Week 34, Sunday. Solemnity: Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

ANTIPHON

How worthy is the Lamb Who was slain,
to receive power and divinity,
and wisdom and strength and honor.
To Him belong glory and power for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:12; 1:6)

COLLECT

Almighty ever-living God,
Whose will is to restore all things
in Your beloved Son, the King of the universe,
grant, we pray, that the whole creation,
set free from slavery,
may render Your majesty service
and ceaselessly proclaim Your praise.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (click for full Psalm)

The LORD is king; he is robed in majesty. (Psalm 93: 1).

GOSPEL EXCERPT (click for all readings)

“Pilate said to Jesus,
“Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?”
Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?”
Jesus answered, “My kingdom (ἡ βασιλεία ἡ ἐμὴ, he basileia he eme) does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom (ἡ βασιλεία ἡ ἐμή) did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom (ἡ βασιλεία ἡ ἐμὴ) is not here.”
So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?”
Jesus answered, “You say I am a king.
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens (ἀκούει, akouei) to my voice.”” (John 18:33-37)

REFLECTION

Dialogues are always revealing throughout Sacred Scripture. Beginning with the conversation between Eve and the Serpent to the dialogue between Jesus and the Woman of Samaria at the Well, the interchange of words between people has been quite noteworthy. In the Johannine pericope proclaimed this Sunday, Jesus’ dialogue with Pilate reveals much in terms of Jesus’ identity, mission and purpose in life. Intrigued by Jesus yet concerned about Rome and the crowd, Pilate nonetheless questions Jesus about kingship. Saint Augustine notes at this point in Jesus’ life: “It was not that Jesus was afraid to confess himself a king, but the phrase “you say” is nuanced enough that He neither denies himself to be a king (for he is a king whose kingdom is not of this world), nor does he confess that he is such a king as to warrant the supposition that his kingdom is of this world. For, since this was the very idea in Pilate’s mind when he said, ’“Are you a king then?” the answer Pilate received was, “You say that I am a king.” For it was said, “You say,” as if it had been said, since you are worldly, you say it in a worldly way (Tractates on the Gospel of John, 115).” What is noteworthy in this dialogue is that Jesus shifts Pilate’s emphasis on king (since Pilate can only think of kingship in terms of Roman rule) to kingdom. In other words, as far as Jesus is concerned, the proper focus is not on Him, but on His way of living, a way of living He (Jesus) described all throughout His Public Ministry as the Kingdom of God.

In this Year of Faith in which we heed Pope Benedict’s call for a New Evangelization, the Gospel experience of the Kingdom is quite central. In fact when Pope Paul VI penned the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (On Evangelizing in our Day, a document very important in grasping the methodology of the New Evangelization), he noted the centrality of Kingdom in Jesus’ work. “As an evangelizer, Christ first of all proclaims a kingdom, the kingdom of God; and this is so important that, by comparison, everything else becomes “the rest,” which is “given in addition.” Only the kingdom therefore is absolute and it makes everything else relative. The Lord will delight in describing in many ways the happiness of belonging to this kingdom (a paradoxical happiness which is made up of things that the world rejects), the demands of the kingdom and its Magna Charta, the heralds of the kingdom, its mysteries, its children, the vigilance and fidelity demanded of whoever awaits its definitive coming (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 8).” Clearly, Pope Paul VI sees “the Kingdom of God” has the central experience of Jesus’ Public Ministry; so central that everything in His ministry is grounded in “the Kingdom.” Similarly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraphs 541 through 556) examines the manifold depth of “the Kingdom” in Jesus’ Public Ministry. Hence, on this Solemnity of Jesus’ Kingship, a consideration of the Gospel reality of Kingdom is most apropos.

