The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to look more deeply into the encounters with the Divine we have experienced for direction in our relationship with others and Creation.
Blessings in Relationship
The reading from the Book of Tobit tells of sight restored.
b. [11:15] Tb 13:2; Dt 32:39; 1 Sm 2:6.1
Psalm 146 is praise for God’s Help.
* [Psalm 146] A hymn of someone who has learned there is no other source of strength except the merciful God. Only God, not mortal human beings (Ps 146:3–4), can help vulnerable and oppressed people (Ps 146:5–9). The first of the five hymns that conclude the Psalter.2
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus considers the question about David’s Son.
* [12:35–37] Jesus questions the claim of the scribes about the Davidic descent of the Messiah, not to deny it (Mt 1:1; Acts 2:20, 34; Rom 1:3; 2 Tm 2:8) but to imply that he is more than this. His superiority derives from his transcendent origin, to which David himself attested when he spoke of the Messiah with the name “Lord” (Ps 110:1). See also note on Mt 22:41–46.3
Dennis Hamm, S.J.,( in 2017) , commented that our lesson is much more than the great crowd understood. We accept Jesus as fulfilling the expectation for a descendant of the house of David who becomes the “king of Israel,” but in a way that transcends what anyone had expected before his death and resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
All this is a reminder to us who follow Jesus that he is always much more than we understand. What the Father has done through the Son become flesh as Jesus of Nazareth is always more than we can fully grasp. The result is nothing less than what St. Paul calls a new creation. The only right response to that revelation of God’s love is our love of the Father and every other creature that we meet.4
Don Schwager quotes “Jesus is Son of David and Son of God,” by Cyril of Alexandria, 375-444 A.D.
"We also will ask the Pharisees of today a similar question. They deny that he who was born of the holy Virgin is very Son of God the Father and himself also God. They also divide the one Christ into two sons. Let these people explain to us how David's Son is his Lord, not so much as to human lordship as divine. To sit at the right hand of the Father is the assurance and pledge of supreme glory. Those who share the same throne are equal also in dignity, and those who are crowned with equal honors are understood of course to be equal in nature. To sit by God can signify nothing else than sovereign authority. The throne declares to us that Christ possesses power over everything and supremacy by right of his substance. "How is the Son of David David's Lord, seated at the right hand of God the Father and on the throne of Deity? Is it not altogether according to the unerring word of the mystery that the Word as God sprung from the very substance of God the Father? Being in his likeness and equal with him, he became flesh. He became man, perfectly and yet without departing from the incomparable excellence of the divine dignities. He continued in that state in which he had always been. He still was God, although he became flesh and in form like us. He is David's Lord therefore according to that which belongs to his divine glory, nature and sovereignty. He is his son according to the flesh." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 137.52)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Tobit 11:5-17 comments that it is during hard times like these that our faith can be tested. We can wonder why God is allowing bad things to happen to us or why he isn’t answering our prayers. It’s okay to ask these questions; sometimes it’s difficult not to. But what’s most important is that we don’t turn away from God. When we try our best to stay close to him, we open ourselves to his love, mercy, and grace so that we too can do the next right thing.
God has a good plan for you, even if you can’t see it at the moment. That plan is unfolding as you continue to remain close to him in good times and in bad times. And the good news is that a happy ending awaits you too. Just as Tobit and his family rejoiced in God’s mercy and providence, so you too will one day rejoice in heaven with your Father and all your brothers and sisters in Christ. “Lord, help me to hold fast to you, whatever life brings my way.”6
Gregory Baum in the 1987 CBC Massey Lectures for Ideas on CBC Radio commented on the cycles in Church history from focus on attaining life after death to acting with compassion and solidarity to unite daily life with Christ.
". . . the Christian message of salvation includes the liberation of people from oppression."7
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the incredible love shown by the Jewish mother on the return of her son Tobias. Psalms often changed person in their texts. Friar Jude notes how cleverness pointed to the Wisdom of God in Jesus' time.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that there are few writers more hopeful or exciting about the process of evolution than Franciscan Ilia Delio. She examines evolution through the lens of science, theology, technology, and personal development and reminds us that while evolving can be painful, God is always with us and for us, in and through it all.
We need to get on board with evolution. If we get nothing else straight about our present moment, it should be this: stability is an illusion. The ancient wisdom of Heraclitus reminds us of life’s endless activity: The only thing that is permanent is impermanence. No one steps in the same river twice. If there is no permanence in the present, then the only real stability is the future. The Buddha intuitively grasped the notion of evolution by advocating detachment, not necessarily the act of giving up the things of this world, but rather accepting and being consciously aware that nothing is permanent. So too, Francis of Assisi taught his disciples the principle of dispossession, not living without things but without possessing things. . . . It is time to come together to work for what we share together, the future, into which we are being fearfully but irresistibly drawn. This is the true test of our faith, what we really believe in, because God is the power of the future.8
We pray that our transformation as disciples of Christ reflects the evolution of our spiritual organizations in love, mercy, and compassion.
References
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