Bringing Nations Together

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today remind us of the long standing desire to bring nations together.

Bringing people together

The Prophet Ezekiel understands that it is the will of God to restore Israel even after the Temple has been destroyed.

* [37:15–22] The symbolic action of joining two sticks into one continues Ezekiel’s description of God’s future saving action: the unification of Judah and Israel under an ideal ruler.

In the Gospel from John, Caiaphas, the high priest, exercises a gift of prophecy that identifies Jesus as one who will die to protect the nation.

* [11:49] That year: emphasizes the conjunction of the office and the year. Actually, Caiaphas was high priest A.D. 18–36. The Jews attributed a gift of prophecy, sometimes unconscious, to the high priest.

Jeanne Schuler in her reflection for this day in 2007 identified the challenge, still before us today, to reunite refugees with a home.

In our time, violence drives millions into exile.Refugee camps are crowded and unsafe.Like our ancestors, the scattered dream of returning.
At home, most of us barely notice. War is not my problem. Refugees are forgotten in our busy lives.Now and then, we check in. The sights disturb us. Flip the channel.

Don Schwager quotes Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.,who reminds us that the crucifixion is always lived.

"The crucifixion is something that must continue throughout our life, not for forty days only, although Moses, Elijah, and Christ fasted forty days. We are meant to learn from them not to cling to this present world or imitate what it says, but to nail our unregenerate selves to the cross." (excerpt from Sermon 205,1)

Friar Jude Winkler expands the prophecy of Ezekiel highlighting the important role of the Temple for a people who will be not longer be rebellious living under a Davidic King. The counting of time in Jewish practice at the time of Jesus involved a partial day or year being counted as a whole period, Friar Jude explains.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, summarizes his teaching of the past week noting that contemplation is really the art of full relationship. It is learning how to relate to reality in an immediately appreciative and non-manipulative way.

The spiritual journey is a constant interplay between moments of awe followed by surrender to that moment. We must first allow ourselves to be captured by the goodness, truth, or beauty of something beyond and outside ourselves. Then we universalize from that moment to the goodness, truth, and beauty of the rest of reality, until our realization eventually ricochets back to include ourselves. This is the great inner dialogue we call prayer.

Our ongoing struggle to bring nations together must move to action from a point of view in appreciation and non manipulation.

References


(n.d.). Ezekiel 37. Retrieved March 24, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/ezekiel/ezekiel37.htm

(n.d.). John, chapter 11 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved March 24, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/11

(n.d.). Creighton University Online Ministries. Retrieved March 24, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 24, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved March 24, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/