Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Tuesday of the Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time


Readings for Tuesday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Commentary:

Reading 1 Ez 6:7-8, 12b, 14-20

This passage from the book of Ezra reports the completion of the great work of rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. Following Mosaic laws, Israel reestablished the infrastructure of the faith community and celebrated the first great feast, Passover.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Psalm 112 is a song of thanksgiving centered upon returning to the Temple in Jerusalem (Mosaic Law required such a trip three times). The song rejoices in the visit to the holy place, the seat of King David.

Gospel Lk 8:19-21

In this passage from the Gospel of St. Luke Jesus identifies his family as the family of faith as opposed to just his blood relatives. St. Luke’s treatment of this topic is softer than that found in St. Mark’s Gospel (
Mark 3:31-35), probably because Mary had already been introduced as the model of fidelity to the Lord.

Reflection:

If one looks at the history of the United States it is easy to point out which areas of the country were settled by which ethnic populations. With a broad brush we can see the Spanish influence in Florida and California with the names of towns like St. Augustine and San Francisco. We see the French influence in Louisiana (named for King Louie) at New Orleans, likewise settlements of Germans, Dutch, English, Irish, Polish, Portuguese, Chinese, African, Scandinavian and any mixture of these nationalities. They came with their customs and language and set up communities where these were maintained.

With the rapid evolution of transportation and communication technologies these ethnic enclaves have eroded and there are only pockets where the traditions of “the Old Country” are strongly held. The same has been true of the family unit. In the early years of the country, a primarily agrarian society stimulated large family units with strong local bonds to the land. This perpetuated the ethnic traditions held by the matriarch or patriarch. These bonds have also been eroded as first the industrial revolution and now the information age have dispersed the family across the country and around the world.

The Gospel anticipated this event to some degree. Scripture realizes the need for strong ties of love and kinship and the need to hold true to values established by ancient law and tradition. It is only as a community that we can understand much of what is communicated through scripture since it was written to and about the community of faith, not just an individual’s relationship with God.

Just as the Lord stated that “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” So we are called to be a family of faith. Truly we cannot understand the Lord standing alone. He did not come just for one but for all and his family, his adopted brothers and sisters must act together, as he asked, by loving one another to be admitted into the eternal life he promised. Today our prayer must be that we each be counted among the members of our faith community as builders of that family. Our pledge is to make it stronger through our participation and prayer so that when we meet the Lord we can announce “Lord, I am your family.”

Pax

[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture today is “The Holy Family with the Infant St. John the Baptist in a Landscape” by Denys Calvaert, 1590s

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