1. The “Kingdom of God” is God the Father intervening in a definitive manner. The Kingdom is not necessarily or strictly a specific place, although ‘place’ will be a dimension of the Kingdom as a way of living. The Kingdom is a way of living, an ongoing activity initiated by God the Father in loving concern for beings that have been created in His image and likeness. This is an important dimension of the Greek βασιλεία (basileia, as a verb: “to rule”). We have become addicted to sin in such a way that we cannot break free from its grip by our own power. We have come to enjoy sin too much. Sin’s tentacles have woven deeply into our lives that often we cannot see or think clearly. We may from time-to-time have great desires to rid ourselves of sin, desires that are marvelous but desires that do not contain within themselves the power to effect what is desired. More often than not, however, sin has dulled our senses to Divine Love. Sin has numbed us into complacency and entitlement to the point that we even approach the things of God and Church from a selfish point of view with no regard to the life of faith as engagement with the Divine Persons who call me as an individual and as a community to ongoing conversion manifesting charity and service to the Body of Christ. So powerless over sin, so addicted to the false self we have become that an intervention is needed: the “Kingdom of God.”

2. This intervention is a work of power, a power that transforms and surpasses the power of Creation. God the Father’s work is quintessentially a work of restoration, not annihilation. Ask anyone in construction and he or she will tell you that it is often easier to raze a building and start over than to renovate or restore. Renovating an existing structure that does not have a level, plumb or square line in it makes restoration tedious and time consuming, not to mention the ‘surprises’ lurking behind old plaster and lathe. Yet ask any restorer when the project is complete and most likely she or he will tell you that in spite of its challenges and frustrations, it was and continues to be a labor of love. Such is the Kingdom. Neither Creation nor humanity is destroyed. The Creator does not raze the created order and begin anew. Even though humanity makes continuous choices reinforcing the addiction to sin, the Father – with eyes of loves – gazes upon each human person in such a way that each of us are declared “precious.” So precious are we in the sight of God the Father, that none of us are disposable, expendable or useless. Each of us has a particular vocation in the Father’s plan of salvation and our very being is so precious to the Father that the loving, transforming power of His Kingdom calls us from the addiction to our false selves to our true selves as icons of the Father’s love.

3. This transforming power becomes a way of living, hence not a specific ‘place’ that one can absolutely pinpoint. You cannot use Google Maps or a GPS device to find the Kingdom. The Kingdom is God the Father’s way of living. It is a way of living that is the Son, Jesus. He lives each moment of His life attentive to His Father’s word and will. Spending nights in communion with His Father, Jesus teaches with His life that Kingdom living is living joined, connected, related – whatever words you wish to use – to God the Father. As a way of living, the Kingdom is a radical embrace of the First Commandment: no one nor no thing nor anything we deem important comes before the Father or interferes with our relationship with Him. Kingdom living is life that provides the essentials to a sister or brother in need (Matthew 25) and celebrates, praise and thanks the Father for all that He is doing in life (cf. Luke 1:46-55, “The Magnificat”). It is in this sense that one can speak of the Kingdom as ‘a place.’ Wherever one is when living as the Father commands and bound to the Person Jesus, there is the Kingdom.

4. The Kingdom, as a way of living, has been prepared by the prophets of Old. Many of the prophets called Israel to authentic worship, a message that is still quite valid despite present, misguided and weak arguments that attempt – erroneously – at a division between religion and spirituality. For the prophets, the spiritual relationship formed by the covenant necessarily bound one (religion) freely to observe and practice a continuous, ongoing change-of-heart. The prophets knew that the ‘energy’ required to live justly as a covenant person (spirituality) did not come from within a person by himself or herself. Such living depended upon the mercy of God celebrated and experienced in authentic worship. Such worship then propelled one to be an instrument of charitable service in the world acting, not on one’s own initiative and power, but in the name of God (Christoph Schönborn, God Sent His Son: A Contemporary Christology, page 172-173).

5. The Kingdom, as a way of living, is now definitely revealed and embodied in Jesus. Here, all ambiguity concerning the Kingdom is erased. The Kingdom is essentially a Person, the Person Jesus: “only He can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 426).” The Incarnation makes the Kingdom a reality in the created order to effect the Father’s loving transformation of everything, most especially the human heart. Responding and living the love revealed to us in Christ Jesus is the essential work and live of the “Kingdom of God.”

