3 June 2024 - Monday of week 9 in Ordinary Time

Saints Charles Lwanga and his Companions, Martyrs 

Liturgical Colour: Red. Year: B(II)

Readings at Mass

Readings for the feria (Monday)

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First reading

2 Peter 1:2-7

You will be able to share the divine nature if you add goodness to your faith

May you have more and more grace and peace as you come to know our Lord more and more.

    By his divine power, he has given us all the things that we need for life and for true devotion, bringing us to know God himself, who has called us by his own glory and goodness. In making these gifts, he has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come: through them you will be able to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice. But to attain this, you will have to do your utmost yourselves, adding goodness to the faith that you have, understanding to your goodness, self-control to your understanding, patience to your self-control, true devotion to your patience, kindness towards your fellow men to your devotion, and, to this kindness, love.

Commentary:

2 Peter 1:2-7 offers a roadmap for spiritual growth. Peter extends his wishes for grace and peace to fellow believers, highlighting the transformative power of divine promises. Believers are urged to cultivate virtues reflecting Christ's character. This passage serves as a concise call to grow in godliness.

1. Grace and Peace Multiplied: Peter begins by wishing for his readers an abundance of grace and peace through knowledge of God and Jesus (1:2).

2. Divine Power for Life and Godliness: Through God's divine power, believers are granted everything they need for life and godliness, through knowledge of Him who called them (1:3).

3. Partakers of Divine Nature: Through God's promises, believers become partakers of the divine nature, escaping corruption and becoming like God (1:4).

4. Building Christian Virtues: Peter encourages believers to supplement their faith with virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love (1:5-7).

This passage emphasizes the transformative power of God's grace, the call to participate in His divine nature, and the importance of cultivating Christian virtues in the lives of believers.

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Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 90(91):1-2,14-16

My God, in you I trust.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

    and abides in the shade of the Almighty

says to the Lord: ‘My refuge,

    my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!’

My God, in you I trust.

His love he set on me, so I will rescue him;

    protect him for he knows my name.

When he calls I shall answer: ‘I am with you.’

My God, in you I trust.

I will save him in distress and give him glory.

    With length of life I will content him;

    I shall let him see my saving power.

My God, in you I trust.

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Gospel Acclamation

cf.Col3:16a,17

Alleluia, alleluia!

Let the message of Christ, in all its richness,

find a home with you;

through him give thanks to God the Father.

Alleluia!

Or:

cf.Rv1:5

Alleluia, alleluia!

You, O Christ, are the faithful witness,

the First-born from the dead;

you have loved us and have washed away our sins with your blood.

Alleluia!

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Gospel

Mark 12:1-12

They seized the beloved son, killed him and threw him out of the vineyard

Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes and the elders in parables: ‘A man planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug out a trough for the winepress and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce from the vineyard. But they seized the man, thrashed him and sent him away empty-handed. Next he sent another servant to them; him they beat about the head and treated shamefully. And he sent another and him they killed; then a number of others, and they thrashed some and killed the rest. He had still someone left: his beloved son. He sent him to them last of all. “They will respect my son” he said. But those tenants said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” So they seized him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. Now what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and make an end of the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this text of scripture:

It was the stone rejected by the builders

that became the keystone.

This was the Lord’s doing

and it is wonderful to see?

And they would have liked to arrest him, because they realised that the parable was aimed at them, but they were afraid of the crowds. So they left him alone and went away.

Commentary:

1. Parable of the Vineyard: Jesus tells a parable about a man who planted a vineyard, leased it to tenants, and sent servants to collect fruit, only for them to mistreat and kill the servants (12:1-5).

2. Sending His Son: The landowner sends his son, thinking they will respect him, but the tenants conspire to kill him, believing they will inherit the vineyard (12:6-8).

3. Rejection and Judgment: Jesus asks what the owner will do to those tenants, and the crowd responds that he will destroy them and give the vineyard to others. Jesus quotes Psalm 118, affirming that He is the rejected cornerstone (12:9-11).

4. The Religious Leaders' Reaction: The religious leaders realize Jesus is speaking against them and want to arrest Him, but they fear the crowd (12:12).

This passage underscores Jesus' authority, the rejection He faces, and the impending judgment upon those who reject Him.

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Saint Basil (c.330-379)
monk and Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, Doctor of the Church The Greater Monastic Rules, § 2

"He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all"

God had created man in his own image and likeness (Gn 1,26) and judged him worthy of knowing him himself; he set him above all the animals by the gift of intellect, gave him a place in the enjoyment of the incomparable joys of Paradise and, finally, made him lord over everything to be found on earth. Nevertheless, when he saw him falling into sin, led astray by the serpent, and through sin into death and the sufferings that precede it, he did not reject him. To the contrary, he gave him first of all the help of his Law, set angels apart to keep and watch over him, sent prophets to rebuke his wickedness and teach him virtue...

When, in spite of these and yet many other graces, people persisted in their disobedience, he did not turn away from them. When we had offended against our benefactor by our indifference before these signs of his care, we were not abandoned by the Lord's goodness nor cut off from his love but were drawn out of death and restored to life by our Lord Jesus Christ. And the way in which we have been saved is worthy of even greater admiration: “Though he was God he did not regard his equality with God something to be jealously guarded, but he humbled himself even to taking the condition of a slave” (cf. Phil 2,6-7). “He bore our infirmities, he endured our sufferings, he was stricken for our sakes” that he might save us by his wounds (Is 53,4-5). He “ransomed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us” (Gal 3,13). He suffered the most degrading of deaths to lead us to the life of glory.

Nor was it enough for him to restore life to the dead; he reclothed them with divine honor and prepared a happiness for them in the eternal repose that surpasses all human imagination. “How shall we make a return to the Lord” for all he has given us? (Ps 116[115],12). He is so good that he asks for nothing in return for his blessings: he is content to be loved.

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