Great Saint Magnificent Service

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today bring great joy as the authors present praise to God for constant faithfulness to the life of people. Zephaniah acclaims God who brings the sign of Presence, the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem in the hands of David. Friar Jude Winkler tells us that this transformation of Jerusalem was from a pagan community to the center of the Kingdom of Israel. The Gospel from Luke tells of the action of Mary who lives hospitality and service to her cousin as she travels to the hill country outside Jerusalem to minister to Elizabeth, an elderly woman, who is carrying the child, John the Baptist. The recognition of Jesus Presence by the unborn prophet is the declaration that the New Ark of the Covenant, Mary, awaits outside Jerusalem for three months, as Friar Jude reminds, was the situation for the Ark delivered by David. The Magnificat, the hymn to praise God, which Luke places in this passage, brings to our voice many of the Divine attributes. The paraenesis of Paul to the Romans, wherein he hands on some behaviourial wisdom to his disciples shows that Mary is the one who leads us into a life of witness in service to the care of the Divine for the “little ones of Yahweh”. We are those who live in the gracious love of the Presence celebrated in humble service today.

Cry out and Claim

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offer some consolation and contemplation in the relationship they present between God and humanity. The author of the Book of Sirach is struck by the wisdom, and all knowing of God as this truth is presented in the Action of God in Nature. The spendour of the world is a reflection of the glory of the Creator. The Truth of the human condition and the eternal plan of the universe are within the domain of the Divine. In Jewish spiritual experience, this certainty about God invokes the praise of the psalmist for the power of the word of God which creates and restores and as it is spoken brings to being. The lack of tentativeness in proclaiming the power of God is noted by Friar JudeWinkler as the insistence in Jewish prayer dialogue shown by the blind Bartimaeus ,in the Gospel from Mark that Jesus, the Son of David, have mercy on him and heal him of his blindness. Friar Jude comments that the Gospel healings which are accompanied by faith are also spiritual healing. The blindness of Bartimaeus was physical. The blindness of Jesus disciples to the Truth of His identity as Messiah and the Son of David is spiritual and it is presented by Mark throughout this Gospel. We are very like the audience for whom Mark wrote. Our culture is more like the Gentile Roman audience of Mark than the Jewish Apostles and disciples who were steeped in the tradition of relationship with God who with mighty hand and outstretched arm restores the fortunes of Israel to the days of David in the Wisdom of the One described by Sirach. Like the Romans of the time of Mark, we are surrounded by many influences that tempt us to redefine the Truth. We are offered the insistence of Jewish spirituality that God continues to act in the most loving manner for humanity. Let us cry out and claim the mercy and healing which is Jesus mission.

Know how to put it right

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today contain appeals from people to God to put it right. The author of the Book of Sirach, who Friar Jude Winkler comments, is writing about the value of the wisdom and tradition of the Jewish people who are living under the control of Hellenistic empires. The author petitions God to fulfill His promises to Israel of the restoration of Jerusalem and the glorification of God through worship at the Temple on Mount Zion. The manifestation of the conquering Messiah to show the nations of the world the glory of God is a dream which seems to keep the disciples of Jesus from hearing His message about His Passion and death as he presents it to them for the third time in the Gospel of Mark. We have experienced the difficulty of comprehension of news which is in conflict with our perception of the world. Psychologists refer to cognitive dissonance as the phenomena where our perception or expectation of a situation is met by evidence that we are incorrect. So often, as in the example of hearing bad news about our health, or the welfare of a loved one, we show almost no comprehension of the disturbing information. James and John, after hearing of Jesus forthcoming humiliation, rejection and death continue to pursue the vision of the conquering Messiah and propose that they take leadership roles in the restored Davidic kingdom. The psalmist prays today for the restoration of the people of God to a deep relationship with God through the action of the great compassion God has for His people. Jesus defines by example how this compassion for and leadership of the people of God will occur. Those who would celebrate and live the Kingdom of God do so in self sacrificing service to others. The choice of serving Life in others continues to cause dissonance in our beings so oriented to self satisfaction. Friar Jude points to our need to continue to accept the Cup and Baptism of Jesus as our daily circumstances offer them to us.