Standing before Pilate, Jesus testifies to a final aspect of the Kingdom: apparent powerlessness (Joachim Gnilka, Jesus of Nazareth: Message and History, page 150). In a Gospel that does not have many references to the Kingdom, Jesus – throughout the Johannine Gospel – witnesses with His own life that the way of love is the way of the Cross. It is in His Cross that Jesus’ kingly rule gives His citizens their final lesson of how to live in this unique Kingdom: willingly letting go of self unconditionally to do the will of the One Who has sent each of us into the world.

PREFACE

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation
always and everywhere to give You thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

For You anointed Your Only Begotten Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, with the oil of gladness
as eternal Priest and King of all creation,
so that, by offering Himself on the altar of the Cross
as a spotless sacrifice to bring us peace,
He might accomplish the mysteries of human redemption
and, making all created things subject to His rule,
He might present to the immensity of Your majesty
an eternal and universal Kingdom,
a Kingdom of truth and life,
a Kingdom of holiness and grace,
a Kingdom of justice, love and peace.

And so, with Angels and Archangels,
with Thrones and Dominions,
and with all the hosts and Powers of Heaven,
we sing the hymn of Your glory,
as without end we acclaim ...

Week 33, Thanksgiving Day (USA). Word of THE WORD

ANTIPHON

Sing and make music to the Lord in your hearts
always thanking God the Father for all things
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Ephesians 5:19-20)

COLLECT

Father all-powerful,
Your gifts of love are countless
and Your goodness infinite;
as we come before You on Thanksgiving Day
with gratitude for Your kindness,
open our hearts to have concern
for every man, woman, and child,
so that we may share Your gifts in loving service.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (click for full Psalm)

The Lamb has made us a kingdom of priests to serve our God. (Revelation5:10).

GOSPEL EXCERPT (click for all readings)

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem,
he saw the city and wept (ἔκλαυσεν, eklausen) over it, saying,
“If this day you only knew (ἔγνως, egnos) what makes for peace -
but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you
when your enemies will raise a palisade against you;
they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the ground and your children within you,
and they will not leave one stone upon another within you
because you did not recognize (ἔγνως, egnos) the time of your visitation (ἐπισκοπῆς, episkopes).”

REFLECTION

Many parishes in the United States, no doubt, will use the proper Mass of Thanksgiving Day as presented in the Roman Missal on this day that the universal Church commemorates the life of the saintly Roman woman-martyr, Cecilia. (Perhaps the Collect of Saint Cecilia could be used to conclude the General Intercessions.) The Mass of Thanksgiving Day presents a number of choices from God’s Word with the favorite Gospel episode falling most of the time to the “Cleansing of the Ten Lepers” in Luke 17. The Ordo for the United States permits another option for today: the sequential Readings from Revelation and Luke 19:41-44. While a strictly “thanksgiving” theme may not be apparent instantly in Luke 19, there is an aspect of the event that provides a foundation ‘to give thanks’ in an authentic manner.

The major section of the Lucan Gospel is Jesus’ journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. The elements of travel, especially trips involving obstacles that are overcome by Divine Providence and a resilient spirit on the part of genuine disciples, shape many of the insights Saint Luke records. In recording the events of 41-44, Luke is unique among the Evangelists in capturing the weeping Jesus as Jerusalem comes into His view. Jesus sheds not a plastic tear nor a tear of insincerity. κλαίω (klaio), the Greek verb translated here as wept, is connected more properly to the Old Testament experience of lament, particularly the Psalms of Lament and the Book of Lamentations. Lament (and its opposite: praise) are initial, spontaneous expressions of the whole person to a given person, place, object or event. First-responders and medical professionals, especially those working in an Emergency Room, are familiar with lament. Sometimes the sight of a tragedy or devastating news given to another person sparks a lament. People present may ‘hear’ sounds from the person that are unintelligible yet speak of the overwhelming grief that has befallen one. A person may not even know what is coming out of her or his mouth. In other situations, a person may faint on receiving news that a loved one has died. The fainting is not willed; a person does not choose to faint – it happens as an autonomic response to tragedy ‘sensed’ by the whole person.

