St Nicholas -- 6 Dec 2021: A Reflection

The readings from Mass today include a section from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah:

            Here is your God,

                he comes with vindication;

            With divine recompense

                he comes to save you.

The psalm (85) includes:

        Truth shall spring out of the earth,

            and justice shall look down from heaven.

And, the Gospel (from St Luke) contains the question:

Who but God alone can forgive sins?

Jesus, the living bread come down from heaven, the way the truth and the life, who is one with the Father, the Son of Man, has the authority on Earth to forgive sins.

The passage from Isaiah is fulfilled in Christ, because HERE IS OUR GOD, who come to saves us.  The psalm is fulfilled in Christ's resurrection and ascension because he who is the Truth has sprung out of the tomb, out of the Earth.  And He who is our justice has ascended into heaven where he looks down upon heaven and earth.

And even more telling the passage about God is fulfilled that says He speaks and worlds are created.  You see, Jesus says to the paralyzed man "rise, pick up your stretcher and go home."  The Gospel then says:

He stood up immediately before them,

picked up what he had been lying on,

and went home, glorifying God. 

We have seen incredible things today.  Yes who would believe what we have heard?  To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

A new world was created, a paralyzed man rose and walked.

The Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist

 In the Office of the Readings for today, 24 June, the non-biblical reading is portion of a sermon by St Augustine where he contrasts Jesus, the word of God, with John, a voice crying in the wilderness:

John was born of a woman too old for childbirth;  Christ was born of a youthful virgin.

Along this line of thought I offer you a poem entitled Voice and Verb:

Children sing tra la tra lay

The meaning lost not found

Empty sounds fill hallowed grounds 

and echo back all day

Passion plays are full of sound

Yet meaning passes on

One, not Juan, a mother's son

From heav'n to earth did bound

Voices carry sound upon

the wind, to distant ears

Welling tears surpassing fears

for hearts so full of song

Verb is keening yet it sears

A heart to mark its' place

Amazing grace, the long embrace

will kiss away your tears

Eschatology or is it "S"chatology

The other day, Monday of the second week of Advent, the readings from Mass included a section from the book of the prophet Isaiah:

                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;

This, of course, reminded me of my poem "S"chatology, which I posted five (5) years ago today:

                            'S'chatology

                              Sharon, desert spring and bloom
                                 the respite on the walk
                              Smiling rays that fill the room
                                 with laughter and with talk

                              Sing over by the window
                                 She's sure to help you out
                              Speaking softly, voice so low
                                 Too intimate to shout


                               Sitting close with lives entwined
                                  with whispered dreams exchanged
                               Slowly breathing love enshrines
                                  the hearts both scared and pained


                               Sharon's splendor, Carmel's fruit
                                  A wearied, anguished love
                               Softly spoken words take root
                                  Bring mercy from above.

Zacchaeus revisited

Last year I posted a reflection regarding Zacchaeus. On Tuesday of this week, the Gospel reading from Mass was again the story of Zacchaeus.

This prompted me to think again about several things.  

The Gospel reading includes:

At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.

Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. 

Zacchaeus was a wealthy man.

About 25 years ago, when my daughter was taking CCD in our parish, she told me one day (and I assumed it was because she had been taught this) that rich people can't be saved.

About 15 years ago, I was teaching CCD to 6th graders in my parish, and they said exactly the same thing to me:  Rich people can't be saved.

I told my daughter at the time that she better hope that what she thought wasn't the case because she was 'rich.'

To the 6th graders I took a different approach.  We were using a pamphlet provided by the CCD office dicussing saints.  On the cover of the pamphlet were images of several Saints, including Francis of Assisi, Katherine Drexel among others.

I pointed out that both Francis, and Katherine were extremely wealthy young people, yet the Church had declared them Saints.  I pointed out how Francis had renounced his inheritance, while Katherine had used hers in service of the Church's mission to educate black and indian children.

Zacchaeus was a wealthy man.  But it was to him that Jesus came and spoke:

Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.

He followed up that statement and ended the Gospel passage by saying:

Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.   For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.

The rich are called to salvation too.

Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the so-called "Common Era"

 Rosh Hashanah, the head of the Jewish Year, began at sundown on 18 Sept 2020.  My calendar, the 2020 Religious Arts Calander, indicates that this began year 5781.

Yom Kippur begins this evening, 27 Sept 2020, at sundown.  On Friday of the 25th week in ordinary time, 25 Sept 2020, the office of the readings included a section from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel:

On the tenth day of the month beginning the twentyfifth year of our exile, fourteen years after the city was taken, that very day the hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me in divine visions to the land of Israel, where he set me down on a very high mountain.

Yom Kippur is the 10th day after Rosh Hashanah, the head or beginning of the Jewish year.  Ezekiel is having these visions on Yom Kippur.

It is interesting to note he doesn't say the year is 571 BC, or 571 BCE.  No, he sets the year as relating to the year "the city was taken," and the "year of our exile."

The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, is not the 1st of January, and it doesn't begin at midnight with a ball drop at Times Square in NYC.

The Jewish calendar is not 'common' with the calendar that we use.  The Jewish year is 5781, not 2020.  The Jewish day is not midnight to midnight, nor are the months in the Jewish calendar named January, February, March etc.  The Jewish months are named Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, etc.

Jewish months do not follow the rule:

Thirty days has September, April, June and November...

No, Jewish months are a lunar cycle, new moon to new moon.  Islamic months are also lunar.

It is an error to label the years in our calendar CE for Common Era, and BCE for Before Common Era.

We follow the Gregorian Calendar.  In the Gregorian Calendar it is appropriate to use the terms Before Christ (BC), and the Year of our Lord, Anno Dominum (AD).

Would that we as a culture would recognize this truth, and act accordingly.

Our Temporary Home

The other day, Wednesday 13 May 2020, the non-biblical reading from the Office of readings in the Liturgy of the Hours was a section of a letter to Diognetus.  Liturgically, it was an optional memorial for Our Lady of Fatima, but I read from the Wednesday of the fifth week of Easter.

The letter includes:

Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs.  They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life.  Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men.  Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine.  With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in whether it is Greek or foreign.

And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives.  They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through... 

This little subsection reminded me of several things.  

Firstly, there is my Bishop, George Murry SJ, who is currently facing his third bout with Leukemia, and has written a regular column in the Diocesan newspaper with the heading On The Road to Jerusalem.  You understand, that we are on the road to the Heavenly Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

Secondly, I recalled the video below by Kerry Underwood entitled Temporary Home.

Windows in rooms we're passing through.
This is just a stop on the way to where we're going
I'm not afraid because I know
This is our temporary home.

My dad reminded me several times, maybe many times, that  "This too shall Pass."

The heavenly Jerusalem shall never pass away, but all the difficulties of this place will pass away.  

So, whether it is school shootings, World Wars, Race riots, or the Wuhan virus and the consequences of the governments response to it, THIS TOO SHALL PASS.

Because, this is our temporary home, not where we belong, windows in rooms we're passing through.  This is just a stop, on the way to where we're going......

Re-posting -- Easter : Eight Days a week

I posted this, originally in 2018, but I was reminded of it again this week, so I'm reposting it today.

␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥␥

When I was young, the Beetles had a popular song entitled Eight Days a Week.  Here's a video of it.

It so happens that the Church celebrates Easter for Eight Days in a row, 8 days a week.  She calls it an Octave.  The Readings from Mass on Next Saturday,  7 April 2018 have a heading which reads:
Saturday in the Octave of Easter.
The Gospel readings for Mass during this week  are full of readings involving Easter Day.  

Monday:

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce the news to his disciples.

Tuesday:

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb weeping.  And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been.

Wednesday:

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.

Thursday

The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread.

While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."

Friday:

Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.  He revealed himself in this way.  Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples.

Friday's does not so much deal with Easter Day, but as another post resurrection appearance of Jesus.

Saturday:

When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.  She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping.

Sunday:
(The eighth day of Easter)

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."

8 Days a week, I love you.
8 Days a week are not enough to show I care.

Jesus cares for us so very much.  Peter tells us:
Cast all your cares on him, because he cares for you.