Give and live

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary offer a milestone check for our spiritual journey. The wisdom literature from the Book of Sirach probes our thanksgiving to God and, as Friar Jude Winkler notes, encourages us to give as our interior conversion moves us. The tendency to offer God a bribe wherein we commit to do or be in exchange for a Divine intervention is moving away from the deeper relationship with God based on surrender and trust in Love. The psalmist today gives voice to an imagined dialogue on the nature of the sacrifice which is pleasing to God. Our lives witness the depth of our commitment to giving. Our associations and habits tell of the rewards which we take from our limited temporal existence. We are invited to abandon the self serving and self satisfying path for the life which Peter described to Jesus in the Gospel from Mark today. “Look, we have left everything and followed you” (Mark 10.28:). Jesus acknowledges the action of Peter and the others. He reminds them, as does Friar Jude, that the Christian community is bringing them so much more of the deep relationships which they remember from their past. Jesus mentions that they have come to understand the value of suffering which strips away the superficial distractions of society and unites them and us in the Life mission of Jesus. The misinterpretation of this passage as the gospel of wealth wherein Jesus miraculously takes some of our possessions and returns more possessions to us in exchange is clearly not about living freed from slavery to things and people who own us.

Leading through the needle

The psalmist proclaims the joy of those who are forgiven in the texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. What are some of the areas in which we need to seek the healing of forgiveness? The Gospel account today from Mark tells of a young man who visits Jesus seeking wisdom about what he needs to do to be good. This episode appears in the three synoptic Gospels. (Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-27; Luke 18:18-27). The author of the Gospel of Mark makes the point that Jesus looks at the young man and loves him. The Lord gives the example of correction being presented to others in love. We understand in our mind that this makes sense but how often do we ensure that those who we correct know that we love them. The best episodes of correcting others may occur between spouses who are aware that the ongoing relationship of love and giving between them is of primary importance. The invitation of God to accept correction is also to continue and deepen and the intimate relationship with the Divine. Friar Jude Winkler reflects on the Wisdom of Sirach which exhorts us to act today to be reconciled. The decision to delay can bring us to complacency and presumption upon the grace of God. The rich young man even when the love of Jesus for him and the invitation to greater intimacy with God was presented could not leave the self satisfaction he found in wealth at that time. We hold on to our passions for self gratification. This is similarly keeping us from moving to greater freedom and peace. Jesus may use some Jewish exaggeration to underline that the path to freedom is always possible in relationship with God.

Life with the Trinity

A portion of the Last Supper Discourse of Jesus from the Gospel of John is presented today in the texts from the Roman CatholicLectionary. Jesus explains that the understanding of God which we seek cannot be received all at once. The channel through which we acquire experience, knowledge, perception and inspiration is finite and limited. Our contemplation of the awe and wonder of Creation around us reveals the shallowness of our grasp of the great “Why?” question. Friar Jude Winkler comments that the Scripture Scholars of the Hebrew Testament struggled with how to convey the One God with so many attributes experienced by people. The personification of the Wisdom attribute of God as a woman is included in the text from the Book of Proverbs. The Wisdom is God Creator as the universe of awe and wonder is brought into being and the Love Life of the Father is breathed upon the waters. Paul address the Romans to explain that we will find peace with God or justification as we live in the trust that our lives are beyond our understanding except that they are intended to witness to the glory of God which is Love. This witness will not necessarily be without trial and suffering through which our endurance will build strength so that our hope of peace with God will be realized. Our inspiration and motivation for the Life of Loving Witness comes from the Holy Spirit. The invitation which is outlined and reoffered through our lives, asFather Larry Gillick SJ notes is to live in the Life of the Trinity. Our being participates in a non understandable daily relationship with Jesus and the Father through the Spirit. The Trinitarian Nature of the Divine, in which we are invited to live, is the specifically Christian way of speaking about God as Professor Lucy Lind Hogan quotes Catherine Mowry LaCugna from her book, God for Us. Scott P.Richert, in the About.com Guide on Trinity Sunday writes it is in honor of the most fundamental of Christian beliefs—belief in the Holy Trinity.

Authentic relationship

The author of the Book of Sirach leads the reflection today on the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary by describing the relationship of God and people. It is clear that this relationship is very unbalanced. The grace, generosity and gifts of God create beings who know and love the Creator as Friar Jude Winkler comments as friends and not slaves. One human response to overwhelming imbalance in power is yield for survival and fight for freedom. The praise of the psalmist of the steadfast love and compassion of God reflects experience of a relationship with God. The Divine Plan is freedom for humans to choose relationships. The truth of the love of God is revealed in salvation history. Jesus is evidence that God loves us to death. The Gospel from Mark points to children as those who are well disposed to receive the Good News of relationship with God. This disposition may be rooted in their simple approach to the world. It may be the trust which children seem to easily invest in others to keep their promises. It may be the authenticity which has not learned to hide your passion and beauty from ridicule. It is at least all of these. God bless the children who offer us untarnished eyes to see good, truth, trust, forgiveness, passion and love.