Promise and fulfillment - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Here we are, on the second weekday of Advent, and therefore on the second weekday of the new Liturgical year, 2013-2014. This third day of Advent builds wonderfully on the visions of the readings for the First Sunday and Monday of Advent, visions of universal peace and restoration, beginning with the restoration of the tribes of Israel, then reaching out to all the nations of the world.

Like most of the readings during this special season of Advent, today’s texts flow together to tell a single story. They speak to the deepest of human desires for rescue, healing, restoration, and the peace that embodies all that is meant by the Hebrew word shalom—the full flourishing of the people of God in covenant union with their Creator and Redeemer.

Isaiah speaks of a future son of David, who will rule with justice, with a special concern for the poor. The images that the prophet uses to illustrate the ultimate shalom of this king’s rule are expressed with an exuberance that can stretch our credulity. The lamb will offer hospitality to the wolf (which sounds like the beginning of an Aesop fable that will end up poorly for the lamb). The carnivorous lion will go vegetarian to dine with the ox. The infant will play without harm near the cobra’s den. These images evoke a peace that is beyond what we can reasonably expect either from nature or from the greatest of human efforts. And that is exactly the point: such peace requires “outside help”—the Spirit of the Lord. That is why Isaiah climaxes his vision, twice, with references to the “fear” and “knowledge of the Lord.” Only with human cooperation with the source of all creation and redemption will full shalom come about. Only when we behave as creatures of a loving God do we experience the beginnings of the fulfillment of the prophet’s visions.

Psalm 72 elaborates Isaiah’s picture of the son of David who will rule over such a peace. Again, the onset of peace is linked with special attention to justice for the poor.

Finally, four verses from the Gospel of Luke proclaim how the fulfillment of the promises of the prophet and the psalmist took a quantum leap in the revelation of God in the person of Jesus Messiah. Those of us who have come to know the love and power of God in the humanity of Jesus have begun to see what the world had been looking for.

Christ deniers will continue to taunt Christians with the question: “If Jesus is the Messiah, where is the peace and justice that is supposed to accompany the messianic age?” In faith and hope, we answer that the promises have only BEGUN to be fulfilled; we have experienced that beginning, and we continue to pray, as Jesus taught us, “Thy kingdom come.”  The point of Advent, and the season’s reading, is to help us face up to the remaining gap between promise and fulfillment and to nurture the hope that the peace we still hunger for lies in the further manifestation of our risen Lord. The spectacular missionary work of St. Francis Xavier, whose feast we celebrate today, was energized by this kind of faith and hope. The promised “outside help” depends on our cooperation with our Creator and our acknowledgment that we can’t do this on our own small strength. Lord Jesus, come!

(Adapted from Dennis Hamm, SJ)

Thanksgiving Meditation - Tomorrow's reading reflection

The Book of Daniel draws on older traditions that reached back into the Babylonian exile and had become part of Israel’s heritage. Like Daniel, Israel itself had been preserved alive from the dangers of the lions’ den of the exile. About four hundred years later, during the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes (who had inherited a part of the empire of Alexander the Great), Israel again experienced horrendous persecution and the collapse of the holy city. The long years in-between, silent, monotonous years, did not seem to have achieved anything. Even though they were marked by intense interest in the law of Moses and an attempt to obey that law punctiliously, now this lowering cloud and whirlwind of destruction swept through their lives again.

Daniel advises the people that God is preparing a letter to the nations and peoples of every language. This letter will proclaim that Yahweh, the God of Israel’s ancestors, is the living God, enduring forever, whose kingdom shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be without end. While the monotonous years provide the opportunity to appreciate and safeguard our prayer and fidelity with God, the tempestuous period of trial becomes a divinely appointed way of casting down those walls and sharing our God and our family with the world.

(Adapted from ACP)

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Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States.  A holiday built around gratitude.    Families and friends gather together to enjoy good food and time together.  Weeks before the holiday the grocery stores abound with the ingredients for traditional thanksgiving meal including turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.  While the focus can be on the feast there are other signs of Thanksgiving as well.  Many Facebook users have been posting a reason to feel grateful for each and every day in November.  Jobs and warm homes and loving families are popular items on the gratitude lists.  And it is so nice to see the Thanksgiving holiday expand beyond the actual Thanksgiving day.  This societal embrace of gratitude has me praying about Thanksgiving in a different way.

(Adapted from Mary Lee Brock)

Clogged with empty pleasures, they could not read writing on the wall - Tomorrow's reading reflection

“But the God in whose hand is your life breath and the whole course of your life, you did not glorify.” (Daniel 5:23)

The king and his lords were triumphant.  They had demolished kingdoms and taken their people captive.  Drunk with power, they taunted their victims. Their minds clogged with empty pleasures, they could not read the writing on the wall.

Though he was young, Daniel had clear vision that was not for sale.  With his friends, he endured exile with grace and simplicity; they did not trade the covenant for purple robes and golden collars.  Freed by the presence of God, Daniel could see that corruption and stupidity will not endure. 

Age does not guarantee that wisdom will follow.  More years on earth may mean more clutter in the soul.  We have seen plenty of things rise and fall. We have heard the calls for change before.  Hope is for the young who dare to think big.  We call our cynicism wise: there is nothing new in history.

