The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with the tragic situation of people currently involved in deadly conflict and the responsibility of believers in God during this time.
The reading from the Prophet Joel describes nations destroyed and the Glorious Future of Judah.
* [4:10] The Lord directs the troops to forge military weapons out of the agricultural tools necessary for life during peacetime. In Is 2:4 and Mi 4:3, both in contexts presuming the defeat of Israel’s enemies, this imagery is reversed.
* [4:13] Their crimes are numerous: the nations are ripe for punishment. Joel uses the vocabulary of the autumn grape harvest to describe the assault of the Lord’s army against these nations. In Is 63:1–6, grape harvest imagery also controls the description of the Lord’s return from Edom with blood-spattered clothing after having trod his enemies into the ground as if they were grapes (cf. Jer 25:30). (Joel, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 97 praises the Glory of God’s Reign.
* [Psalm 97] The hymn begins with God appearing in a storm, a traditional picture of some ancient Near Eastern gods (Ps 97:1–6); cf. Ps 18:8–16; Mi 1:3–4; Heb 3:3–15. Israel rejoices in the overthrowing of idol worshipers and their gods (Ps 97:7–9) and the rewarding of the faithful righteous (Ps 97:10–12). (Psalms, PSALM 97 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus presents True Blessedness.
* [11:27–28] The beatitude in Lk 11:28 should not be interpreted as a rebuke of the mother of Jesus; see note on Lk 8:21. Rather, it emphasizes (like Lk 2:35) that attentiveness to God’s word is more important than biological relationship to Jesus. (Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)
The comments from the USCCB identified the imagery reversal when we compare the use of “ploughshares and swords” by Joel and Isaiah. This may be a warning about our sometimes hasty proclamation of Biblical text to underline our opinion, when we still require contemplation with the Spirit to seek resolution of what we see as contradiction.
Joel 3:10
Beat your ploughshares into swords,
and your pruning-hooks into spears;
let the weakling say, ‘I am a warrior.’
Isaiah 2:4
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
Angela Maynard comments that a lesson learned from today’s readings and reflection is that things are not always as they seem.
Take time to look deeper when something does not make sense. Can you think of a time when your initial reaction did not feel right but after time and quiet reflection things made sense? In the busyness of our daily lives, it is important to take time, to be quiet and to listen. (Maynard, 2023)
Don Schwager quotes “Blessings for hearing and keeping the Word,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Mary was more blessed in accepting the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ. To someone who said, 'Blessed is the womb that bore you,' he replied, 'Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.' Finally, for his brothers, his relatives according to the flesh who did not believe in him, of what advantage was that relationship? Even her maternal relationship would have done Mary no good unless she had borne Christ more happily in her heart than in her flesh." (excerpt from HOLY VIRGINITY 3.1) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 11:27-28 asks us to consider how blessed we are every time we sit with the Lord and read his word in the Scriptures? This is a gift that keeps on giving: the more we ponder God’s word, the more our minds and hearts are enlightened and the more we want to follow Jesus. He captivates us just as he captivated this woman that day long ago. And when God’s words pierce our hearts, we want to observe them, even if we do so imperfectly at times.
You might not be feeling particularly “blessed” today, especially if you are struggling in some way. But the fact that you are turning to Jesus, that you are eager to hear his word, means that you are giving him the chance to touch you, heal you, and reassure you of his love. So receive his blessing! Let this time with him and his word reorient you. Let it move your heart, as it did this woman. And let it make you ever more committed to following him, wherever it might lead you.
“Lord, thank you for blessing me with your word—and your presence—today!” (Meditation on Luke 11:27-28, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler discusses the treatment of the Day of the Lord, a time of cataclysm upon the earth by Joel when the evil will realize they have chosen hell. The tragedy for God is that He cannot force people to love Him. Friar Jude notes that, in a different sense from Mark, Luke presents Maryas the perfect disciple and the model of what the Church should be.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces theologian Randy Woodley, who reflects on how we can learn from the sustained hope of Indigenous communities.
We are still here. It may not seem like such a profound statement. At first, anyway. But given the numerous attempts at cultural assimilation and genocide that have decimated many Native American populations by 95 percent since 1492—and given that Indigenous people still have some of the worst living conditions on Turtle Island—the statement means a lot. “We are still here” speaks directly to the hope that remains in America’s First Nations.
In Indian country, any hope is good hope. This hope—sustained through poverty, racism, poor housing, chronic disease, and a host of other maladies—is not based on utopianism. The earned hope of which I speak is built on a spirituality of relationship with the land and with all living creation and on respect for elders who sacrificed to give the generations to follow them a future…. (Rohr, 2023)
As we journey, we are confronted with contradictions and the need to contemplate our faith with the guidance of the Spirit and our knowledge of our evolution to embrace love as the path of full life.
References
Joel, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/joel/4?12
Luke, CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/11?
Maynard, A. (2023, October 14). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/101423.html
Meditation on Luke 11:27-28. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/10/14/804695/
Psalms, PSALM 97 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/97?1
Rohr, R. (2023, October 14). Prophetic Hope: Weekly Summary — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/prophetic-hope-weekly-summary/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved October 14, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=oct14
No comments:
Post a Comment