The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary, today, resonate with our experience of seeking consolation and protection in the words of the Lord’s Prayer.
Weeds and Wheat together
The reading from the First Letter of John reminds us that God Is Light and Christ is Our Advocate.
* [1:5–7] Light is to be understood here as truth and goodness; darkness here is error and depravity (cf. Jn 3:19–21; 17:17; Eph 5:8). To walk in light or darkness is to live according to truth or error, not merely intellectual but moral as well. Fellowship with God and with one another consists in a life according to the truth as found in God and in Christ. * [1:8–10] Denial of the condition of sin is self-deception and even contradictory of divine revelation; there is also the continual possibility of sin’s recurrence. Forgiveness and deliverance from sin through Christ are assured through acknowledgment of them and repentance.1
Psalm 124 is a thanksgiving for Israel’s Deliverance.
* [Psalm 124] A thanksgiving which teaches that Israel’s very existence is owed to God who rescues them. In the first part Israel’s enemies are compared to the mythic sea dragon (Ps 124:2b–3a; cf. Jer 51:34) and Flood (Ps 124:3b–5; cf. Is 51:9–10). The Psalm heightens the malice of human enemies by linking them to the primordial enemies of God’s creation. Israel is a bird freed from the trapper’s snare (Ps 124:6–8)—freed originally from Pharaoh and now from the current danger.2
The Gospel of Matthew relates the escape to Egypt of the Holy Family and the Massacre of the infants of Bethlehem.
* [2:13] Flee to Egypt: Egypt was a traditional place of refuge for those fleeing from danger in Palestine (see 1 Kgs 11:40; Jer 26:21), but the main reason why the child is to be taken to Egypt is that he may relive the Exodus experience of Israel.3
Eileen Burke-Sullivan comments that St. Ignatius Loyola offers us an analogy to consider who and what the innocents of our day are. Those who stand under the banner of hatred and death; of power and security; of possession and destruction are those who are not innocent. Submission to the limits of being human – even to death itself – means to stand under the banner of the God who so loved us that He sent his only begotten Son into our company to show us how to be authentically human.
Who are the innocents today? Those who stand under the banner of God’s mercy and do not grasp for what is not ours, equality with God. “But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” Innocents today will care for creation – even at the cost of our personal wealth. Innocents today are those who see brothers and sisters in every voice and color of other humans. Innocents today protect the vulnerable from the harm of those who hate innocents and are afraid of powerlessness. Innocents speak the truth, live justly and simply. For this, innocents today will die, under some Herod somewhere to lives in terror of the power of love.4
Don Schwager quotes “The first martyrs of Christ,” by Chromatius (died 406 AD).
"In Bethlehem therefore all the babies were slain. These innocents who died then on Christ's behalf became the first martyrs of Christ. David refers to them when he says, 'From the mouths of nursing babies you have perfected praise because of your enemies, that you might bring ruin to the enemy' (Psalm 8:2). ... For in this persecution even tiny infants and nursing babies were killed on Christ's behalf and attained to the consummate praise of martyrs. Meanwhile the wicked king Herod was destroyed, he who had usurped the realm to defend himself against the king of the heavens. Thus it is that those blessed babes have deservedly lasted beyond others. They were the first who were worthy to die on Christ's behalf."(excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 6.2)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 2:13-18 comments that while Jesus’ death and resurrection was a victory over the powers of evil, the final battle won’t be won until he comes again to establish his heavenly kingdom on earth. The sad truth is that until that day comes, we will still experience suffering and loss. We may even face sorrow as deep as the mothers’ grief in today’s Gospel (Matthew 2:18).
But let us not become discouraged by today’s Gospel reading, especially not after the joy of Christmas Day. God loves his creation more than we could ever imagine, and he will not let Satan destroy it. That’s why our Father went to such extreme lengths to save us—by sending his very own Son into the world to become one of us. In the end, evil will be defeated once and for all, and what began with Jesus’ birth will culminate in the glorious kingdom of God reigning over the whole earth! “Father, may your kingdom come, may your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”6
Friar Jude Winkler explores the dualistic nature of the First Letter of John and the difference between the theology of expiation and Jesus' demonstration of God’s Love in the Gospel of John. Correction of a calendar error places Jesus' birth at 5-6 BCE, and Herod’s death at 4 BCE. Friar Jude reminds us of the terror wrought by Herod, who may have had 50 Thousand people executed.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, encourages us to find the wisdom revealed in the paradoxical nature of reality. Fr Richard believes that what we all need is wisdom. He is very disappointed that we in the Church have passed on so little wisdom. Often the only thing we’ve taught people is to think that they’re right—or that they’re wrong. We’ve either mandated things or forbidden them. But we haven’t helped people to enter upon the narrow and dangerous path of true wisdom. On wisdom’s path we take the risk of making mistakes. On this path we take the risk of being wrong. That’s how wisdom is gained.
Jesus came to teach us the way of wisdom. He brought us a message that offers to liberate us from both the lies of the world and the lies lodged in ourselves. The words of the Gospel create an alternative consciousness, solid ground on which we can really stand, free from every social order and from every ideology. Jesus called this new foundation the Reign of God, and he said it is something that takes place in this world and yet will never be completed in this world. This is where faith comes in. It is so rare to find ourselves trusting not in the systems and -isms of this world, but standing at a place where we offer our bit of salt, leaven, and light. It seems so harmless, and, even then, we have no security that we’re really right. This means that we have to stand in an inconspicuous, mysterious place, a place where we’re not sure that we’re sure, where we are comfortable knowing that we do not know very much at all.7
As we anticipate the coming of God’s Kingdom in our prayer, we seek openness to the wisdom of living in accord with the Will of God.
References
No comments:
Post a Comment