The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to act in faith and ponder how the fruit of our faith is evident in our life journey.
The reading from the Book of Malachi describes the reward of the Faithful on the Great Day of the Lord.
* [3:14] As mourners: the adverb translated “as mourners” means something like “with a long face.”
* [3:16] Record book: see note on Ex 32:32.
* [3:20] Wings: a common symbol of the manifestation of a god in the ancient Near East is the winged sun disk found, for example, on premonarchic jar handles. Cf. Nm 6:25; Ps 4:7; 31:17; 34:6; 84:12. (Malachi, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 1 outlines the Two Ways
* [Psalm 1] A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. The Psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. Each “way” brings its inevitable consequences. The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death. (Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches perseverance in Prayer.
* [11:13] The holy Spirit: this is a Lucan editorial alteration of a traditional saying of Jesus (see Mt 7:11). Luke presents the gift of the holy Spirit as the response of the Father to the prayer of the Christian disciple. (Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)
Suzanne Braddock urges us to enter into conversation with our God, have a real relationship going in our knocking, seeking , asking and prepare to be surprised. To be loved.
What is promised is the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the love shared by Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What could be better than that? Immersed in that holy flow I’m sure what we will receive will be totally aligned with All Goodness, All Love, all perfect answers to our fervent prayer. And if you receive exactly what you asked for, rejoice! Jump for joy because you are one with the will of our amazing Creator! I hope and believe that we have all experienced the explosion of joy on realizing our prayer was answered. Oh sure, sometimes the answer is No, Maybe but Not Yet, or I have a Better Solution, and hopefully we can be ok with those answers and realize they are given in love. Always in love, no matter how difficult and contrary they feel in the moment. Often I have looked through my retrospectoscope at my life and seen the handwriting of my loving God in all the mistakes and hurdles and crazy moments. And I say “ thank you, God, for being there always,” (Braddock, 2023)
Don Schwager quotes “Ask by praying, seek by proper living, knock by persevering,“ by Bede the Venerable, 672-735 A.D.
"Desiring that we arrive at the joys of the heavenly kingdom, our Lord and Savior taught us to ask these joys of him and promised that he would give them to us if we asked for them. 'Ask,' he said, 'and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.' Dearly beloved..., we earnestly and with our whole heart must ponder these words of our Lord. He bears witness that the kingdom of heaven is not given to, found by and opened to those who are idle and unoccupied but to those who ask for it, seek after it and knock at its gates. The gate of the kingdom must be asked for by praying. It must be sought after by living properly. It must be knocked at by persevering." (excerpt from HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 2.51.20) (Schwager, 2019)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Psalm 1:1-4, 6 comments that in today’s Gospel, Jesus promises that God will give his Holy Spirit to anyone who asks (Luke 11:13). And that Spirit can empower us to live a just and holy life—and to ease our conscience when we seek forgiveness after having fallen into sin. He is the Lord who “watches over” us when we try to follow “the way of the just” (Psalm 1:6).
This means that the promises contained in today’s readings are for you as well as for Jesus. By learning to yield to the Spirit, you can become more and more like the just person described by Malachi and the psalmist. You can reflect the perfect justice—and the love, joy, and mercy—of Jesus to everyone around you.
“Heavenly Father, thank you for giving me your Holy Spirit! Thank you for helping me to be more like Jesus!” (Meditation on Psalm 1:1-4, 6, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments that the question of “Why does evil proper?” underlines the purification and punishment cited in Malachi. Our prayer could benefit from more chutzpah as we can be more pushy and honest with God. Friar Jude reminds us that prayer connects us with the Holy Spirit and the Love between the Father and the Son.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, reflects on the prophetic task of integrating our individual and collective memories, which creates the conditions for hope within us.
Our remembrance that God has remembered us will be the highway into the future, the straight path of the Lord promised by John the Baptizer [see Luke 3:3–6]. Where there is no memory, there will be no pain, but neither will there be hope. Memory is the basis of both the pain and the rejoicing. We need to re-member both of them; it seems that we cannot have one without the other. Do not be too quick to “heal all of those memories,” unless that means also feeling them deeply and taking them all into our salvation history. God seems to be calling us to suffer the whole of reality, to remember the good along with the bad. Perhaps that is the course of the journey toward new sight and new hope. Memory creates a readiness for salvation, an emptiness to receive love, and a fullness to enjoy it. (Rohr, 2023)
We implore the Spirit to enlighten our understanding of the role of faith in our experience of God who responds to our seeking, asking, and knocking with Love.
References
Braddock, S. (2023, October 12). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved October 12, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/101223.html
Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 12, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/11?
Malachi, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 12, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/malachi/3?13
Meditation on Psalm 1:1-4, 6. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved October 12, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/10/12/803344/
Psalms, PSALM 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 12, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/1?1
Rohr, R. (2023, October 12). Remembering Our Hope — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved October 12, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/remembering-our-hope/
Schwager, D. (2019, March 9). How Much More Will the Heavenly Father Give! Daily Scripture net. Retrieved October 12, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=oct12
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