The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today urge contemplation of the practice of peace and inclusion as we continue on our journey with Jesus.
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| Our journey |
The reading from the Prophet Zechariah is an oracle declaring many peoples will be drawn to Jerusalem.
“Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”1
Psalm 87 celebrates the joy of living in Zion.
* [87:5–6] The bond between the exile and the holy city was so strong as to override the exile’s citizenship of lesser cities.2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus departs for Jerusalem and a Samaritan village refuses to receive him.
* [9:52] Samaritan: Samaria was the territory between Judea and Galilee west of the Jordan river. For ethnic and religious reasons, the Samaritans and the Jews were bitterly opposed to one another (see Jn 4:9).3
George Butterfield asks if we could imagine a time when people grabbed onto you because you were Catholic and said, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you"?
This picture beautifully illustrates St. Augustine's statement that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. The nations are hungering for God so they are going to associate with anyone that they think God is with and go wherever they think God is. The missionary outreach of the Church has assumed that all peoples from all nations have this inherent thirst for the living water that is God and that all we need do is to point them to the heavenly Jerusalem that is revealed in Jesus Christ. But this also requires that we who live in the City of God know God and this knowledge can be seen in the way we live.4
Don Schwager quotes “Jesus gave power and authority to his apostles,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"It would be false to affirm that our Savior did not know what was about to happen, because he knows all things. He knew, of course, that the Samaritans would not receive his messengers. There can be no doubt of this. Why then did he command them to go before him? It was his custom to benefit diligently the holy apostles in every possible way, and because of this, it was his practice sometimes to test them... What was the purpose of this occurrence? He was going up to Jerusalem, as the time of his passion was already drawing near. He was about to endure the scorn of the Jews. He was about to be destroyed by the scribes and Pharisees and to suffer those things that they inflicted upon him when they went to accomplish all of violence and wicked boldness. He did not want them to be offended when they saw him suffering. He also wanted them to be patient and not to complain greatly, although people would treat them rudely. He, so to speak, made the Samaritans’ hatred a preparatory exercise in the matter. They had not received the messengers... For their benefit, he rebuked the disciples and gently restrained the sharpness of their wrath, not permitting them to grumble violently against those who sinned. He rather persuaded them to be patient and to cherish a mind that is unmovable by anything like this." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 56)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 9:51-56 asserts that just like the messengers in today’s Gospel, Jesus is sending us out “ahead” of his coming. Our assignment is to help prepare the people around us for his reception. It’s not as hard as we might think.
First, focus on loving people right where they are. Don’t wait for them to renovate their lives. And don’t pressure or nag them either. Trust that Jesus can use your small acts of kindness and love to prepare them for a deeper relationship with him.
Second, bring good news. When the time is right, share about the difference Jesus has made in your life.
Finally, don’t be offended if people aren’t ready to hear about Jesus. After all, Jesus didn’t hold a grudge against the Samaritans.6
Friar Jude Winkler shares the vision of Zechariah that even the pagans will want to associate with the Jews in the restored Jerusalem. The Gospel of Luke is themed around a journey to Jerusalem by Jesus. Friar Jude notes that Jesus emphasized service and rejected monopoly, privilege, and power.
A post by Franciscan Media on Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Saint of the Day for October 1, offers her words “I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.”, the “Little Flower,” who lived a cloistered life of obscurity in the convent of Lisieux, France. Thérèse was canonized in 1925. On October 19, 1997, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church, the third woman to be so recognized in light of her holiness and the influence of her teaching on spirituality in the Church.
Thérèse has much to teach our age of the image, the appearance, the “self.” We have become a dangerously self-conscious people, painfully aware of the need to be fulfilled, yet knowing we are not. Thérèse, like so many saints, sought to serve others, to do something outside herself, to forget herself in quiet acts of love. She is one of the great examples of the gospel paradox that we gain our life by losing it, and that the seed that falls to the ground must die in order to live.
Preoccupation with self separates modern men and women from God, from their fellow human beings, and ultimately from themselves. We must re-learn to forget ourselves, to contemplate a God who draws us out of ourselves, and to serve others as the ultimate expression of selfhood. These are the insights of Saint Thérèse, and they are more valid today than ever.7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, cites his friend and fellow Franciscan, Father John Quigley, OFM, who has written a helpful, succinct summary of Franciscanism. They worked closely together with the New Jerusalem Community in Ohio.
Francis believed that God was nonviolent, the God of Peace. This belief may be a simple presupposition for us today [although I still find far too many Christians have been raised to fear God as judgmental and punishing and seem to reflect that in their own lives], but at the time when the Christian church was waging a Holy Crusade against its enemies, the Saracens [Arab Muslims], Francis’s interpretation of the gospel life and its demands was revolutionary. Francis saw it from the viewpoint of the poor, especially from the place of the poor, naked, suffering Christ. He had deep devotion to the God who is revealed as nonviolent and poor in the stable of Bethlehem, as abandoned on the cross, and as food in the Eucharist. God’s meekness, humility, and poverty led Francis to become “perfected as his Heavenly Father was perfect.” [1] [Francis agreed with Luke’s understanding of “perfect” as meaning merciful or compassionate.] Francis identified with the “minores,” the lower class within his society. . . . [The letters OFM after our names stand for Order of Friars Minor or Ordo Fratum Minorum, which means the Little Brothers. Like Thérèse of Lisieux centuries after him, Francis reveled in littleness.] And he passionately pointed to the Incarnation [of Jesus] as the living proof of God’s love. He frequently cried out in his pain that “Love is not loved!”8
Our practices may be the little nudge that opens hearts to accept the Holy Spirit and the invitation to join Jesus on our journey.
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