The Teacher behind

The passage from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah in the RomanCatholic Lectionary today describes the care and shepherding of God for people as directions you hear from a Teacher behind you. The Church celebrates the feast of St Ambrose today. He is identified as the patron saint of learning. His biography attests to a passion for exploring many ideas which were available to him in Milan at the end of the fourth century. The passionate learner is often enthusiastic about sharing the life giving aspects of his passion with others. One of the others in the case of Ambrose was Augustine who heard the Teacher direct him to service of the Church. Friar Jude Winkler comments on Jesus action to address the situation He sees among the people as sheep without shepherds. The audience for whom the Gospel of Matthew was written is Hebrew Christians. The “lost sheep of Israel” need direction. Joe Simmons, S.J. of Creighton University finds ten types of confusion among learners including over eagerness, procrastination, discouragement, confusion and fear. The Teacher is with each of us as we struggle to continue to learn. Hear His voice. We take up the challenge to be teacher to our lost sheep in response to Jesus call. We pray to be attentive to each unique person as perhaps Ambrose was to Augustine.

Led by the blind

And those who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction. (Isaiah 29:24). This verse in the Roman Catholic Lectionary today from the book of the Prophet Isaiah certainly has resonance with educators at the end of the fall semester. The first association we might make with grumbling people who err in spirit might be with our students. Our frustration that they don’t see things our way tends to find fault with them. What aspect of blindness shields our vision from deeper truths in this situation? The reflection of physicist Michael Cherney at CreightonUniversity points to the challenge we all have to step outside our own experience and point of reference to see things differently. The healing of the blind men in Chapter 9 of the Gospel of Matthew today, who interrupt Jesus addressing Him as Son of David has David Guzik comment that they asking God for the best thing they could: mercy. When Jesus asks the blind men whether they believe He is not making His mercy conditional. Perhaps He is like the teacher who does not make presentation of the answer sought by the student conditional, but, in addressing it seeks to draw deeper from the inner richness of the student to illustrate perhaps that the understanding or motivation that the student may not appreciate in themselves is actually there. The faith of the blind men is revealed and the inability of those who have their lives changed in encounter with the mercy of God to be private and quiet about it is the evangelizing zeal which Papa Francesco exhorts those healed by Jesus to bring to a renewed Church and society. Chapter 9 of Matthew is full of surprises! The Kingdom is the rich world where the deaf, blind and meek restored in harmony with the prophesy of Isaiah lead a communion of tax collectors and sinners with the Living God to fill society with new wine of mercy, understanding, compassion, instruction in the Word in new wine skins of a society which is restored to a moral compass attracted to the will of God.

Living in His name

The refrain to the psalm in the liturgy today which uses texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary declares the blessedness of the one who comes in the Name of the Lord. What are the characteristics of such a person that we can glean from the text in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah? The city of Jerusalem is presented to the people as the dwelling place of those who know the peace of a deep relationship with God. These people are not the lofty princes who depend on their skill in negotiation with other political leaders, but the poor and humble who have experience of trust in God. Marcia ShadleCusic of Creighton University expresses this understanding of how we may be mislead when we have “got it all figured out” through reliance on our own moral compass. Pope Francis' new Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium - "The Joy of the Gospel", identifies the need of the Church to reassert in missionary action solidarity with the poor with whom we will rediscover the faith which is deep trust in Providence. The Gospel from Matthew provides the necessary counter balance to a theme we might assume is presented of letting things come and go in our lives and going with the flow. The one, who comes in the Name of the Lord, has accepted the discipline of the disciple which this section of the Gospel of Matthew, according to Don Schwager, declares that there is only one way in which a person’s sincerity can be proved, and that is by one’s practice. We are creatures of habit. The foundation on which we need to build the structure which withstands the assault of our consumerist narcissistic culture is the action modelled by Jesus to give self in forgiveness, mercy, compassion, patience and love to others. This person can be celebrated as one coming in the Name of the Lord.

