Rich and revealing

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offer a journey into the breadth and depth of Christian Tradition to inspire our contemplation of God transcendent and immanent.

Many connections

The reading from the Prophet Zephaniah declares the restoration of Jerusalem.

 JERUSALEM RESTORED 1

In the alternate reading from Romans, Paul outlines his instructions for mutual love.

Mutual Love 2 

Isaiah 12:1–6 expresses Israel’s thanksgiving to the Lord.

* [12:1–6] Israel’s thanksgiving to the Lord, expressed in language like that of the Psalms. 3 

The Feast of the Visitation of Mary is celebrated today with the Gospel from Luke where Mary Visits Elizabeth and praises God with the Canticle of Mary.

* [1:46–55] Although Mary is praised for being the mother of the Lord and because of her belief, she reacts as the servant in a psalm of praise, the Magnificat. Because there is no specific connection of the canticle to the context of Mary’s pregnancy and her visit to Elizabeth, the Magnificat (with the possible exception of v. 48) may have been a Jewish Christian hymn that Luke found appropriate at this point in his story. Even if not composed by Luke, it fits in well with themes found elsewhere in Luke: joy and exultation in the Lord; the lowly being singled out for God’s favor; the reversal of human fortunes; the fulfillment of Old Testament promises. The loose connection between the hymn and the context is further seen in the fact that a few Old Latin manuscripts identify the speaker of the hymn as Elizabeth, even though the overwhelming textual evidence makes Mary the speaker. 4 

Maureen McCann Waldron suggests that many questions remained unanswered in the Mary and Elizabeth’s lives and yet they had such delight and trust in God! … There are times she feels like she is wrestling for control of her life away from God, with proclamations like, "I can handle this God. I'll call you if I need you."

Humility is not a valued trait in our culture, but it means simply being nothing more than who I really am. It helps me to move the focus of my life from me to someone else. Today's gospel invites us to focus on God as the center of our lives, and to live in the joy that comes with surrendering that control. 5 

Don Schwager quotes “John prophecies from the womb,” by Maximus of Turin (died between 408-423 AD).

 "Not yet born, already John prophesies and, while still in the enclosure of his mother's womb, confesses the coming of Christ with movements of joy - since he could not do so with his voice. As Elizabeth says to holy Mary, 'As soon as you greeted me, the child in my womb exulted for joy.' John exults, then, before he is born. Before his eyes can see what the world looks like, he can recognize the Lord of the world with his spirit. In this regard, I think that the prophetic phrase is appropriate: 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you' (Jeremiah 1:5). Thus we ought not to marvel that after Herod put him in prison, he continued to announce Christ to his disciples from his confinement, when even confined in the womb he preached the same Lord by his movements." (excerpt from SERMON 5.4) 6

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 1:39-56 quotes “In the mystery of the Annunciation and the Visitation,” written by St. Teresa of Calcutta, “Mary is the very model of the life we should lead. First of all, she welcomed Jesus in her existence; then, she shared what she had received.”

 How can we follow Mary’s example and share Christ with the people around us? The first step is to welcome him into our lives every day in prayer and, in a special way, in the Eucharist. According to Mother Teresa, “Every time we receive Holy Communion, Jesus the Word becomes flesh in our life.” In other words, we become tabernacles of Christ, bearing him in our hearts just as Mary bore him in her womb.
And that’s how we share him. The grace of Christ alive in us can transform every act of love, service, mercy, or generosity into an opportunity for people to encounter Jesus himself. It’s not that we are trying extra hard to act like Jesus; as it happened with Mary, the changes that Jesus makes in our lives can’t help but touch the people around us. 7

John W Miller connects the minor prophet Zephaniah to the theme of applying of Isaiah’s words to Israel’s future. These more or less minor prophetic voices give testimony to the seriousness with which certain circles in Jerusalem were attending to the words of the eighth century prophets a century later (and to the words of Isaiah in particular).

 Some (notably Habakkuk) were frankly perplexed at the way events were unfolding. They were sure that God was still working things out, but that was about all. Others (notably Zephaniah) foresee yet additional catastrophes of cosmic proportions coming upon Judah, before a brighter future will dawn for the inhabitants of Judah‑Jerusalem. The thoughts of still others (notably Nahum and Obadiah) are much more hopeful. They believed that a (renewed) Davidic state would soon arise, and when it did, God’s sovereignty and peace would be manifest in history as never before. 8

Friar Jude Winkler discusses Zephaniah and Jerusalem where the Lord would live in her midst. Parenesis is a word to describe last minute instruction of Paul to the Romans. An area near Jerusalem (Abou-Goch Kiryat- Jearim) connects the Ark of the Covenant, David and Mary as the New Ark of the Covenant. Friar Jude relates the connection of the Magnificat and the song of Hanna.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, observes that, unfortunately, we’re not very well acquainted with God-within. We’ve mastered the theology of God’s transcendence but have failed to embrace God’s immanence. There’s a part of us that doubts our deep connection to this divine love. Contemplative spirituality helps us overcome this disconnect.

The word contemplative derives from a root that means to set aside a place of worship or to reserve a cleared space in front of an altar. In Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, a contemplative stance is obvious. The Israelites cleared space for worship with the Ark of the Covenant and finally with their temple. Jesus honored the temple worship of his Jewish tradition but also tried to enlighten his people to realize that sacred buildings, rituals, and rules are meant to bring us into the awareness of the divine presence in us and in all of those around us.
Jesus drew our attention to the doctrine of the divine indwelling in a radical declaration that he himself was the temple (John 2:19). . . . Paul elaborates on Jesus’ teaching of the doctrine of divine indwelling by declaring that not just Jesus’ but our body too is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). How marvelous! The Creator of the universe resides within our being. 9 

From restoration of Israel, through Incarnation of the Word as flesh to reconnecting to God within, the texts today reveal many paths in the Christian tradition.

References

1	(n.d.). Zephaniah, chapter 3 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 31, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/zephaniah/3
2	(n.d.). Romans, chapter 12 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 31, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/romans/12
3	(n.d.). Isaiah, chapter 12 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 31, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/isaiah12:38
4	(n.d.). Luke, chapter 1 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 31, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/1
5	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved May 31, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved May 31, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
7	(n.d.). The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Feast) - Mass Readings and .... Retrieved May 31, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/05/31/
8	(n.d.). Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakk | My Jewish Learning. Retrieved May 31, 2019, from https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/second-wave-of-prophecy-zephaniah-nahum-habakk/
9	(n.d.). Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved May 31, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/