This is ‘where’ Jesus is. The mere glimpse of Jerusalem in the offing sparks a deep, autonomic response of grief. Why? The people of Jerusalem made a choice ‘not to get’ Jesus and His message of Kingdom living or as the Sacred Text states, “you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” “To recognize” (ἔγνως, [egnos] from γινώσκω [ginosko]) is both a rich and important verb in Greek. There are a number of verbs that are often translated “to know” in English. Briefly, the distinction among γινώσκω (ginosko) and many other “to know” verbs consists in the ‘object’ of knowledge. When γινώσκω is used in the Sacred Scriptures, it often speaks of people ‘getting it.’ γινώσκω is being hit with the proverbial ‘ton of bricks.’ γινώσκω expresses those wow moments of life when the ‘lights go on.’ γινώσκω is not about book knowledge or facts; it has to do more with ‘making connections that establish life, or deepen an existing experience of life.’ γινώσκω is a knowing that impacts one to the core of her or his being and gives one a confidence that is unshaken as the knowing is grounded in being connected, being in relationship with and to another. No wonder, as His Public Ministry winds to a close, Jesus is filled with lament at the choice so many made to block Him from their experience of life.

I mentioned at the beginning that there were aspect of this event that provide a basis or a foundation for authentic thanksgiving. Authentic thanksgiving involves ‘knowing’ on a deep level and certainly a level that involves one’s relationships with the Divine Persons and the whole array of human persons that have become part of life. Authentic thanksgiving is not plastic nor insincere superficiality: it is about taking a good, hard look at the connections that are Divine and human in life and to permit that ‘recognition’ to erupt – not in lament – but in praise! The ‘table’ – so important and sacred a meeting place for Jesus and many people in Luke, – is sacred today (and everyday!) in our homes because it is the place where we first learned the lessons of being authentically human and the vitality of our connection to others. Those lesson and those experience around the home-table prepare us for another meal where we learn the lesson of sacrificial living: the Table of the Lord – the Altar of Sacrifice that has room for all so that we may all ‘get it’ – knowing and connecting with the Person Jesus Who in love, has offered salvation to all. In ‘getting that,’ how can one not sing, shout, proclaim: “Thank you, Lord Jesus!”

Week 33, Sunday. Words of THE WORD

ANTIPHON

“The Lord said: I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. You will call upon me, and I will answer you, and I will lead back your captives from every place.” (Jeremiah 29:11,12,14)

COLLECT

Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God,
the constant gladness of being devoted to You,
for it is full and lasting happiness
to serve with constancy
the Author of all that is good.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (click for full Psalm)

You are my inheritance, O Lord! (Psalm 16:1).

SCRIPTURE EXCERPT (click for all readings)

“Brothers and sisters:
Every priest stands daily at his ministry,
offering frequently those same sacrifices
that can never take away sins.
But this one offered one sacrifice for sins,
and took his seat forever at the right hand of God;
now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool.
For by one offering (προσφορᾷ, prosphora)
he has made perfect (τετελείωκεν, teteleioken) forever those who are being consecrated (ἁγιαζομένους, hagiazomenous).
Where there is forgiveness (ἄφεσις, aphesis) of these,
there is no longer offering for sin.
(Hebrews 10:11-14, 18).”

REFLECTION

In the current cycle of Scripture for Sunday Mass, today concludes the sequential proclamation from the Letter to the Hebrews. Fittingly, this Sunday’s Sacred Text focuses on Jesus’ sacrificial work that has profound implications for us in terms of our relationship with His Father.

