Ora et Labora

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite contemplation of contradiction and complementary notions of life and death, law and Spirit and prayer and work.

Prayer at work

The passage from the Book of Revelation presents the sweet and sour reactions we have to receiving the Word of God.

* [10:9–10] The small scroll was sweet because it predicted the final victory of God’s people; it was sour because it also announced their sufferings. Cf. Ez 3:1–3.

In the Gospel from Luke, Jesus restricts the unnecessary commercialism that has interfered with prayer at the Temple.

* [19:45–46] Immediately upon entering the holy city, Jesus in a display of his authority enters the temple (see Mal 3:1–3) and lays claim to it after cleansing it that it might become a proper place for his teaching ministry in Jerusalem (Lk 19:47; 20:1; 21:37; 22:53). See Mt 21:12–17; Mk 11:15–19; Jn 2:13–17 and the notes there.

Angela Maynard cites Ignatius of Loyola as she asks us to consider the state of our heart and our home with the question: What does a ‘den of thieves’ look like?

What can be done to keep a ‘den of thieves’ away?  What can be done to protect our house of prayer? Would my actions and words be pleasing to Jesus, or would he become angry?
Consider the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola:
"Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you."

The memorial for St. Columban, one of the Irish monks, connects to the Benedictine monastic rule that includes, Ora et Labora, prayer and work.

Don Schwager quotes “The home of sanctity,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"God does not want his temple to be a trader's lodge but the home of sanctity. He does not preserve the practice of the priestly ministry by the dishonest duty of religion but by voluntary obedience. Consider what the Lord’s actions impose on you as an example of living... He taught in general that worldly transactions must be absent from the temple, but he drove out the money changers in particular. Who are the money changers, if not those who seek profit from the Lord's money and cannot distinguish between good and evil? Holy Scripture is the Lord's money." (excerpt from EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 9.17–18)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Psalm 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131 observes that the psalmist has a lot of different words for the Law: decrees, promises, precepts, word. It’s not just a matter of commandments that we have to follow. It’s a way of life that brings fulfillment and peace.

This makes sense if we consider the books known as “the Law” in the Jewish Scriptures. These first five books of the Bible include not just rules, but also history, drama, spiritual lessons, and a host of colorful characters. Taken together, these books tell the story of God’s redemptive work among his chosen people. This story, this sweep of salvation history, is what the psalmist is so enthusiastic about!

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the sweet and sour aspects of Christian ministry. We feel good to proclaim the sweetness of the Word and the consequence of addressing judgement might be sour. The authority of Jesus exercised over the Temple cult brought a needed balance to necessary purchases and commercialization of the sacred space.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, asserts that resurrection is about all of us, including all of creation—not just Jesus—coming forth as individuals and then going back to God, into the Ground of All Being. That cyclical wholeness should make us unafraid of death and thus able to fully appreciate life.

The Risen Christ represents the final and full state of every True Self: God-in-you who is able to see and honor God-everywhere-beyond-you too! In other words, Christ is more than anything else a “holon”—a scientific term for something that is simultaneously a whole by itself and yet a part of a larger whole, too. Jesus is telling us that we are all holons! We all participate in the one single life of God.

As we work through prayer and living day to day, we are reassured that “To God, all people are in fact alive,” as Jesus put it (Luke 20:38). We are just in different stages of that aliveness.

References

(n.d.). Revelation chapter 10 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 23, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/revelation/10
(n.d.). Luke chapter 19 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 23, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/19
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved November 23, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 23, 2018, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
(n.d.). Mass Readings and Catholic Daily .... Retrieved November 23, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations/
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 23, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/