October 17 - Sunday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time, Year B

Published: Oct. 16, 2021, 4 a.m.

(Is.53:10-11;\xa0\xa0 Ps.33:4-5,18-20,22;\xa0\xa0 Heb.4:14-16;\xa0\xa0 Mk.10:35-45)\xa0 \u201cWe have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.\u201d And this is He who is both priest and victim, for \u201cHe gives His life as an offering for sin\u201d \u2013 He Himself is our sacrifice.\xa0 Here is one who is able \u201cto sympathize with our weaknesses\u2026 one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin.\u201d\xa0 Here is He who has suffered the affliction of our fallen state but to raise us up with Himself from the mire, from the lowly condition we have come to know as our own.\xa0 Here is He who \u201cgive[s] His life as a ransom for many.\u201d But why? \xa0Why is the Lord \u201cpleased to crush Him in His infirmity\u201d?\xa0 Why is our high priest so humbled in the sight of all?\xa0 Why is there such suffering in the world\u2026?\xa0 Why need you ask?\xa0 Why need you question the will of God?\xa0 Do you not believe that \u201cupright is the word of the Lord, and all His works are trustworthy\u201d?\xa0 Do you not realize that the Lord looks with kindness upon all \u201cthose who fear Him\u2026 to deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine\u201d?\xa0 Do you trust your own eyes more than the vision of God? But if you must know, the Lord God tells you, \u201cThrough His suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt He shall bear.\u201d\xa0 If you must inquire, hear that it is for your sin there is suffering in the world and the Lord and His followers must carry the cross.\xa0 You need look no further than the blood on your hands\u2026\xa0 But seeing this, do not fear \u2013 rejoice.\xa0 Rejoice, for now we may \u201cconfidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.\u201d\xa0 Now the Savior does \u201clord it over\u201d us by His sacrifice.\xa0 Now this \u201cslave of all\u201d has \u201cauthority over [us]\u201d by the suffering He has undergone.\xa0 And now we must join Him on this cross. \u201cThe cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized\u201d \u2013 His words to James and John are spoken to us all.\xa0 Glorious is the sacrifice to which we are called.\xa0 For He who is both priest and victim would now lift us with Himself through the veil of pain to the holy heavens, that knowing the fruit of \u201cHis affliction,\u201d with Him all might \u201csee the light in fullness of days.\u201d \u201cOur soul waits for the Lord\u201d; it suffers with Him.\xa0 And it is not disappointed by the sacrifice it shares. Written, read &\xa0chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "The Sunset Bleeds Me Clean" (2nd half) from Bearing the Birth Pangs, tenth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, He who is slave of all, He who has shed His blood to save our souls \u2013 \xa0 with Him let us be one. YHWH, your Son has given His life as a ransom for sin, that we might approach the throne of grace and find mercy, and find the blessing of your kindness upon our souls.\xa0 He has borne our guilt, and so from it we are freed.\xa0 But we must bear the Cross with Him if we are to find our way to Heaven. This is the greatest grace, is it not, O LORD \u2013\xa0 that we are called to share in the suffering of your Son, to drink of His cup and be baptized with His baptism?\xa0 We are called to serve as He has served, to give our lives with Him, and so to come to the place He has come, to your right hand in the kingdom.\xa0 O if we could only be as slaves of all! By His death He has ransomed many.\xa0 Sharing in our weakness, suffering for our sakes \u2013 bearing His affliction, He shall see the light in fullness of days.\xa0 And we poor souls who trust in Him find our hope fulfilled, dear LORD, in that same light of your face.