Release the Outcome

The idea of a timeline can be used as a tool to help us sort out a sequence of events as are described in the text from the Second Book of Chronicles from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today. Commentators have described this passage as a striking illustration of how a weak man, Joash, is easily influenced by those around him who manipulate for their own motives. This fall into poor judgement and decisions culminates in the execution of Zechariah who was the son of the great priest Jehoiada, who had rescued Joash from death and had guided his early reign. As he dies Zechariah does not seek personal vengeance but calls on the Lord to see and repay the injustice. This release of the outcome of events to God is the message which Susan Naatz shares from her reflection today from the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus continues His Sermon on the Mount. The psalmist resonates this idea in the declaration that people risk forgetting that God is with us through it all. Friar Jude Winkler notes that we need to hear the warning of Jesus that we can not serve two masters in the context of how we are planning for the continuation of our timeline. Are we storing up the things which will open us to accepting life with Jesus or are we storing up things which seem to assume that we will live forever with our temporal and material needs? Being focused on the past glories or failures in our timeline or having unhealthy worry or expectation about the future on that line takes us away from the experience of Presence, Providence and Peace which is offered to us when we can find the Divine in the now!

Life is with the Body

The Roman Catholic Church celebrates today the Feast of the Assumption of Mary into heaven. The texts chosen for today vary depending on the choice of individual Councils of Bishops. The understanding of Mary as the first and greatest disciple of Jesus and the Model for the Life of a Church focused on Jesus is expressed in this feast. Father Robert Barron, who speaks in the Word on Fire ministry and throughout the magnificent video series Catholicism, teaches

 "Our feast for today--the Assumption of the Virgin--is similarly Christological in focus. It is meant to highlight the reality of Jesus' bodily resurrection from the dead. As the first and greatest disciple of the Lord, the Virgin Mary shares in the effects of this event, participating body and soul in the new life opened up by Jesus.”

The text chosen today from First Chronicles describes the Ark of the Covenant being brought up to Jerusalem. The Ark points to God. The “Yes” of Mary which is the “true blessedness” which Jesus cleverly proclaims in the text from the Gospel from Luke is the model to Christians of response in faith and trust to God. The Mary, the Ark carrying Jesus, proclaiming Incarnation, points to the mission of God to be intimate as the “Word made flesh”. Mary, assumed bodily into heaven, illuminates the Resurrection and our share as disciples in the swallowing up of the victory of death through bodily taking on the imperishability and the immortality preached by Paul to the us and the Corinthians in the passage today. Father Barron comments on the Platonic themes which have dampened modern western life experienced fully in body and soul. He exhorts that ‘the body matters to Catholics”. He invokes the image of the Sistine Chapel with the Creation depicted in the bodies of Adam and the Saints. The Presence of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist calls all Christians to serve the Word, as Mary, in intimate and eternal communion of body and soul with the Father.

Providence and prudence

The episode of the death of Joash from the Second Book of Chronicles in the Roman Catholic Lectionary for today is crafted, according to Friar Jude Winkler by Deuteronomical editors, to present more of what should have happened in the record of the relationship between God and the people than what actually happened. The choice of Joash  to put Zechariah to death is an exaggerated evil. The culture of the time held families who had helped your family in high regard. The decision to turn away from the observance of the Law of God by the leaders of Judah is marked by this extremely serious cultural offense. The decision to rule Judah outside the guidance of God brings the consequence of defeat and death at the hands of foreign and unclean warriors. The Gospel of Matthew presents the impossibility of our situation when we try to serve two masters. The Will of God for our lives and our daily decisions to take care of ourselves and indulge our passions and addictions are in constant tension. The intimacy of the relationship to which we are invited by the Divine is all encompassing of our needs. The Collect prayer of the daily liturgy today seeks the gifts of hope, faith and charity from the Holy Spirit. These gifts will open our consciousness to the "lilies of the field" and how Father truly knows and addresses our needs.

Leading to the Light

The Roman Catholic Lectionary for today, the fourth Sunday of Lent, tells of breaking the darkness in our misdirection away from the will of God with a call to return to the Light of Living in intimate relationship with the Divine. The texts from the Second Book of Chronicles are, according to Friar Jude Winkler, a reflection on the Exile of the people of Jerusalem in Babylon, which resulted from the unfaithfulness of the people to their tradition of looking with trust to God for guidance in dealing with the real world situations which impact their community. The psalmist presents the lament of the people in exile as they live this separation from the Temple and Jerusalem. The Persian King Cyrus, the pagan, the foreigner, the outsider is the agent of freedom who sends them back to Jerusalem to the New Temple. The light of the relationship with God will shine in the hearts of the remnant who return. Fr Larry Gillick urges us to ensure that we listen to the passage from Ephesians very carefully and that it be read very slowly to allow the deep richness of each phrase to sink in. The graciousness of God toward humanity is the source of the desire we have to follow Him in the manner of Nicodemus who comes to Jesus by night to understand better the Light which Jesus radiates. The trust which we are called to have and present as Light to others is that we live in an intimate relationship with God that informs our actions. Our actions become the Light and the lifting up of the Son of Man today. The extent to which we have the empowerment to be Christ to others is the extent indicated famously in John 3:16. He gave all ( His Only Son). Following Him opens our heart to be His Presence in the trust that there is no limit to the grace available to show the world "the immeasurable riches of His Grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:7)