Know how to put it right

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today contain appeals from people to God to put it right. The author of the Book of Sirach, who Friar Jude Winkler comments, is writing about the value of the wisdom and tradition of the Jewish people who are living under the control of Hellenistic empires. The author petitions God to fulfill His promises to Israel of the restoration of Jerusalem and the glorification of God through worship at the Temple on Mount Zion. The manifestation of the conquering Messiah to show the nations of the world the glory of God is a dream which seems to keep the disciples of Jesus from hearing His message about His Passion and death as he presents it to them for the third time in the Gospel of Mark. We have experienced the difficulty of comprehension of news which is in conflict with our perception of the world. Psychologists refer to cognitive dissonance as the phenomena where our perception or expectation of a situation is met by evidence that we are incorrect. So often, as in the example of hearing bad news about our health, or the welfare of a loved one, we show almost no comprehension of the disturbing information. James and John, after hearing of Jesus forthcoming humiliation, rejection and death continue to pursue the vision of the conquering Messiah and propose that they take leadership roles in the restored Davidic kingdom. The psalmist prays today for the restoration of the people of God to a deep relationship with God through the action of the great compassion God has for His people. Jesus defines by example how this compassion for and leadership of the people of God will occur. Those who would celebrate and live the Kingdom of God do so in self sacrificing service to others. The choice of serving Life in others continues to cause dissonance in our beings so oriented to self satisfaction. Friar Jude points to our need to continue to accept the Cup and Baptism of Jesus as our daily circumstances offer them to us.