September 26, 2009
Saturday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD. Zechariah 2:14
And all were astonished by the majesty of God. While they were all amazed at his every deed, he said to his disciples, "Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men." Luke 9:43-44
Piety
Father, help us to hear the word of the LORD so that we can proclaim it on distant coasts and in our own neighborhoods through how we live our lives. Brother Jesus, gather us together so we can care for others as you the shepherd cares for your flock. Holy Spirit, turn our mourning into joy, console and gladden us as we cope with our heart breaks. Amen.
Study
“I am the Alpha and the Omega.” Revelation 22:13
The first and the last. The beginning and the end.
In the totality of experience, the Lord amazes us that He will humble himself and actually come to dwell among us. Yet, with that prophecy fulfilled, so must the next fact also be manifest. That despite our amazement at the wonder of God, we will not only turn our backs on him but actually turn him over to his enemies who will execute him in the most humiliating and painful torture used in his time.
Jesus is roused from his holy dwelling and moves in with the tenants. The Lord’s descent from heaven to a painful hell is complete. The celebration of the Christmas night melts into the suffering of Good Friday when day becomes night.
The Jesus life-experience we witness commands our attention. Yet Jesus lives this way for a reason that is made perfectly evident in today’s Gospel. He needed to do something extraordinary to get our attention as we live through the ordinary. Pay attention to what I am telling you.
Repeatedly over the past few weeks, our readings have reminded us over and over and over and over again not to just listen to the word but also to put it into action. The shocking nature of the revelation made today is the headline of the story. The very people who were worshipping Jesus turned on him a few weeks later. Yet the revelation did not fit with their pre-conceived notion of what the Messiah would be so they rejected the teaching.
Jesus does not want us to stop reading and listening at the headline. Maybe that is why we have the rest of the Good News…to show us how to live. To wake us out of our slumber and put love into action.
Action
Despite the miracles of life and the many signs Jesus introduced into the world, he also existed side by side with suffering. The blind, the lame, the sick, the dead, and many more play prominent roles in Jesus’ public ministry until he experienced the most excruciating pain and suffering around.
We too exist in a world of contrasts. Just consider the homeless men and women living in the shadow of the White House or the Cathedral or the World Bank. Right next to symbols of power, success and authority, we can encounter people in their most vulnerable condition.
Look and listen this week as you go about your life experiences. Look for the contrasts in life that you would otherwise not notice. Listen “with the ear of your heart” to the word of God and see how it can apply to your life. Do this in order to better “pay attention” to what Jesus is telling us today about our life and times and the hurting people who live among us.
