7th Week of Holy Cross Readings Saturday

1 Corinthians 14:1-5,13-14,20,26
Pursue love, but strive eagerly for the spiritual gifts, above all that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to human beings but to God, for no one listens; he utters mysteries in spirit. On the other hand, one who prophesies does speak to human beings, for their building up, encouragement, and solace. Whoever speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but whoever prophesies builds up the church. Now I should like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. One who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be built up. Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray to be able to interpret. (For) if I pray in a tongue, my spirit is at prayer but my mind is unproductive. Brothers, stop being childish in your thinking. In respect to evil be like infants, but in your thinking be mature. So what is to be done, brothers? When you assemble, one has a psalm, another an instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Everything should be done for building up.

Matthew 21:33-46
“Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes’? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit. ( The one who falls on this stone will be dashed to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.)” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

Prayer of the Faithful, vol. III
EVENING PRAYER – OPENING PRAYER
Lord, Jesus,
in the richness of your grace and mercy,
grant that we may praise your rising from the tomb
with joyful hearts and clear consciences,
glorify your victory with holy words,
and proclaim your triumph with clear voices.
And we shall join with the heavenly hosts in
exalting your greatness and mercy,
with your Father and Holy Spirit, now and forever.
Amen.

Saint of the Day: St. Abraham Cyrrhus, born in Harran, Syria and died in 422 A.D. while consulting the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople. The mission of St. Abraham of Cyrrhus can be compared to that of St. Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century. Just as St. Augustine, a Roman monk (not to be confused with St. Augustine of Hippo of the 4th and 5th century) was sent by Pope St. Gregory the Great to organize the Church in England and hopefully convert the pagan spouses of some Christians. St. Abraham left the side of St. Maron to address certain needs of the Christians of Lebanon, who were still a minority among the pagans there.

Meditation:
St. John Paul II on Human Dignity
In 1995, His Holiness John Paul II, published his encyclical letter On The Value And Inviolability Of Human Life – Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life). He desired to remind the faithful that to treat another human being without their proper dignity does even more injury to the one who is acting in a less than humane fashion; because in the process of hurting or mistreating another person, one actually devalues their own human nature:
“Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of human beings; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where human beings are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury.” – St. John Paul II
St. John Paul turned to the thought of St. Irenaeus of Lyon (130AD-202AD), who expressed the uniqueness of humanity in his words, “Gloria Dei est vivens homo.” (Man, living man, is the glory of God.) The Holy Father elaborated on these words, writing: “The life which God gives man is quite different from the life of all other living creatures, in as much as man, although formed from the dust of the earth, is a manifestation of God in the world, a sign of his presence, a trace of his glory… Man has been given a sublime dignity, based on the intimate bond which unites him to his Creator: in man there shines forth a reflection of God himself.” (St. John Paul)

Conclusion

Modern Catholic Social Teaching began with the defense of the laborer in Rerum
Novarum (1891) of Pope Leo XIII, it has continued in the Magisterial teachings of every Pontiff since, and especially is witnessed to in the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and by Conferences of Bishops all over the world. At the very heart of the Church’s teaching is the affirmation of the dignity of the human person, from conception until death.
“Even politics, important as it is, is a poor tool for changing human hearts. Nations change when people change. And people change through the witness of other people –people like each of you… You make the future. You build it stone by stone with the choices you make. So choose life. Defend its dignity and witness its meaning and hope to others. And if you do, you’ll discover in your own life what it means to be fully human.” – (Address given by, The Most Rev. Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia, Penn for Life, University of Pennsylvania)
Ultimately, human hearts will not be swayed by political agendas, laws, or rhetoric, but by the commitment and actions of Christians – living fully the commandment of Our Lord to “love one another”.
– Rev. David A. Fisher