The prince of Tyre, according to Tuesday's reading, went so far as to claim he was a god seated on the throne of the gods. His sin: mistaking his commercial success for immortality. The passage from Ezekiel 28, 1-10, proclaimed today, is a warning to all who amass treasures of "gold and silver" and end up feeling invulnerable.
The schedule for this August 18 is not limited to the reading. The day is structured around a chain of prayers: at 3:00 pm the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, at 7:30 pm the Rosary before Holy Mass at 8:00 pm, and at 10:00 pm the Holy Rosary. A devotional timetable that turns time itself into liturgy.
The warning against the power of money
The text rebukes the prince of Tyre, a great trading power of the ancient world, for using his skill in commerce as a tool to grow rich "and fill himself with presumption." The reading invites an uncomfortable comparison with today's cult of success: the more zeros in the account, the greater the temptation to believe oneself above human and divine laws. The Chaplet prayer, recited at the hour when Jesus gave up his life, is the liturgical antidote to that pride.
A liturgy lived online
Alongside the homily by Father Santiago Martín, of the Franciscans of Mary, the day includes a selection of the Apophthegmata of the Desert Fathers, compiled by the Jesuit Heribert Rosweyde in the 17th century. Those monks who fled the world to encounter God are now read on digital platforms at the click of a button. The harmony between the desert and the screen remains a paradox: the original solitude has become shared prayer, run like a train timetable.
The question hangs in the air: if Monday was the pride of commerce, what will happen when the Gospel of the coming days demands changing not the calendar, but the economic model? But that is another homily.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication.
Read the full discussion (19 replies).
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