Peace and Healing

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today present the path of peace and healing that the Spirit moves us to choose as we come into contact with people with whom we have differences.

Peace and Healing

The reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah envisions the Future House of God.

* [2:4] Once the nations acknowledge God as sovereign, they go up to Jerusalem to settle their disputes, rather than having recourse to war. (Isaiah, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 122 is a Song of Praise and Prayer for Jerusalem

* [Psalm 122] A song of Zion, sung by pilgrims obeying the law to visit Jerusalem three times on a journey. The singer anticipates joining the procession into the city (Ps 122:1–3). Jerusalem is a place of encounter, where the people praise God (Ps 122:4) and hear the divine justice mediated by the king (Ps 122:5). The very buildings bespeak God’s power (cf. Ps 48:13–15). May the grace of this place transform the people’s lives (Ps 122:6–9)! (Psalms, PSALM 122 | USCCB, n.d.)

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant.

* [8:5–13] This story comes from Q (see Lk 7:1–10) and is also reflected in Jn 4:46–54. The similarity between the Q story and the Johannine is due to a common oral tradition, not to a common literary source. As in the later story of the daughter of the Canaanite woman (Mt 15:21–28) Jesus here breaks with his usual procedure of ministering only to Israelites and anticipates the mission to the Gentiles.

* [8:5] A centurion: a military officer commanding a hundred men. He was probably in the service of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee; see note on Mt 14:1.

* [8:8–9] Acquainted by his position with the force of a command, the centurion expresses faith in the power of Jesus’ mere word.

* [8:10] In no one in Israel: there is good textual attestation (e.g., Codex Sinaiticus) for a reading identical with that of Lk 7:9, “not even in Israel.” But that seems to be due to a harmonization of Matthew with Luke.

* [8:11–12] Matthew inserts into the story a Q saying (see Lk 13:28–29) about the entrance of Gentiles into the kingdom and the exclusion of those Israelites who, though descended from the patriarchs and members of the chosen nation (the children of the kingdom), refused to believe in Jesus. There will be wailing and grinding of teeth: the first occurrence of a phrase used frequently in this gospel to describe final condemnation (Mt 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). It is found elsewhere in the New Testament only in Lk 13:28. (Matthew, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB, n.d.)

Mike Cherney imagines himself among Jesus’ disciples in today’s Gospel. He is particularly impressed by the centurion. This is a man who by his very title has 100 men under him. He could have sent a representative, but he personally comes to Jesus. He sees this and his words as a clear recognition of Jesus’ authority. The centurion reveals his character as he intercedes not for himself but for his servant. He then shows faith that his request can be addressed at a distance. He thinks of how the centurion’s words have been adapted into the communion service. These are words that in both the centurion’s case and the communicant’s case are meant to set the stage for an encounter of a supportive Divine Presence. 

My prayer today reminds me that our word “advent” has its root in a Latin word meaning coming.

Dear Lord,
I look at the conflicts in this world.
I ask myself about the woes that we bring upon ourselves.
I see sparks of hope where Your grace seems to be present.
Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Christ.
I am drawn to think of this coming both in terms of Christmas,
and in terms of how Christ is manifest in a “second coming”.
Allow me to recognize Your supportive Divine Presence. (Cherney, 2023)

Don Schwager quotes “Welcoming the Lord Jesus with expectant faith and humility,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"When the Lord promised to go to the centurion's house to heal his servant, the centurion answered, 'Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.' By viewing himself as unworthy, he showed himself worthy for Christ to come not merely into his house but also into his heart. He would not have said this with such great faith and humility if he had not already welcomed in his heart the One who came into his house. It would have been no great joy for the Lord Jesus to enter into his house and not to enter his heart. For the Master of humility both by word and example sat down also in the house of a certain proud Pharisee, Simon, and though he sat down in his house, there was no place in his heart. For in his heart the Son of Man could not lay his head" (Matthew 8:20). (excerpt from SERMON 62.1) (Schwager, 2023)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Isaiah 2:1-5 comments that when he gave his life for us on the cross, Jesus reconciled us to our heavenly Father. Now reconciled with God, we can receive the grace and the power to be reconciled with one another. We see the peace that he has brought to our own hearts, and it changes the way we look at other people. We want them to experience that peace and reconciliation, too.