προσφορά (prosphora) is the Greek word typically translated into English as “sacrifice” or “oblation.” Lost somewhere in the contemporary usage of “sacrifice” is Antiquity’s and the Letter to the Hebrews’ clear insistence that the act of sacrifice is voluntary by nature and definition. No outside force, coercion, law or custom shadows the act of sacrifice. ‘That which is given’ in sacrifice is done so freely and unconditionally. As a noun, προσφορά (prosphora) is rooted in the Greek verb προσφέρω (prosphero) which, in the literal sense, is translated into English as “to carry to,” “to lead to” or “to present to.” Within the Letter to the Hebrews this underscores a vital aspect of Jesus’ freely offered sacrifice of Himself. He intends His sacrifice to carry, to lead – ultimately to present all people to His Father. Why? His sacrifice perfects.

The logical question that surfaces here is ‘what does it mean to be perfect?’ The question certainly rose in Jesus’ Public Ministry within the context of His solemn teaching on Kingdom living in the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew) and the “Sermon on the Plain” (Luke). Left to ourselves, we ‘invent’ all sorts of meanings and images to describe ‘perfection.’ Some of the Fathers of the Church, Saint Gregory of Nyssa to name one, even wrote a work On Christian Perfection. The key here (as it always is in terms of Christian living) is to grasp the biblical meaning of perfection and more precisely a Gospel meaning of perfection. Fundamentally, perfection has little to do with accomplishing goals I set for myself. How often do any of us think, ‘well – if I can stop doing x,y and/or z, I’ll have it made, I will be perfect.’ Most of us dare not voice that thought as friends and confidants would correct us instantly. While there may be a good or many goods that come with attaining or accomplishing good goals that I set, the difficulty is the fact that “I” (along with “me” and “myself”) am the one who set the goal or goals. Perfection, as a biblical work, is a condition that Jesus’ sacrifice has effected for each and for all.

In pre-Christian Antiquity, the Greeks recognized that τελειόω (teleioo) involved a certain wholeness or completeness. For the reason, the verb was often used in the passive voice indicating that someone or something else was instrumental ‘in bringing one to a state of wholeness or completeness.’ Minimally, one could not ‘accomplish’ perfection on one’s own. Yet in terms of Jesus and especially how this is expressed in the Letter to the Hebrews, this ‘perfecting’ has a very specific orientation that is expressed in terms of relational living. The perfection that is the fruit of Jesus’ one-and-for-all-atoning-sacrifice enables “those who are being consecrated” to “stand before and with the Father.” The act of Christian perfection is a work done by Jesus whereby He carries and presents us to His Father that we may stand before and with the Father.’

It seems so passive; almost as if the believer does nothing and Jesus does ‘all the work.’ Yes in the sense of no, no in the sense of yes. There can be no standing before and with God the Father without the one-and-for-all-atoning-sacrifice-freely-given by Jesus. It is impossible. And (not but, not yet) this work of Jesus requires each believer to seek forgiveness of sins. Like perfection, forgiveness has all sorts of meanings in popular usage. Typically, the Greek noun ἄφεσις (aphesis) is translated into English by the word forgiveness. ἄφεσις (aphesis) is part of a family of Greek words, particularly verbs that convey a sense of moving, sending, letting go and releasing. “To forgive” expresses clearly that one has been unable to move, one has been stuck, one’s life has not grown. In this light, ἄφεσις is an intervention from without or an intervention by another whereby power is brought to a given reality that cuts the restraints that, up to the particular moment, have made any movement impossible. While it is crucial ‘to get’ that ἄφεσις involves another from the outside (in this case, the necessary work of Jesus), the believer must permit the release to occur and to avoid anyone or anything that will restrain or halt movement that is ultimately directed towards union with God our Father.

