Sunday – Feast of Pentecost!
Commentary from Navarre Commentary series on Luke 8 where they laughed when Jesus said the dead girl was just sleeping…

“They laughed at him”: when someone has no faith in God’s omnipotence, he tries to measure everything by his own limited understanding and easily fails to grasp supernatural realities: instead of reacting humbly, he tries to make fun of them. St Paul is referring to someone in this position when he says “The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14).

“There are some who pass through life as through a tunnel, without every understanding the splendour, the security and the warmth of the sun of faith” (J. Escrivá)

Prayer:  O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of good things and Giver of life: Come and dwell in us, and cleanse us of all impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

 

Monday
Luke 9:1  Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. 2 He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 And He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.

4 “Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”

6 So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

Commentary: This is the first mission the Apostles were sent on. Jesus wants them to gain experience which will stand to them in the mission they will have after he ascends into heaven. He charges them to do what he himself did — preach the Kingdom of God and heal the sick.

Prayer:  We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.
*Sub Tuum Praesidium

Tuesday
Luke 9:

7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, 8 and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again. 9 Herod said, “John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?” So he sought to see Him.

Commentary: Except for the Sadducees, all Jews believed in the resurrection of the dead, as revealed by God in Sacred Scripture (cf. Ezek 37:10; Dan 12:2 and 2 Mac 7:9). It was also commonly believed by Jews at the time that Elijah or some other prophet had to appear again (cf. Deut 19:15). This may have been why Herod began to think that perhaps John had come back to life (Mt 14:1-2 and Mk 6:14-16), particularly since Jesus worked miracles and people thought this power was the prerogative of those who had risen from the dead. And yet he was aware that Christ was working miracles even before John died (cf. Jn 2:23); therefore, at first, he was disconcerted. Later, as the fame of Christ’s miracles spread, to have some sort of adequate explanation he decided, as the other Gospels tell us, that John must indeed have risen.

Prayer:  Holy angel of the Lord by guardian, pray to God for me.

Wednesday
Luke 9:

10 And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 11 But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. 12 When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.”

13 But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” 14 For there were about five thousand men.

Then He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.” 15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.

16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. 17 So they all ate and were [a]filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.

18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

19 So they answered and said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.”

20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

Prayer:  Our Father, Who art in  Heaven, hallowed by Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Thursday
Commentary on Peter’s Confession of Faith in Luke 9:  “Christ” means “anointed” and is a name indicating honour and office. In the Old Law priests were anointed (Ex 29:7 and 40:13), as were kings (1 Sam 9:16), because God laid down that they should receive anointing in view of their position; there was also a custom to anoint prophets (1 Sam 16:13) because they were interpreters and intermediaries of God. “When Jesus Christ our Saviour came into the world, he assumed the position and obligations of the three offices of priest, king and prophet and was therefore called Christ” (Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, 3, 7).

Prayer:  O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. O Lord, blot out our sins. O Master, pardon our iniquities. O Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Thy name’s sake.

Friday
Luke 9:

21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross [b]daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.”

Prayer:  Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3X)

Saturday
Commentary  on Luke 9: 21…  Jesus prophesied his Passion and Death in order to help his disciples believe in him. It also showed that he was freely accepting these sufferings he would undergo. “Christ did not seek to be glorified: he chose to come without glory in order to undergo suffering; and you, who have been born without glory, do you wish to be glorified? The route you must take is the one Christ took. This means recognizing him and it means imitating him both in his ignominy and in his good repute; thus you will be glorified in the Cross, which was how he himself was glorified. That was what Paul did, and therefore he gloried in saying, ‘Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Gal 6:14)” (St Ambrose, Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, in loc.).

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.  Amen.