There’s no “magic formula” to make everything all right. But don’t discount the power of prayer. Invite Jesus, the Prince of Peace, to bring reconciliation into each relationship. Ask for inspiration—you may realize that there is something you can do or say that will help bring Christ’s peace to the situation. You have the Holy Spirit within you, and his grace can do amazing things. This Christmas, may Christ turn enemies into friends once again—and friends for more than just one day!

“Lord, may your peace reign—in our families, neighborhoods, and communities, in our nation, and around the world.” (Meditation on Isaiah 2:1-5, n.d.)

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Friar Jude Winkler comments on the parallel in Micah to the text from Isaiah. The mountain of the Lord is to be a source of peace where swords are beaten into ploughshares. The Centurion in the Gospel was likely not a Roman but a pagan from Syria or Lebanon. Friar Jude reminds us that Jesus invites the Jews and the Gentiles into the grace of peace.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that contemplation teaches us how to see, which deepens our capacity to be amazed.

Here is the mistake we all make in our encounters with reality—both good and bad. We do not realize that it wasn’t the person or event right in front of us that made us angry or fearful—or excited and energized. At best, that is only partly true. If we had allowed a beautiful hot air balloon in the sky to make us happy, it was because we were already predisposed to happiness. The hot air balloon just occasioned it—and almost anything else would have done the same. How we see will largely determine what we see and whether it can give us joy or make us pull back with an emotionally stingy and resistant response. Without denying an objective outer reality, what we are able to see and are predisposed to see in the outer world is a mirror reflection of our own inner world and state of consciousness at that time. Most of the time, we just do not see at all, but rather operate on cruise control. (Rohr, 2023)

When we choose our ploughshares over our swords in our interaction with others we cooperate with the healing love of Christ that calls us together as brothers and sisters.

References

Cherney, M. (2023, December 3). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved December 4, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/120423.html 

Isaiah, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved December 4, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/2?1 

Matthew, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved December 4, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/8?5 

Meditation on Isaiah 2:1-5. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved December 4, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/12/04/841762/ 

Psalms, PSALM 122 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved December 4, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/122?1 

Rohr, R. (2023, June 16). We Are What We See. CAC Daily Meditations 2023. Retrieved December 4, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/we-are-what-we-see/ 

Schwager, D. (2023, June 16). Many Will Sit at Table in the Kingdom of God. Daily Scripture net. Retrieved December 4, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=dec4 

Called as Witnesses

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to consider the way we witness to love, beauty, and truth through the action that follows our contemplation of God in our lives.

Revelation to witnesses

 

The reading from the Book of Revelation shares a Vision of the New Jerusalem, built on our salvation history.

* [21:9] The bride, the wife of the Lamb: the church (Rev 21:2), the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:10); cf. 2 Cor 11:2. * [21:14] Courses of stones,apostles: literally, “twelve foundations”; cf. Eph 2:19–20.1 

  Psalm 145 praises the greatness and the Goodness of God.

* [Psalm 145] A hymn in acrostic form; every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Acrostic poems usually do not develop ideas but consist rather of loosely connected statements. The singer invites all to praise God (Ps 145:1–3, 21). The “works of God” make God present and invite human praise (Ps 145:4–7); they climax in a confession (Ps 145:8–9). God’s mighty acts show forth divine kingship (Ps 145:10–20), a major theme in the literature of early Judaism and in Christianity.2 

In the Gospel of John, Nathanael is called among the First Disciples.

* [1:48] Under the fig tree: a symbol of messianic peace (cf. Mi 4:4; Zec 3:10). * [1:49] Son of God: this title is used in the Old Testament, among other ways, as a title of adoption for the Davidic king (2 Sm 7:14; Ps 2:7; 89:27), and thus here, with King of Israel, in a messianic sense. For the evangelist, Son of God also points to Jesus’ divinity (cf. Jn 20:28).3 

Eileen Burke-Sullivan comments that for Bartholomew (in John called Nathaniel) he does not announce his own deeds, but Jesus’s deeds and thus we know Christ and know only that this faithful man gave his life and death that Jesus might be known, loved, and followed.