As many will observe a day of Thanksgiving this Thursday, Jesus and what He has done for us must consciously be on the list of persons for whom we are thankful. Whether one marks this Thursday as a particular day to give thanks, each time Jesus summons us to His Table, He does so to provide us with an opportunity to give thanks, the literal sense of the word Eucharist. There is no better way to demonstrate our gratitude than to seek His life in such a way that He may present each and all of us to His Father.

Week 32, Sunday. Words of THE WORD

ANTIPHON (click for full Psalm)

“Let my prayer come into Your presence. Incline Your ear to my cry for help, O Lord." (Psalm 88:3)

COLLECT

Almighty and merciful God,
graciously keep from us all adversity,
so that, unhindered in mind and body alike,
we may pursue in freedom of heart
the things that are yours.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (click for full Psalm)

Praise the Lord, my soul! (Psalm 146:1).

SCRIPTURE EXCERPT (click for all readings)

“Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands,
a copy of the true one, but heaven itself,
that he might now appear before God on our behalf.
Not that he might offer himself repeatedly,
as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary
with blood that is not his own;
if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly
from the foundation of the world.
But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages
to take away sin by his sacrifice.
Just as it is appointed that human beings die once,
and after this the judgment, so also Christ,
offered once to take away the sins of many,
will appear a second time, not to take away sin
but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.”
(Letter to the Hebrews 9:24-28).

REFLECTION

Alexandria’s celebrated third-century evangelizer and catechist, Origen, begins this Sunday’s reflection on the Letter to the Hebrews: “If the ancient custom of sacrifices is clear to you, let us see what these things also contain according to the mystical understanding. You heard that there were two sanctuaries: one, as it were, visible and open to the priests; the other, as it were, invisible and inaccessible. With the exception of the high priest alone, the others were outside. I think this first sanctuary can be understood as this church in which we are now placed in the flesh, in which the priests minister “at the altar of the whole burnt offerings” with that fire kindled about which Jesus said, “I came to cast fire upon the earth, and would that it were already kindled.” And I do not want you to marvel that this sanctuary is open only to the priests. For all who have been anointed with the chrism of the sacred anointing have become priests, just as Peter says to all the church, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” Therefore you are a priestly race, and because of this you approach the sanctuary…. Therefore the priesthood is exercised in this way in the first sanctuary and the offerings are offered. And from this sanctuary the high priest, dressed in the sanctified garments, proceeds and enters into the interior of the veil just as we already pointed out above in citing the words of Paul, “Christ has entered not into a sanctuary made with hands but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” Therefore, the place of heaven and the throne itself of God are designated by the figure and the image of the interior sanctuary (Homilies On Leviticus, 9).”

Throughout the Letter to the Hebrews, a contrast is made between the Day of Atonement ritual (the holiest Day in Jewish life, Yom Kippur) and the uniqueness of Who Jesus is and His sacrificial death. With that contrast, another one – somewhat subtler – exists: accessibility and inaccessibility to Divine Life. In terms of life in the Ancient Near Eastern world, sacrifice was a common practice – originally in the polytheistic traditions and continuing later in the monotheistic world. While scholarly debate studies the purpose of sacrifice in the polytheistic world, it is clear that the monotheistic tradition, beginning with Abraham, viewed sacrifice in a different light. Grounded in the Hebrew verb “to cut,” – berit – covenants, especially the covenant of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with humanity, had a particular ‘task’ – the cutting away of selfishness from life. The relationship uniquely offered by God to humanity required both an exterior and an interior change of heart. That conversion, made possible by the atoning death of Jesus, makes love possible and in the end defines Christian love.

Stated another way, “It is love “to the end” that confers on Christ’s sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he offered his life. Now “the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.” No man, not even the holiest, was ever able to take on himself the sins of all men and offer himself as a sacrifice for all. The existence in Christ of the divine person of the Son, who at once surpasses and embraces all human persons, and constitutes himself as the Head of all mankind, makes possible his redemptive sacrifice for all. “The Council of Trent emphasizes the unique character of Christ’s sacrifice as “the source of eternal salvation” and teaches that “his most holy Passion on the wood of the cross merited justification for us.” and the Church venerates his cross as she sings: “Hail, O Cross, our only hope (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 616-617).”

