Readings for Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1: Ecclesiastes 1:2-11
The book of Ecclesiastes is concerned with the purpose of human existence. In these introductory verses the author, Qoheleth (thought to be Solomon by some scholars), reflects upon the timelessness of creation and the continuity of human activity (“Nothing new under the sun. [on earth]”). This futility leads later into the unknowable nature of God’s plan.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17bc
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
The psalm in its entirety is a communal lament. The strophes in this selection reflect on the mortality of humanity and the brevity of human life. (It is also an example of the human understanding that God’s immortal view of time is not like ours.) The sense of human mortality links nicely to the first reading as does the questioning nature of the strophes.
Gospel: Luke 9:7-9
This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel begins a section that assembles incidents from the life of the Lord. In this introduction, King Herod asks the question “Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” Confusion about Jesus’ identity will be clarified in the subsequent passages as his divinity is revealed.
Reflection:
In our constant struggle to understand God’s will for us we often feel the desperate emotion expressed in the first readings from Ecclesiastes; “Even the thing of which we say, ‘See, this is new!’ has already existed in the ages that preceded us.” We see the events unfold in the Gospel and say to ourselves; “I see what this means.” Or “This must apply to my life this way.” Only to find later, especially when reading works of the Patristic Fathers, that our revelation was nothing new and the question we had answered for ourselves had been answered more thoroughly thousands of years before.
The great advantage we have over poor Qoheleth, the author of Ecclesiastes, is that Jesus came to reveal more perfectly God’s intent. While the ultimate plan of God remains unknowable, our intended role in that plan is revealed in part by the way Jesus lived his human life and commanded his disciples to act. In turn, those Apostles took what Jesus gave, recorded it in sacred scripture and passed it on through people of deep faith so that we might understand more clearly our own role in God’s eternal plan.
Is that role perfectly clear? In all but extraordinary cases, the answer is no. Our role in God’s plan, the part He intends for us to play, is revealed only slowly and sometimes only in retrospect. For our part, we are cast in a role something like Herod in the Gospel from Luke today. We want to understand who Jesus is (in our lives), how we need to apply what he asked of us. Unlike Herod who is driven by intense guilt over having ordered the death of St. John the Baptist in a lust filled moment, we seek Christ knowing his divine nature, with faith in his infinite love and mercy.
We pledge this day to continue to seek what Jesus calls us to be. Understanding our great flaws and weakness, we nonetheless apply ourselves to discipleship as best we can. We have faith that in the final judgment we will be shown the love and mercy we deserve from the one who came so those flaws and weaknesses might be washed away and we will enjoy the promise our Savior came to make.
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Herodias’ Revenge” by Juan De Flandes, 1496
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1: Ecclesiastes 1:2-11
The book of Ecclesiastes is concerned with the purpose of human existence. In these introductory verses the author, Qoheleth (thought to be Solomon by some scholars), reflects upon the timelessness of creation and the continuity of human activity (“Nothing new under the sun. [on earth]”). This futility leads later into the unknowable nature of God’s plan.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17bc
R. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
The psalm in its entirety is a communal lament. The strophes in this selection reflect on the mortality of humanity and the brevity of human life. (It is also an example of the human understanding that God’s immortal view of time is not like ours.) The sense of human mortality links nicely to the first reading as does the questioning nature of the strophes.
Gospel: Luke 9:7-9
This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel begins a section that assembles incidents from the life of the Lord. In this introduction, King Herod asks the question “Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” Confusion about Jesus’ identity will be clarified in the subsequent passages as his divinity is revealed.
Reflection:
In our constant struggle to understand God’s will for us we often feel the desperate emotion expressed in the first readings from Ecclesiastes; “Even the thing of which we say, ‘See, this is new!’ has already existed in the ages that preceded us.” We see the events unfold in the Gospel and say to ourselves; “I see what this means.” Or “This must apply to my life this way.” Only to find later, especially when reading works of the Patristic Fathers, that our revelation was nothing new and the question we had answered for ourselves had been answered more thoroughly thousands of years before.
The great advantage we have over poor Qoheleth, the author of Ecclesiastes, is that Jesus came to reveal more perfectly God’s intent. While the ultimate plan of God remains unknowable, our intended role in that plan is revealed in part by the way Jesus lived his human life and commanded his disciples to act. In turn, those Apostles took what Jesus gave, recorded it in sacred scripture and passed it on through people of deep faith so that we might understand more clearly our own role in God’s eternal plan.
Is that role perfectly clear? In all but extraordinary cases, the answer is no. Our role in God’s plan, the part He intends for us to play, is revealed only slowly and sometimes only in retrospect. For our part, we are cast in a role something like Herod in the Gospel from Luke today. We want to understand who Jesus is (in our lives), how we need to apply what he asked of us. Unlike Herod who is driven by intense guilt over having ordered the death of St. John the Baptist in a lust filled moment, we seek Christ knowing his divine nature, with faith in his infinite love and mercy.
We pledge this day to continue to seek what Jesus calls us to be. Understanding our great flaws and weakness, we nonetheless apply ourselves to discipleship as best we can. We have faith that in the final judgment we will be shown the love and mercy we deserve from the one who came so those flaws and weaknesses might be washed away and we will enjoy the promise our Savior came to make.
Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is “Herodias’ Revenge” by Juan De Flandes, 1496
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