The Gospel today invites us to recognize his Apostolic call – he came to meet Jesus at the behest of his friend or relative – he encounters Jesus’ loving gaze, and the fact that Jesus “knows him” – as God knows him, establishes his committed relationship to come and see, to discover for himself what God was inviting him to become.  With the others, he had no earthly shelter against the storms of nature or evil, only Jesus’ confidence in the Father.  He had nowhere to lay his head but where believers granted him rest, no security but God’s love made present in Jesus.  He witnessed Jesus’ human death and the glorious resurrection and recognized that God was building a New Temple in a New Jerusalem for those who would become the members of Jesus’ Body.  With his companions his feet were washed by Jesus, who perhaps gazed at him again and gently confirmed the rightness of his witness.  In all probability he ate fish with Jesus at the seashore after the resurrection and knew that he himself and the world he dwelt in were forever transformed.  In receiving Jesus’ Spirit, he could speak with the power of witness anywhere on earth – and he followed the Spirit to do just that.4 

Don Schwager quotes “The Lord of Angels,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).

"Do you see how he [Jesus] leads him [Nathanael] up little by little from the earth and causes him no longer to imagine him as merely a man? For one to whom angels minister and on whom angels ascend and descend, how could he be a man? This is why he said, 'You shall see greater things than these.' And to prove this, he introduces the ministry of angels. What he means is something like this: Does this, O Nathanael, seem to you a great matter, and have you for this confessed me to be King of Israel? What then will you say when you see 'angels ascending and descending on me'? He persuades him by these words to receive him as Lord also of the angels. For on him as on the king's own son, the royal ministers ascended and descended, once at the season of the crucifixion, again at the time of the resurrection and the ascension, and before this also, when they 'came and ministered to him' (Matthew 4:11). They also ascended and descended when they proclaimed the good news of his birth and cried, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace' (Luke 2:14), when they came to Mary and also when they came to Joseph... Our Lord made the present a proof of the future. After the powers he had already shown, Nathanael would readily believe that much more would follow." (excerpt from the Homilies On the Gospel of John 21.1)5 

The Word Among Us Meditation on John 1:45-51 comments that for centuries, God’s promises in Scripture had sustained Israel with visions of hope. A radiant bride, a city and temple shimmering with the glory of the Lord—the images pointed to a peaceful future when God would live among his people. Nathanael must have drawn strength from reflecting on this life to come, even as he felt the weight of Roman occupation. Perhaps this gave him eyes to recognize Jesus as the “Son of God” and “King of Israel” who would set things right (John 1:49). And Jesus replied, in essence, Keep watching. You haven’t seen anything yet!

So go and sit under your fig tree today, wherever that may be—an armchair, your prayer corner, the Adoration chapel. If you don’t have such a place, find one wherever prayer comes easiest. Lift your heart to the Lord and let his promises fill your mind. Then listen as Jesus says to you, “You haven’t seen anything yet!” “Jesus, by your cross and resurrection, you have thrown heaven wide open. Let me see your glory and follow your gospel!”6 

Friar Jude Winkler shares that the vision of the New Jerusalem in Revelation is a description of a Heavenly society built on our salvation history. Nazareth was considered a dirt poor town, with less orthodox practice. The Messiah would have to come from Judea. Friar Jude reminds us to practice the honest inquiry modelled by Nathanael under the fig tree.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that the true and essential work of all religion is to help us recognize the divine image in everyone and every thing. It is to mirror things correctly, deeply, and fully until all things know who they are.

We can enlarge this idea of mirroring to give us another way of understanding the Universal Christ. For example, there is a divine mirror that might be called the very “Mind of Christ.” The Christ mirror fully knows and loves us from all eternity and reflects that image back to us. I cannot logically prove this to you, but I do know that people who live inside this resonance are both happy and healthy. Here’s how the Franciscan mystic Bonaventure (c. 1217–1274) described this mirroring: “We can contemplate God not only outside us and within us but also above us: outside through his vestiges [creations], within through his image and above through the light which shines upon our minds, which is the light of Eternal Truth.” [1]7

 

Our desire to seek out truth and beauty is born from the life of God that dwells within our being.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Revelation, CHAPTER 21 | USCCB. Retrieved August 24, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/revelation/21
2	(n.d.). Psalm 145 - USCCB. Retrieved August 24, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/145
3	(n.d.). John, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB. Retrieved August 24, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/1
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online Ministries. Retrieved August 24, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/082421.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved August 24, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2021&date=aug24a
6	(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved August 24, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/08/24/190682/
7	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: 2021 - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved August 24, 2021, from https://cac.org/mirroring-the-mind-of-christ-2021-08-24/