Thus with a continued focus in this “Year of Faith” on the encounter with the Person Jesus, the Letter to the Hebrews this Sunday places His sacrifice in such a focus that the individual believer and the entire community must come to terms with all obstacles – visible and invisible – that weaken the encounter with Jesus. The love that all persons so deeply hunger for is a love born of sacrifice, a most unique sacrifice offered by a most unique Person, Jesus the Christ.

Week 31, Friday. Feast of the Dedication of Saint John Lateran Basilica, Rome

On this day in 324, lands and buildings that originally belonged to the Roman Laterani family were formally dedicated as the Cathedral Church of Rome by Pope Sylvester I. The during the reign of Emperor Nero, the Laterani family lost the property to the Emperor when a family member was accused of some unknown impropriety against Nero. From the the time of Nero to the early years of the fourth century, the ‘ownership history’ is somewhat sketchy as the property eventually passes to Constantine's wife, Fausta. What is clear is that with the Edict of Toleration, the Roman Empire's relationship with the Church changed dramatically. Not only were bishops appointed civil magistrates by the emperor, Constantine also began an aggressive 'renovation' project taking existing Roman buildings and permitting the bishops to use them for places of worship and ecclesiastical gatherings/meetings. New buildings were also constructed during this time and dedicated as Churches to signal the Church’s clear visible presence in the Empire. Robin Jensen notes that this ‘church building campaign’ “symbolized the beginning of Christianity’s transition from a minority community adapting what it had available and expressing itself in familiar terms, to a powerful, wealthy and dominant segment of the population, now able to determine the forms and styles by which it expressed its own cultural identity. The imposing scale and potential grandeur of the basilica design well suited the gradually more elaborate liturgy, even as it reflected the changed social and political status of the church and became a definitive and monumental symbol of the church’s new self-understanding and cultural integration (Christianity: Origins to Constantine, page 585).”

ANTIPHON

“I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2)

COLLECT

O God,
Who from living and chosen stones
prepare an eternal dwelling for Your majesty,
increase in your Church
the spirit of grace you have bestowed,
so that by new growth your faithful people
may build up the heavenly Jerusalem.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High! (Psalm 46, 5).

SCRIPTURE EXCERPT

“Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace." His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his Body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.” (John 2:13-22).

Ordinary Time Week 31: TuesdayElection Day 2012 (USA)

As citizens in the United States of America vote today for our new President, may the Lord’s blessing be upon our land and indeed the entire world.

SCRIPTURE

“His help is near for those who fear Him and His glory will dwell in our land. Psalm 85” Click for full Psalm.

COLLECT

(This prayer is taken from The Roman Missal, “Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions, #21: For the Nation or State”)

O God,
Who arrange all things according
to a wonderful design,
graciously receive the prayers
we pour out to You for our country,
that, through the wisdom of its leaders and
the integrity of its citizens,
harmony and justice may be assured
and lasting prosperity come with peace.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever.

Week 31, Sunday. Prayer for Fine Weather and Charity

With an extra hour of sleep to strengthen many of us for cleaning up after Sandy, an appropriate prayer for fine weather is offered together with continued prayer for first-responders, electrical linemen, those supplying and delivering water, food, clothing, shelter and gasoline and all involved in restoring order in the wake of Sandy’s chaos. May all be safe and may all lives be marked by patience, service and gratitude. Grant, O Lord, eternal rest to all who died and comfort to their families.

SCRIPTURE

“Praise the Lord from the earth, sea creatures and all oceans, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy winds that obey His word! Psalm 148” Click for full Psalm.

COLLECT

(This prayer is taken from The Roman Missal, “Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions, #36:  For Fine Weather”)

Almighty ever-living God,
Who heal us through correction and save us
by Your forgiveness,
grant to those who seek Your favor
that we may rejoice at the good weather
for which we hope and
always use what in Your goodness
You bestow for the glory of Your Name
and for our well-being.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever.

