Reflection -- 28 July 2024, "They shall eat and there shall be some left over."

The 1st reading from Mass this morning is taken from the 2nd Book of Kings:

Elisha said, "Give it to the people to eat."  But his servant objected,  "How can I set this before a hundred people?"  Elisha insisted, "Give it to the people to eat."  "For thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'"

And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the LORD had said.

This prophesy by Elisha the prophet is fulfilled in this passage, but is fulfilled more completely in the Gospel reading from St John:

When they had had their fill, he (Jesus) said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted."

So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.

Reflection -- 10 July 2024 "Cover Us" and "Fall Upon Us"

 Today's ( 10 July 24 ) 1st reading Reading from Mass includes:

The king of Samaria shall disappear,

like foam upon the waters.

The high places of Aven shall be destroyed,

the sin of Israel;

thorns and thistles shall overgrow their altars.

Then they shall cry out to the mountains, “Cover us!”

and to the hills, “Fall upon us!”

In the 8th Station of the Way of the Cross, Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, St Luke's Gospel (Luke 23:27 ) presents:

A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him.  Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’

At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?”

St. Irenaeus, who died around the year 200 AD, tells us that scripture is recapitulated in Christ.  We can see that occurring for this passage from the book of the prophet Hosea in The 8th Station of the Cross.

Reflection -- Easter 2024 -- Who would believe what we have heard

The Saturday within the Octave of Easter ( 6 Apr 2024 ), the Mass readings included from the Gospel of St Mark:

But later, as the Eleven were at table, he (Jesus) appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised.

On the next day, Sunday, 7 Apr 2024, the Second Sunday of Easter, when we read of the doubt of St Thomas, we read from the Gospel Of St John:

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord."  But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Frequently, this passage points to the doubt of Thomas, and his belief following his own observance of the risen Christ.

But, one can also see in both of the passages a fulfilment of the prophesy in the book of the prophet Isaiah:

Who would believe what we have heard?*

To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Stained glass window of the Resurrection in St Paul Catholic Church

This photograph shows the stained glass window that is behind the altar of St Paul Catholic Church, North Canton, OH.  You can also see the crucifix which hangs in the sanctuary.

The arm of Lord is clearly depicted in the window of the Resurrection.

Thomas looked at the end of Jesus arm, at the wounds in his hands.  Jesus' arm and the wounds in his hands were revealed to the eleven.

Reflection -- Friday 9 Feb 2024, the 5th week in ordinary time: "Ephphatha!"

The Readings from Mass this morning are an account of Jesus coming to the Decapolis, and the people bringing to him a man who was deaf and mute.

The Gospel contiues:

He (Jesus) took him (The man who was deaf and mute) off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man's ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!") And immediately the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.

As in my previous post which concerned in part "Talitha koum," Jesus speaks, and it happens.  

This is a fulfillment of the psalm (Ps 33;9):

For he spoke, and it came to be, commanded, and it stood in place

 It is also a fulfillment of Ps 148;5 which reads:

Let them all praise the LORD’s name;  for he commanded and they were created

The Book of Judith reads:

Let your every creature serve you; for you spoke, and they were made.  You sent forth your spirit, and it created them; no one can resist your voice.

As when Jesus said to the daughter of Jairus "Talitha Koum," when he says to deaf and mute man "Ephphatha" it happens.  The scriptures are fulfilled.

Reflection -- Tuesday; the 4th week in ordinary time; Jan 30, 2024: Talitha koum

The Readings from Mass today include a selection from the second Book of Samuel, and a portion of the Gospel of St Mark.  "Talitha koum" appears in the Gospel, but I want to comment first on the reading from 2 Samuel.

Yesterday's first reading relates:

An informant came to David with the report,

"The children of Israel have transferred their loyalty to Absalom."

Today we read of the death of Absalom.

Today's first reading recounts the death of David's son Absalom, and David's response on learning of the death of his son, who was in rebellion against him.

