Heritage and Healing

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate our relationships with others for opportunities to heal separation with love and care.

Healing Moments

The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans declares God’s Election of Israel.

* [9:1–5] The apostle speaks in strong terms of the depth of his grief over the unbelief of his own people. He would willingly undergo a curse himself for the sake of their coming to the knowledge of Christ (Rom 9:3; cf. Lv 27:28–29). His love for them derives from God’s continuing choice of them and from the spiritual benefits that God bestows on them and through them on all of humanity (Rom 9:4–5).

* [9:5] Some editors punctuate this verse differently and prefer the translation, “Of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all.” However, Paul’s point is that God who is over all aimed to use Israel, which had been entrusted with every privilege, in outreach to the entire world through the Messiah. (Romans, CHAPTER 9, n.d.)

Psalm 147 offers praise for God’s Care for Jerusalem.

* [Psalm 147] The hymn is divided into three sections by the calls to praise in Ps 147:1, 7, 12. The first section praises the powerful creator who restores exiled Judah (Ps 147:1–6); the second section, the creator who provides food to animals and human beings; the third and climactic section exhorts the holy city to recognize it has been re-created and made the place of disclosure for God’s word, a word as life-giving as water. (Psalms, PSALM 147 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus Heals the Man with Dropsy on the Sabbath.

* [14:1–6] See note on Lk 13:10–17.

* [14:2] Dropsy: an abnormal swelling of the body because of the retention and accumulation of fluid.

* [14:5] Your son or ox: this is the reading of many of the oldest and most important New Testament manuscripts. Because of the strange collocation of son and ox, some copyists have altered it to “your ass or ox,” on the model of the saying in Lk 13:15. (Luke, CHAPTER 14 | USCCB, n.d.)

Barbara Dilly comments that we are challenged to find the relevance of Paul’s words for one of the highest profile conflicts of the day.  The struggle of Israel for peace in its borders is ancient, extending beyond the temporal realms of human political regimes for ages.

In my reflection today, I took a closer look at what Paul is saying in his letter to the Romans in Chapter 9.  Paul reminds us that righteousness, or the quality of being right or justifiable, does not come from any laws, especially of the religious sort, but from faith.  But now we are back to the question of whose faith?  To Christians, Paul says it comes only through faith in the spirit of Jesus.  So how does our Christian faith give us any more authority over the matters of others who do not share it?  I think our challenge to help bring peace into the world as Christians is how can we enact the spirit of Jesus without imposing it politically or militaristically.  To do that, we might first learn to see our conflicts as something other than differences between Jews and Gentiles or between Jews and Palestinians.  The great conflict, it seems to me, boils down to a fundamental conflict between sin and faith.  I see it as our inability to express our faith in God through peace and love for our neighbors.  As all of us pray daily for peace in Israel, I hope we can also contribute to the humanitarian relief for innocent civilians on both sides of the conflict as a demonstration of love for all our neighbors. (Dilly, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “The law does not forbid mercy on the Sabbath,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).

"As they were silent from ill will, Christ refutes their unrelenting shamelessness by the convincing arguments that he uses. 'Whose son of you,' he says, 'or whose ox shall fall into a pit, and he will not immediately draw him out on the sabbath day?' If the law forbids showing mercy on the sabbath, why do you take compassion on that which has fallen into the pit?... The God of all does not cease to be kind. He is good and loving to people."(excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 101) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 14:1-6 comments that when we were baptized, Jesus became a guest in our hearts as well—and he will never leave us. Just as he didn’t give up on those dinner guests, he won’t give up on us. He knows the areas in our life where we are still resisting him. He knows about the sins we don’t want to confess and the temptations we have given up fighting. And still he treasures us and wants to heal us, forgive us, and reveal his love to us even more deeply.

So make sure you are setting aside time to be with Jesus. Imagine yourself setting a place for him in your heart. Even if you have your doubts and suspicions, sit down with him and listen to his words of wisdom. If it was possible for the people at that dinner party to change, it is certainly possible for you—and Jesus knows it! A life of holiness is within your grasp, and it all begins with spending time with the Lord. Do it today. Don’t just read the words of this meditation and then move on. Linger with Jesus and listen for the message he has just for you.

