St. Josaphat, bishop & martyr

*** 1st Reading ***

Philemon 7-20*

 I had great satisfaction and comfort

On hearing of your charity, because the hearts of the saints have been cheered by you, brother.  Because of this, although in Christ I have the freedom to command what you should do, yet I pre­fer to request you in love.

The one talk­ing is Paul, the old man, now prisoner for Christ. And my request is on behalf of Onesimus, whose father I have become while I was in prison.  This Onesimus has not been helpful to you, but now he will be helpful both to you and to me.

In re­turning him to you, I am sending you my own heart. I would have liked to keep him at my side, to serve me on your behalf while I am in prison for the Gospel, but I did not want to do anything without your agreement, nor impose a good deed upon you without your free consent.

 Perhaps Onesimus has been parted from you for a while so that you may have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but better than a slave. For he is a very dear brother to me, and he will be even dearer to you. And so, because of our friendship, receive him as if he were I myself. 

And if he  has caused any harm, or owes you  anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, write this and sign it with my own hand: I will pay it… without further mention of your debt to me, which is you yourself. So, my brother, please do me this favor for the Lord’s sake. Give me this comfort in Christ.

 

Ps 146:7, 8-9a, 9bc-10

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jocob.

 

**** Gospel ****

Luke 17:20-25

The Pharisees asked Jesus when the king­­­­dom of God was to come. He answered, “The kingdom of God is not like something you can observe and say of it: ‘Look, here it is! There it is!’ See, the kingdom of God is among you.”

 And Jesus said to his disciples, “The time is at hand when you will long to see one of the glorious days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Then people will tell you: ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go, do not follow them. As lightning flashes from one end of the sky to the other, so will it be with the Son of Man. But first he must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation.

 

Gospel Reflection

Jesus’ teaching has now turned to the coming of the kingdom of God. the Pharisees ask “when”the kingdom will come (17:20). Jesus explains to his disciples “how” it will come (17:22-35).

And finally Jesus touches on “where” it will come. Jesus’teaching isn’t full and detailed here. How we wish he would have spelled it all out for us from A to Z. But he didn’t.

The tendency is that we are strongly tempted to look at Jesus’ words and try to wedge them into an overall eschatological chronology. But that wasn’t what Jesus expected his disciples to do.

He wanted to teach them about the NATURE of his coming here, not the TIMING. So let’s hang loose on our chronologies and concentrate on the lessons ABOUT the kingdom that our Master wants to teach us.