Sunday, December 06, 2009

Monday of the Second Week of Advent


Monday of the Second Week of Advent
Saint Ambrose, Bishop, Doctor

Alternate Proper for the Memorial of St. Ambrose

Readings for Monday of the Second Week of Advent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Readings and Commentary:
[3]

Reading 1:
Isaiah 35:1-10

The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
They will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
Then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.

Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water;
The abode where jackals lurk
will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus.
A highway will be there,
called the holy way;
No one unclean may pass over it,
nor fools go astray on it.
No lion will be there,
nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.
It is for those with a journey to make,
and on it the redeemed will walk.
Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
They will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee.
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Commentary on
Is 35:1-10

This selection is a prophetic vision of the restoration of Israel following the exile. It is also seen as a vision of the land redeemed by the coming Messiah. Those who are most afflicted (the blind, the deaf, the lame, the mute) will be the first to experience the saving grace of God. Placed on the same day with St. Luke’s Gospel below, we see it as the prophecy fulfilled by Jesus.

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Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14

R. (Isaiah 35:4f) Our God will come to save us!

I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD –for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Our God will come to save us!

Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Our God will come to save us!

The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
R. Our God will come to save us!
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Commentary on
Ps 85:9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14

Psalm 85 is a lament, begging for forgiveness and grace. This passage expresses the hope that God will be active in His support of the faithful.

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Gospel:
Luke 5:17-26

One day as Jesus was teaching,
Pharisees and teachers of the law,
who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem,
were sitting there,
and the power of the Lord was with him for healing.
And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed;
they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence.
But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd,
they went up on the roof
and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles
into the middle in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
“As for you, your sins are forgiven.”

Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves,
“Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply,
“What are you thinking in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–
he said to the one who was paralyzed,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”

He stood up immediately before them,
picked up what he had been lying on,
and went home, glorifying God.
Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God,
and, struck with awe, they said,
“We have seen incredible things today.”
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Commentary on
Lk 5:17-26

Here, St. Luke’s Gospel begins describing a series of controversies between Jesus and the Pharisees. In this story, also captured in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, the paralytic is lowered through the roof (interestingly, the roof material varies according to the audience of the particular Gospel) to be near the Jesus. The Lord’s first comments are “Your sins are forgiven.” This starts the Pharisees talking since only God may forgive sins.

The Lord, in response demonstrates his authority over sin in the eyes of the early Palestinians who believed that physical affliction was a punishment from God for the sins of the person or their ancestors. By healing the paralytic, Jesus demonstrates his compassion for the poor, his authority to forgive sins, and fulfills the prophetic vision of the Hebrew Prophets.

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Reflection:

God shows Isaiah the joy that will come to the poor and infirmed when the Messiah comes to establish his kingdom. The mystic vision arrives in signs and symbols rather than a detailed portrait. Some of those signs, however, jump out at us while others remain fuzzy – ill defined in our frame of reference.

Laid over the top of Isaiah’s vision comes the reality of Christ. He brings into focus those things previously only hinted at. Isaiah said when the Messiah appears (“Here is your God …he comes to save you.”) “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.” And St. Luke describes the Messiah demonstrating that salvation on an individual level as he tells the paralytic – “Your sins are forgiven.”

This at the time who should have most clearly understood those signs did not. The Pharisees asked the right question “Who but God alone can forgive sins?” They just did not see the answer. Jesus goes further in an attempt to lead them to the answer – he bids the paralytic to get up and walk and we are told they were amazed.

For us we hear the story and the prophecy. We have seen the connection and have professed our belief in the one who came to heal our damaged souls. The difficulty for us is we struggle with the dosage of that medicine that will set us free. We feel that if we take too much we will be seen by others as unnatural – flawed and unable to operate effectively in secular society. Honestly there are side effects to the forgiveness Jesus brings. We will stand out in a crowd of those who have not accepted this reality. We will not be liked because we recognize that in order to stay healthy we must avoid not just fatty foods, but indulgences of other kinds.

Our great joy, joy that offsets the negative opinion of the unenlightened, is the truth of Isaiah’s words. The words that perfectly reflect our season - “Here is your God …he comes to save you.”

Pax

[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture is “Christ Healing the Paralytic” by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, 1730-32
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.

2 comments:

Hakim said...

have we met?

Deacon Jim said...

Hakim - I do not believe we have. I took a quick look at the porfile you posted and I cannot remember having spoken to you before. However, in my secular career I speak with many people so it is possible. Best of luck with your ministry.

Pax,

Dcn. Jim