incarnation of the Word to draw us out of the darkness of sin and separation from him. For this reason, even when we may feel that heaven is closed and it seems that God has abandoned us, we must make it resound in our hearts and affirm with all the faith possible and imaginable that our God is called Father and therefore cares for us, his needy children. Faced with the Father’s goodness, Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus said, “There is nothing to do but remain silent and weep with gratitude and love.” 

SECOND READING

From the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 5:1-6)
Every high priest is chosen from among human beings and appointed to act on behalf of human beings in matters pertaining to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is beset with weakness. Because of this, he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And no one takes this honor upon himself, but only one who is called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him: “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another passage: “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” – The Word of God.

Commentary on the second reading

What does it mean to be priests in the Church? It means offering the sacrificed body of the Son to the Father, presenting him to the Father to implore deliverance from evil, making the sublime gift of salvation and Christ’s act of reparation present in the world. By entering in this way into the Trinitarian mystery, God then asks us to live his own life by nourishing ourselves on his most holy body. Those who are called to serve at the altar identify themselves fully with their mission, “disappear” into their role, make Christ present to the world, and then continue their Mass throughout the day by performing acts of charity toward the people entrusted to them. Jesus the high priest becomes present in our priests, from the Pope to the last country parish priest, because this is what he has willed. Although he was God, he became man and understands our weaknesses better than anyone else, and in the Mass everything finds its fulfillment, since he himself presents us to the Father, washed in his precious blood. How could we not trust him, how could we not run into his arms, casting away from ourselves every worry and every other thought? 

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark (Mk 10:46-52)
At that time, as Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, a blind man, was sitting by the roadside begging. Hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabbouni, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him along the way. – The Gospel of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

Jericho was a historic city for Israel. All the Israelites remembered well the event that took place centuries before the Lord’s coming: during the conquest of the Holy Land, after forty years in the desert, Joshua occupied the city considered impregnable with the simple sound of a trumpet. Thus God’s power was manifested by making fortified walls collapse in a single instant; here Jesus, again in Jericho, opens the eyes of a blind man. Jericho is the city of the Savior’s great interventions, so that first people might live in the Promised Land (Joshua) and then open their eyes to divine reality (Bartimaeus). Blindness is a symbol of a lack of faith and of inner darkness; once the wall had collapsed and Bartimaeus had suddenly seen Christ’s face, he did not want to let him go: “He followed him along the way,” it is written. The blind man is not content merely to have regained his sight, but wants to use it well; he wants always to see the face of his Savior and always remain with him, never abandoning him again. If only this were true for us as well! To see Jesus through the inner vision of the heart, in the Eucharist, and then go wherever he goes, never leaving him again!