Yet, seen more closely, this world is a surprising place.  Pope Francis disrupts our complacency with his striking moves towards those at the margins.  In many places, the cry for justice persists despite crushing obstacles in the way. The powerful stumble toward peace talks as a last resort.  Like Daniel, people draw strength from what is more real and true than the fraud that surrounds them.

Young people have less cluttered souls.  They may be hindered by inexperience and at times, displaced zeal, but all-the-same a society that does not listen to the young and draw strength from the exiles in its midst may, too, find its days are numbered.

(Adapted from Jeanne Schuler)

Ends and beginnings - Tomorrow's reading reflection

As we near the end of the church year we meet some of the most symbolic literature in the Bible, dealing with the end of the world, which also ranks among the Bible’s most popular parts among certain circles with a taste for the apocalyptic style. We must be careful in interpreting it, as the language is highly coloured and evocative. Jesus offers a word of caution when he declares, “Take care not to be misled.” The liturgy provides the surest way to apply these passages to our lives, bidding us take responsibility for our actions, examine where we are spiritually, and face God honestly. Yet the end gives way to a new beginning. With the imminence of Advent and four weeks later of our Saviour’s birth, we are given a new chance, a new lease of life. The end and the beginning, responsibly taking stock and then beginning over again by God’s mercy, are equally important.

As we look back, we may see so many efforts, badly inspired, controlled by personal interests and pride. We see a statue, similar to that shown in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision . This statue with its four principal sections represented the four great kingdoms, as the Israelites remembered them: of the Babylonians, Medes, Persians and Greeks. No matter how colossal they were, and seemingly invincible, they collapsed. A stone hewn from the mountains struck the feet of the statue which were partly iron and partly tile and smashed them. This stone stood for Israel. Out of seeming, insignificant people, whose bodies seemed dead and hopeless according to Paul (Rom 4:19), God creates new life, comforts the ruins of Zion, and fills the holy city with “joy and gladness.”

(Adapted from ACP)

Thy Kingdom Come - Sunday's reading reflection

Do you recognize that the Lord Jesus has been given full authority and power to rule over the earth as well as heaven? Jesus was crucified for his claim to be the Messianic King who would rule not only over his people Israel but ultimately over all the nations as well. What is the significance or meaning of Jesus' kingship for us? Kingship today seems antiquated, especially in democratic societies where everyone is treated equal and free. At least, where they're supposed to be treated equal and free.  God at first did not want to give his people Israel a king. Why? Because God alone was their King and they needed no other. Nonetheless, God relented and promised his people that through David's line he would establish a kingship that would last for eternity (Psalm 89:29). 

The Jews understood that the Messiah would come as king to establish God's reign for them. They wanted a king who would free them from tyranny and from foreign domination. Many had high hopes that Jesus would be the Messianic king. Little did they understand what kind of kingship Jesus claimed to have. Jesus came to conquer hearts and souls for an imperishable kingdom, rather than to conquer perishable lands and entitlements.

When Satan tempted Jesus during his forty day fast in the wilderness, he offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world (Matthew 4:8-9). Jesus knew that the world was in Satan's power. And this was precisely why Jesus came – to overthrow Satan's power and rulership over the earth. Jesus knew that the way to victory was through submission to his Father's will and through the sacrificial offering of his life upon the cross for the sins of the world. As Jesus was dying on the cross, he was mocked for his claim to kingship. Nonetheless, he died not only as King of the Jews, but as King of the nations as well. His victory over the power of sin, Satan, and the world, was accomplished through his death on the cross and his resurrection. 

Jesus exchanged a throne of glory for a cross of shame to restore us from slavery to sin to glory with God as his adopted sons and daughters. In the Book of Revelations Jesus is called King of kings and Lord and lords (Rev. 19:16). And so he is.  As St. Paul said of God in the second reading, "He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

That's a kingdom in which I want to be a citizen.  How about you?

(Adapted from Don Schwager)

Pope Francis blesses man with severely disfigured face (CNA)

Wow.

Pope Francis blesses man with severely disfigured face :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Purifying our own temple - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Today’s texts recall the reconsecration of God’s temple. In Maccabees this happens in Jerusalem, after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes; and in the gospel, Jesus cleanses the sanctuary after its profanation by traders in the temple courts. We might ponder on ways in which our lives and our church can become more truly a house of prayer, a temple according to God’s holy purpose.

Jesus has wept over Jerusalem for failing to recognize its time of grace. Today he enters the temple and drives out the merchants and traders. His objection is not to the ritual sacrifices but to the abuse of religion for financial gain by merchants and religious leaders who were more concerned for money than the worship of God.

To purify the temple means to let God be supreme in our lives. That means that our business and financial dealings as well as our politics must be moderated by God’s law of justice and compassion. We should bring every aspect of our daily lives – family and neighbourhood, work and recreation – into the temple, so that these can be purified, sanctified and placed under God’s protection. At first, this program seems sweet and easy. But Jesus’ requirements may be as stern as in today’s story. As we renew our attachment to him, God can say of us, “My house is a house of prayer.” Every part of life, home and family, work and play, can contribute to the depth and sincerity of our prayer, with God enthroned everywhere in our being.

(Adapted from ACP)