XXIIIth Sunday of Ordinary Time
Massimo Palombella
In today’s Gospel (Lk 14:25-33) Jesus defines a profound criterion for the true quality of our life.
The true relationship with the Lord, to really follow the Lord, requires the slow maturation of the capacity to find oneself “beyond”. “Beyond” our relationship with our parents, our brothers and sisters, our wife, our husband, our children, “beyond” our very notion of “life”.
To find oneself “beyond” means to make that necessary “separation” that enables us to be free, to distinguish the occasional affection from the true good. Only by moving ‘beyond’ can we see reality and live in reality. Only by staying in the “beyond” do we become capable – not without effort and suffering – of making choices for truth and the true good.
It is an arduous and delicate journey that gradually enables us to distinguish, to separate emotional blackmail from authentic loving, the need to be loved and recognised from the truth of our own selves. A journey that enables us to grasp the truth about our parents, our wife, our husband, our children, ourselves, to lead us to true unity, to the true integration of everything, to know how to love in reality, with the good and the bad, with the qualities and limitations of everyone, to really know how to forgive, starting with ourselves.
The Offertory Antiphon of today’s celebration is taken from Chapter 9 of the Book of Daniel (Dan 9:4, 17. 19) with the following text:
“Oravi Deum meum ego Daniel, dicens:
exaudi, Domine, preces servi tui:
illumina faciem tuam super sanctuarium tuum:
et propitius intende populum istum,
super quem invocatum est nomen tuum, Deus.”
(I prayed to my God, I, Daniel, and I said:
Hearken, O Lord, unto the prayers of your servant,
and cause your face to shine upon your sanctuary;
look with forgiveness upon this nation over whom
your name has been invoked, O God).
The attached music, in Gregorian Chant, is taken from the Graduale Triplex published in Solesmes in 1979.
The performance is by the Schola Antiqua conducted by Juan Carlos Asensio Palacios. The musical track can be found on the CD “Terribilis Est. Liturgia de la Dedicación de la Iglesia y Rito Visigótico de Consagración del Altar” published in 2004 by Pneuma.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