“Lord, I welcome you into my heart. Help me to hear your voice today.” (Meditation on Luke 14:1-6, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler notes the tension Paul expresses between his desire that the people of his Jewish heritage accept Jesus and their failure to live up to the special gifts given by God. His oath to give up his salvation for them is self sacrifice at the highest level. Friar Jude notes how Jesus' dismissal of the Pharisees approach to doing good on the Sabbath creates more opposition for Him.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, finds clear and unambiguous respect for creation in both Jesus and his own Franciscan tradition.

Jesus himself commonly points to things like the red sky, a hen, lilies, the fig tree, a donkey caught in a pit, the birds of the air, the grass in the field, the temple animals that he released from their cages, and on and on. He was clearly looking at the seemingly “nonreligious” world, ordinary things all around him, and appeared to do most of his teaching outside. Francis said, “Wherever we are or wherever we travel, we have a cell with us. Brother Body is our cell, and the soul is the hermit who remains inside the cell to pray to God…. If the soul does not remain in quiet and solitude in its cell, a cell made by hands does little good to a religious.” [1]

Both Jesus and Francis knew that everything created was a message about the nature of God. Nature was not empty of divinity. Seeing nature as secular or merely functional created much of the loneliness and seeming meaninglessness in our contemporary worldview. (Rohr, 2023)

We are invited to contemplate our spiritual heritage and seek the guidance of the Spirit to the healing elements that to which we have connection.

References

Dilly, B. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved November 3, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/110323.html 

Luke, CHAPTER 14 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 3, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/14?1 

Meditation on Luke 14:1-6. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved November 3, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/11/03/820083/ 

Psalms, PSALM 147 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved November 3, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/147?12 

Rohr, R. (2023, November 3). Bringing the Outside In — Center for Action and Contemplation. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 3, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/bringing-the-outside-in/ 

Romans, CHAPTER 9. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved November 3, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/9?1 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). They Were Watching Jesus. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 3, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=nov3 

Wise and Awake

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary near the end of the liturgical year urge us to be awake and contemplate the meaning of the end time to our lives today.

Becoming awake

 

The reading from the Book of Wisdom is a description of the relationship between people and Wisdom.

 

* [6:1–21] The first part of the book closes with an exhortation comparable to 1:1–15, and it leads into “Solomon’s” personal comments on wisdom in chaps. 7–9.1

Psalm 63 prays for comfort and assurance in God’s Presence.

 

* [Psalm 63] A Psalm expressing the intimate relationship between God and the worshiper. Separated from God (Ps 63:2), the psalmist longs for the divine life given in the Temple (Ps 63:3–6), which is based on a close relationship with God (Ps 63:7–9).2

The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians describes the coming of the Lord.

 

* [4:17] Will be caught up together: literally, snatched up, carried off; cf. 2 Cor 12:2; Rev 12:5. From the Latin verb here used, rapiemur, has come the idea of “the rapture,” when believers will be transported away from the woes of the world; this construction combines this verse with Mt 24:40–41 (see note there) // Lk 17:34–35 and passages from Revelation in a scheme of millennial dispensationalism.3

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus uses the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids to implore us to stay awake.

 * [25:13] Stay awake: some scholars see this command as an addition to the original parable of Matthew’s traditional material, since in Mt 25:5 all the virgins, wise and foolish, fall asleep. But the wise virgins are adequately equipped for their task, and stay awake may mean no more than to be prepared; cf. Mt 24:42, 44.4

Amy Hoover understands perhaps an invitation to awaken to ourselves, not just our sins and woundedness, but our gifts and calls.  Bring those into the light as well. To be awake, in her  mind and heart, is to live from that truest part of ourselves, from our hearts. From that place, we will necessarily grow in wisdom and meet Wisdom, meet Christ.  So how do we do that? 

 

For me, it begins by trying to be present to each moment, not looking to the past or the future.  All we have is the present moment.  Next, I try to be aware (awake?) to what I see in other people that really strikes me, maybe to the extreme.  This is important because what we notice in others, is generally present in ourselves somewhere.  Sometimes it is talked about as when we get “triggered” and respond by either flying off the handle or putting someone on a pedestal.  When I notice this happening, it is a clue for me to pause and ask, what is going on inside or me, how am I feeling?  What does this feeling remind me of?  When I can do this, I am freer to respond from a place of Love and Wisdom instead of fear or hurt.  I also learn a bit more about myself and God’s love for me at those moments.5

Don Schwager quotes “The Kingdom of God compared with ten maidens,” by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD).

