The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today touch on themes of reassurance and rejection.
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| On the journey |
In the first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul reassures the people concerned about Christians who have died.
* [4:15] Coming of the Lord: Paul here assumes that the second coming, or parousia, will occur within his own lifetime but insists that the time or season is unknown (1 Thes 5:1–2). Nevertheless, the most important aspect of the parousia for him was the fulfillment of union with Christ. His pastoral exhortation focuses first on hope for the departed faithful, then (1 Thes 5:1–3) on the need of preparedness for those who have to achieve their goal.1
Psalm 96 is a hymn inviting all humanity to praise the glories of Israel’s God.
* [Psalm 96] A hymn inviting all humanity to praise the glories of Israel’s God (Ps 96:1–3), who is the sole God (Ps 96:4–6). To the just ruler of all belongs worship (Ps 96:7–10); even inanimate creation is to offer praise (Ps 96:11–13). This Psalm has numerous verbal and thematic contacts with Is 40–55, as does Ps 98. Another version of the Psalm is 1 Chr 16:23–33.2
Luke relates Jesus rejection at Nazareth in the Gospel.
* [4:16–30] Luke has transposed to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry an incident from his Marcan source, which situated it near the end of the Galilean ministry (Mk 6:1–6a). In doing so, Luke turns the initial admiration (Lk 4:22) and subsequent rejection of Jesus (Lk 4:28–29) into a foreshadowing of the whole future ministry of Jesus. Moreover, the rejection of Jesus in his own hometown hints at the greater rejection of him by Israel (Acts 13:46).3
George Butterfield reflects on Saint Paul who wrote to a community of young Christians about the future of those who had died in Christ.
He told them that he did not want them to grieve as those who have no hope. We grieve. We cannot help but grieve when a loved one, a friend, or a colleague dies. But we do it as people who have hope. We believe that there is a future for those who have died.4
Don Schwager quotes “By reading Isaiah, Jesus shows he is God and Man,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"Now it was necessary that he should manifest himself to the Israelites and that the mystery of his incarnation should now shine forth to those who did not know him. Now that God the Father had anointed him to save the world, he very wisely orders this also [that his fame should now spread widely]. This favor he grants first to the people of Nazareth, because, humanly speaking, he had grown up among them. Having entered the synagogue, therefore, he takes the book to read. Having opened it, he selects a passage in the Prophets which declares the mystery concerning him. By these words he himself tells us very clearly by the voice of the prophet that he would both be made man and come to save the world. For we affirm that the Son was anointed in no other way than by having become like us according to the flesh and taking our nature. Being at once God and man, he both gives the Spirit to the creation in his divine nature and receives it from God the Father in his human nature. It is he who sanctifies the whole creation, both by shining forth from the Holy Father and by bestowing the Spirit. He himself pours forth his own Spirit on the powers above and on those who recognized his appearing. (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 12)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 comments that even with Jesus teaching spelled out, it can still be hard to think about heaven. This is especially true if we are grieving the recent loss of a loved one. Maybe the best approach is to focus on Paul’s consoling words to the Thessalonians.
“We shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). God is with you now. He was with you in all your past, and he will be with you throughout your future. Every day that you spend with him prepares you a little more for his gift of eternal life. It convinces you of his love a little more, and it gives him many opportunities to show you his mercy.6
Friar Jude Winkler connects the concern of the Thessalonians to Christ’s resurrection. Paul uses an apolytictic term “caught up in the clouds” concerning transformation. Friar Jude uses Jesus experience to remind us that people outside our tradition may be people of faith.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, presents Ilia Delio, who continues reflecting on what the new cosmology means for us and maturing Christianity. Evolution invites us to expand our consciousness of the divine mystery beyond the realm of human history and to see humankind [and all of creation] within the process of an evolving cosmic history. We come from the whole and belong to the whole. As church, as theologians, as citizens of the universe, therefore, we need an “option for whole,” and by this I mean we need a new consciousness that includes our Big Bang expanding universe and biological evolution as part of our intellectual search for truth.
Theology must begin with evolution if it is to talk of a living God, and hence it must include physical, spiritual, and psychological change as fundamental to reality. Einstein’s discovery of relativity means that space-time is a dimension of the unfinished, expanding universe; thus, whatever we say about God is bound up with the universe. By extending the knowing process into the furthest realms of cosmic relatedness, being acquires new depth. Knowledge cannot be satisfied with human history alone; it must reach into cosmic history, if it is in search of truth. To see evolution as revelatory of the divine Word means that we come to see the various forms and rhythms of nature as reflective of divine qualities. This means moving beyond the static images of God that are so familiar to us and that remain irretrievably tied to an archaic understanding of the cosmos.7
Our growth in faith is supported by reassurance in our Tradition and discovery of the wonders of Creation that are in contrast to rejection of God.
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