The death of Absalom:

Someone saw this and reported to Joab that he had seen Absalom hanging from a terebinth.  And taking three pikes in hand, he thrust for the heart of Absalom, still hanging from the tree alive.

When David is informed of the death of his son, we read:

The king was shaken, and went up to the room over the city gate to weep.  He said as he wept, "My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom!  If only I had died instead of you, Absalom, my son, my son!"

We can see in this scene a reflection of our relationship with God, Our Father.  When we sin we are in rebellion against God, and that was the case from the time of Adam.

If we suffer what the book of Revelation refers to as the second death, the eternal death of hell, as a result of our rebellion against God our Father, He weeps.

Just as Jesus wept at the death of his friend Lazarus, so Our Father weeps when we suffer the second death; when we go to hell.

He says:

If only I had died instead of you.

That is exactly what Jesus does.  He dies on the cross so that we who deserve the second death can be freed, can be reconciled to Our Father, can enter and remain at the wedding feast of the lamb.

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In the Gospel reading Jesus goes with Jairus, because his daughter, a girl of 12, is gravely ill.

We read:

While he (Jesus) was still speaking, people from the synagogue official's house arrived and said, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?"

Jesus goes to the girl's death bed and:

He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum,"

He says "Little girl, I say to you, arise!"

The Gospel continues:

The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.

At that they were utterly astounded.

We see here the scripture fulfilled which says "he speaks and worlds are created."  A girl who was dead has been brought back to life.  A new world was created where the dead come back to life.  This, of course, is made manifest completely in the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Reflection for Wednesday, the 34th week in Ordinary time, 29 Nov 2023: MENE, TEKEL, and PERES

The Readings for Mass on Wednesday, the 34th week in Ordinary time, 29 Nov 2023, involve the handwriting on the wall.  The writing on the wall:

MENE, TEKEL, and PERES

These words, written on the wall, terrified the King of Babylon.  The book of Daniel explains:

When the king saw the wrist and hand that wrote, his face blanched;  his thoughts terrified him, his hip joints shook, and his knees knocked.

Daniel reads and explains the meaning of the words to the King:

This is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, TEKEL, and PERES.

These words mean:

MENE, God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it;

TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting;

PERES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

One may wonder what the King had done to warrant such a sign, and so severe a punishment.

Here is what he had done:

King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his lords, with whom he drank.  Under the influence of the wine, he ordered the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, to be brought in so that the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainers might drink from them.

When the gold and silver vessels taken from the house of God in Jerusalem had been brought in, and while the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainers were drinking wine from them, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

What had the King done?  He, his lords, his wives and his entertainers were drinking wine from the sacred vessels dedicated to the worship of God, and praising their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.  

They had misused the sacred vessels that were for the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the God of Israel, the one true God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

We, who live and breathe, who are body and soul, the sons and daughters of Adam, are vessels for the worship of the one true God.  Let us not misuse these sacred vessels, either ourselves or those around us.

Kathryn Lopez, the Sisters of Life and Ohio's shame

 

At National Review Online, Kathryn Lopez has an article (Ohio Abandoned Women & Babies on Election Day: Sisters of Life Fight for Them | National Review: behind a paywall) concerning abortion in NY state and more recently in Ohio.

She begins by writing about birthdays, and how the Sisters of Life make a point of celebrating birthdays for the women in their care.

Later, she turns to Ohio and writes:

On Election Day, Ohio just expanded abortion — enshrining abortion rights in its constitution — eradicating even parental consent already on the books in the state. That vote didn’t happen because people love abortion. It happened because voters are unsure of what is going on — unclear about what women’s options are. The last people in the country you want to silence or encumber in any way are the Sisters of Life. They make love known. They receive women as they are and love them back into life, as they have so often been used and abused and not seen as the beautiful gifts that they are to the world.

What happened in Ohio on election day 2023 was a travesty.

It took more than 70 years for the Soviet Union (USSR) to collapse after the Bolshevik revolution.  It took 50 years for the US to correct the absurdity of Roe.  One wonders how long before Ohio corrects this serious error.