 "The whole story is about the great day of the Lord, when those things concealed from the human mind will be revealed through our understanding of divine judgment. Then the faith true to the Lord's coming will win the just reward for unwavering hope. For in the five wise and five foolish virgins (Matthew 25:2), a complete separation between the faithful and unfaithful is established... The wise virgins are those who, embracing the time available to them, were prepared at the first onset of the coming of the Lord. But the foolish were those who were lax and unmindful. They troubled themselves only over present matters and, forgetting what God said, did not direct their efforts toward hope for resurrection." (excerpt from the commentary ON MATTHEW 27.3,5)6

The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 asks can God really give us and our loved ones glorified bodies that are never subject to sickness, decay, or death (1 Corinthians 15:52-53)? Yes, he can, but we won’t know what this looks like until we ourselves pass through death to life everlasting.

 

That’s where faith comes in. Paul was asking the Thessalonians, as he is asking us, to believe that Jesus’ resurrection really does have consequences for us. Christ is “the firstfruits,” the first to be raised; “then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:23). We don’t know the details, the “how” or the “when.” But as we put our faith in Jesus and what he has done for us, he will move us from doubt to hope.7

Friar Jude Winkler shares connections to Greek philosophy and Eqyptian spirituality in the work of the Wisdom author. The “millennium” has already begun with the death and resurrection of Jesus. Friar Jude reminds us to concentrate on the point of this parable to be alert.

 

Peter Edmonds SJ comments that If you mention the Letters to the Thessalonians to anyone with even a slight acquaintance with Paul’s letters, they will almost certainly think immediately of the Second Coming of Christ and the Day of the Lord. This is a good reason why extracts from these letters are read as Second Readings at the close of two of our liturgical years.

 

If the beginning and end of Paul’s paragraph are easy to assimilate, the same is not true of its centre, because here Paul uses the language of apocalyptic, a way of speaking familiar in his time but not in ours. This is a poetic way of speaking which is not to be taken literally, as it often is by biblical fundamentalists. If we are to meet Christ after being taken up in the clouds, it means that we will share with Christ the same sort of heavenly journey which the apostles saw Jesus take on Ascension Day (Acts 1:9). In a modern scientific age, we do not take such language at its face value, but look for the theological truth that it expresses.8

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that Love is perhaps the last thing anyone wants to be reminded of in these days following the election in the United States. Yet our resistance to love is precisely why we need to talk about it! We have strayed so far from love; and yet, love is the essence of who we are, and how we are called to treat one another.

 

When most of us hear the word “commandment,” we likely think of the Ten Commandments; that is not what Jesus is referring to here. He speaks of a “new” commandment surpassing and summing up the “ten” of the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 20:1–17; Deuteronomy 5:6–21): “This is my commandment: Love one another” (John 15:17). He also says that the entire law and the prophets are summed up in the two great commandments: to love God and to love one another (see Matthew 22:36–40). Perhaps we don’t want to hear these commandments because we can never live up to them through our own efforts. We’d like to whittle this down to a little commandment, like “Come to church on Sunday,” so that we could feel we have obeyed the commandment and accomplished love. But who of us can say that we have fully loved yet? We are all beginners. We are all starting anew every day, in utter reliance on the mercy, grace, and compassion of God. This is a good example of “the tragic gap” that faith always allows and fills.9

The wisdom and alertness called for in the texts today opens our lives to the Spirit of Love for all Creation.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Wisdom, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/wisdom/6
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 63 | USCCB. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/63
3	(n.d.). 1 Thessalonians, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1thessalonians/4
4	(n.d.). Matthew, CHAPTER 25 | USCCB. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/25
5	(n.d.). Daily Reflections - Online Ministries .... Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/110820.html
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture .... Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2020&date=nov8
7	(2020, November 8). 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - The Word Among Us. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://wau.org/meditations/2020/11/08/177129/
8	(2013, October 30). Paul and the Thessalonians | Thinking Faith: The online .... Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20131030_1.htm
9	(2020, November 8). A Commandment to Love - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from https://cac.org/a-commandment-to-love-2020-11-08/