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| Guiding and protecting |
The Prophet Jeremiah proclaims the Love and protection of God for the exiles in Babylon as they will be restored to their homeland.
* [23:1–8] With the false rulers (shepherds) who have governed his people the Lord contrasts himself, the true shepherd, who will in the times of restoration appoint worthy rulers (vv. 1–4). He will provide a new king from David’s line who will rule justly, fulfilling royal ideals (vv. 5, 6). “The Lord our justice” is an ironic wordplay on the name of the weak King Zedekiah (“The Lord is justice”). Unlike Zedekiah, the future king will be true to the name he bears. Verses 7–8 may have been added during the exile.1In Psalm 72 the Lord is proclaimed as the Source of justice and peace for the poor and oppressed.
Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.The Gospel of Matthew details the insight received by Joseph and his decision to love and protect Mary who is pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.
* [1:18–25] This first story of the infancy narrative spells out what is summarily indicated in Mt 1:16. The virginal conception of Jesus is the work of the Spirit of God. Joseph’s decision to divorce Mary is overcome by the heavenly command that he take her into his home and accept the child as his own. The natural genealogical line is broken but the promises to David are fulfilled; through Joseph’s adoption the child belongs to the family of David. Matthew sees the virginal conception as the fulfillment of Is 7:14.3Cindy Murphy McMahon finds in the Gospel a simple story of a man who had a huge dilemma, and how God sent an angel to speak to him in a dream, calming his fears and making his path forward clear to him.
That’s what God does. He calms our fears, if we let him. If we don’t insist on drowning him out with hand-wringing and doomsday-ing, we will hear God speak to our spirit and lead us forward. Not usually in a dream, although that is entirely possible, but somehow – through a person, a song, a thought, a memory, a prayer – God will get through the clutter and we will recognize his small, still voice, if we are open to it.4Don Schwager quotes “The righteous branch of David is Christ, “ by Leo the Great, 400-461 A.D.
"There was only one remedy in the secret of the divine plan that could help the fallen living in the general ruin of the entire human race (Jeremiah 23:5-8). This remedy was that one of the sons of Adam should be born free and innocent of original transgression, to prevail for the rest by his example and by his merits. This was not permitted by natural generation. There could be no clean offspring from our faulty stock by this seed. The Scripture says, 'Who can make a clean thing conceived of an unclean seed? Isn't it you alone?' (Job 14:4) David's Lord was made David's Son, and from the fruit of the promised branch sprang. He is one without fault, the twofold nature coming together into one person. By this one and the same conception and birth sprung our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom was present both true Godhead for the performance of mighty works and true manhood for the endurance of sufferings." (excerpt from Sermon 28.3)5The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 1:18-25 suggests we often look at saints like Joseph and think we could never be like them. On one level, this may be true. Joseph played a key role in salvation history, and he did it heroically. But if we boil it down, all Joseph really did was act on what he understood God wanted from him. It wasn’t always easy, but Joseph tried his best to push through.
Today, you will have many opportunities to imitate Joseph’s simple, trusting obedience. Maybe as you’re ready to criticize someone behind his back, your conscience gives you a warning, and you decide to keep quiet. That’s God telling you to push through the negativity. Or maybe you have avoided calling a friend to apologize for something you did, but something in your heart urges you to make that call. That’s God asking you to push through your reluctance. Perhaps you are in the middle of Mass, and you get the sense that God wants you to devote a little more time to prayer. That’s God asking you to push through to a deeper prayer life.6Friar Jude Winkler comments on the change of theme of Jeremiah from punishment to restoration of the people. The episode in Joseph’s life in the Gospel is an example of how “God writes straight with crooked lines”. Friar Jude touches on how ambiguity in translation of the Sacred Texts allows for Christian denominations to hold different interpretations.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, connects with contemplatives like Parker Palmer, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Keating, and Augustine of Hippo to emphasize that all forms of contemplation share the same goal: to help us see through the deceptions of self and world in order to get in touch with what Howard Thurman called “the sound of the genuine” within us and around us. Contemplation does not need to be defined in terms of particular practices, such as meditation, yoga, tai chi, or lectio divina. Instead, it can be defined by its function: contemplation is any way one has of penetrating illusion and touching reality.
The world desperately needs people, free of cultural illusions, who are undertaking a dedicated exploration of true reality, not just to know the material nature of things, but also to know the very Source of everything that exists. An unfolding contemplative practice eventually becomes total receptivity. In that receptivity, one is aware of a silence that is becoming an irresistible attraction. Silence leads to stillness; stillness leads to surrender. While this doesn’t happen every time we sit down to pray, interior silence gradually opens to an inner spaciousness that is alive. In this context, if we speak of emptiness, we are not speaking of just emptiness, but of emptiness that is beginning to be filled with a Presence. Perhaps we could say that contemplation occurs when interior silence morphs into Presence.7The Word Among Us meditation reminds us we can’t always know how things will turn out once we decide to push through and follow God’s lead. Life doesn’t always go the way we expect. Our times of contemplative contact with the Presence will reassure us that we are recipients of Love and protection.
References
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(n.d.). Jeremiah chapter 23 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved December 18, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/jeremiah/23
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(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 72 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved December 18, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/72
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(n.d.). Matthew chapter 1 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved December 18, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/1
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(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved December 18, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
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(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved December 18, 2018, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
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(n.d.). 3rd Week of Advent - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations .... Retrieved December 18, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations/
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(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved December 18, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/
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