Comfort Me

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today are full of reassurance. The twenty third psalm is certainly one of the Scripture passages through which many people have experienced peace and calm in meditation about the Divine Shepherd.  The best-selling author Rabbi Harold Kushnerhas written a line-by-line interpretation of this Psalm. He comments that the psalmist doesn't say, "I will fear no evil because nothing bad ever happens in the world." He says, "I will fear no evil because it doesn't scare me because God is with me." Friar Jude Winkler comments that the message from Isaiah today is that God will satisfy the deepest hunger of our hearts. This text is often chosen for Christian funeral liturgies. We are comforted by the feast of finest food and wine into which we believe the deceased is welcomed by God. Our deep hunger is for this communion with God, as Friar Jude notes, defeats death not only of our physical being but the death we choose in selfish action turning away from God. Sam Pierre ofCreighton University is stuck by the response of Jesus in the Gospel today from Matthew. When we allow ourselves to be present with Jesus in this event we can image the reassurance and affirmation that Jesus gives the lame, maimed, blind and mute, who are too often forgotten, that fullness in their life is the concern of the one who Friar Jude comments is exercising the prerogatives of God. Sam Pierre notices that the desire of Jesus to feed all is done in cooperation with the one who is able to give the seven loaves and the few fish. These texts today are food for us on many levels. Our peace and reassurance is not based on factual logical analysis, but on the expression of the Divine desire to guide and feed us. Symbolically we find more food for thought in the lavishness of the feast, the person of God as a Shepherd, the inclusion of all, particularity Gentiles, as noted by Friar Jude, in the feeding through the role of the number seven. Peaces and fullness are the fruit of the Presence of God as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4 KJV).

Strength in Shalom

Shalom is the word which describes the time of peace in the texts from the Prophet Isaiah in the Roman Catholic Lectionary today. The use of the word in modern Israel as a greeting and farewell only scratches the surface of how the word has beenused in Scripture. Friar Jude Winkler comments on the deep healing and restoration that Isaiah promises will be shalom between natural enemies such as the lion and the lamb and the Jews and the Gentiles. The gifts of God brought to action by the messianic ruler from the stump of Jesse are the basis for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are enumerated by Christians as wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, fear of the Lord and piety. Friar Jude understands strength to be the force sometimes necessary to slay the wicked. Another understanding of strength in Isaiah is that of the suffering servant who brings the Presence of God through the strength of self giving. Dennis Hamm, S.J., ofCreighton University, discusses how the Gospel from Luke today is Jesus joyous proclamation that the promises of the prophet Isaiah and hopes of the psalmist are revealed, to the childlike, in the Person of Jesus. He notes that the critics will declare that the world is not at shalom today. We have the Promise and we know the Way. Our trust in God is manifest as we live energized by the gifts of the Spirit to act with the Love, and justice for the outcast that Isaiah understands will have all live together in shalom

Let us go today

The psalmist in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today proclaims “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’ (Psalm122:1) This action happens now, in the present. We can be distracted, as Diane Jorgensen of Creighton University comments, by the dreams of the great changes we wish and pray for in society sometime in the future. The action of Love today can fall victim to procrastination because of the good things we dream of for tomorrow. Friar Jude Winkler sees the time of tribulation described by Isaiah which is suffered in the present by the people of Jerusalem, who endure defeat and subjugation by the foreign invaders, as a time for purification and an opportunity to wipe away the guilt of the sinfulness which is responsible for their distress. The trust of the Centurion in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus is the healing for his servant, now, despite his unworthiness as a pagan soldier of occupation to request help from the God of Israel, is evidence to Jesus of great faith. Now is the time and today we need to join the psalmist in journey to the House of the Lord. As we move, we will encounter opportunities to be Love in action today.

Time is Now

Paul tells the Romans as he makes us aware of the Advent season “Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep”. (Romans 13:11). The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary offer reflection of the way time intertwines with our spiritual lives. In the time of Isaiah, about 720 BC, the Prophet is exhorting people to act now, in the present, to move into the Presence of the Lord. Friar Jude Winkler notes that Isaiah called people of all tribes to Jerusalem where the decision to live in the Law of the Lord would radically change their lives. Tom Shanahan, S.J. of Creighton University comments on the great vision of Isaiah about the people of the world, “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”(Isaiah 2:4) Father Tom is reminded by this passage of the life we live as patient people. This patience is not passive. As we await the time of full communion with the Divine which will bring the peace and understanding anticipated by Isaiah, we hear Paul advise us to live as those who know the Way. Our decision to be patient is not a decision to procrastinate. Father Roberto Donato (Lectio Divina Nov 28, 2013) speaks of procrastination as the indicator that we are putting our needs and desires ahead of the Way of vigilance and living the Word in the present. Friar Jude is reminded by the letter of Paul today of how Augustine might associate the distraction of the flesh with concupiscence. In the Gospel from Matthew, the vigilant and the awake, who continue to live as followers of the Way will recognize the Son of Man, as translated by Rev. Dr. Eugen J.Pentiuc in the Aramaic phrase “Bar 'ěnoš” as the suffering servant of Isaiah and will be with Him in the end time at the marriage feast. Father Roberto suggests the possibility that Peter, by falling asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, may have missed the opportunity to know Jesus true situation as Messiah (Lectio Divina Nov 28, 2013). Our patience, perseverance, prayer and attention to what we see and do will bring us closer to Him today.