(This prayer is taken from The Roman Missal, “Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions, #40: For Charity”)

Set our hearts aflame, O Lord,
with the Spirit of your charity, we pray,
that we may always think thoughts
worthy and pleasing to Your majesty
and love You sincerely in our brothers and sisters.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the
Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever.

Week 31, Sunday. Words of THE WORD

ANTIPHON (click for full Psalm)

“Forsake me not, O Lord, my God; be not far from me! Make haste and come to my help, O Lord, my strong salvation!" (Psalm 38:27-28)

COLLECT

Almighty and merciful God,
by whose gift your faithful offer You
right and praiseworthy service,
grant, we pray,
that we may hasten without stumbling
to receive the things you have promised.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM (click for full Psalm)

I love you, Lord, my strength. (Psalm 18:2).

SCRIPTURE EXCERPT (click for all readings)

“Brothers and sisters:
The levitical priests were many
because they were prevented by death from remaining in office,
but Jesus, because he remains forever,
has a priesthood that does not pass away.
Therefore, he is always able to save (σῴζειν, sozein) those who approach (προσερχομένους, proserchomenous) God through him,
since he lives forever to make intercession (ἐντυγχάνειν, entugchanein) for them.
It was fitting that we should have such a high priest:
holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners,
higher than the heavens.
He has no need, as did the high priests,
to offer sacrifice day after day,
first for his own sins and then for those of the people;
he did that once for all when he offered himself.
For the law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests,
but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law,
appoints a son,
who has been made perfect forever”
(Letter to the Hebrews 7:23-28).

REFLECTION

This Sunday’s proclamation from the Letter to the Hebrews places Jesus, Son and appointed High Priest, front and center in the Sacred Text as well as in the center of the disciple’s life as Jesus is the locus of and point of contact with salvation. He is salvation. Contrasted with the Levitical priests of Old, Jesus the Son and High Priest differs not solely in terms of function but in His very being. Because of Who Jesus is, He consequently acts in a manner different from those whose priesthood is subjected to the finitude of present existence. The fact that Jesus “remains” recalls the rich imagery from the Gospel according to Saint John that speaks of His abiding presence and His dwelling among us. One recalls “Emmanuel” from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew that not only promises “God-with-us” in the beginning but also the promise “I am with you until the end of the ages.” Thus the declaration that “He [Jesus] remains” underscores not only a temporal existence but a ‘being-with,’ an indwelling animating the life of the disciple. Furthermore, Jesus’ Priesthood is unique in that it is “a priesthood that does not pass away (ἀπαράβατον, aparabaton).” In Greek, ἀπαράβατος is used rarely in the New Testament and scholars debate various shades of meaning as the word can mean “without a successor,” “immutable” and “non-transferable.” While certainly respecting linguistic and historical studies, theologically is makes good sense to keep all these translations as each sheds a particular light on the Person Jesus and His Priesthood. True, the translations may not do anything for Him, but for us as His disciples, each word is crucial in how each believer approaches the High Priest, Jesus the Son.

The Letter to the Hebrews is clear that Jesus’ Priesthood is ordered to others and others is defined here particularly those who need to be healed; in other words everyone who is a sinner – all of us! What is interesting though in this part of the text is the implication of what everyone ought to be doing: approaching God [the Father]! That movement can not be done on one’s own and requires an intervention of Someone ‘saving us.’ σῴζειν (sozein), the Greek verb “to save,” conveys two motions that must be taken together: “to remove from a dangerous situation” AND “to bring to safety.” σῴζειν, as understood in antiquity, is not a singular activity. As good as removal from a dangerous situation truly is, whatever one is removed from must be delivered to an experience of safety. A good part of this meaning of σῴζειν is rooted in Greek medicine that viewed the removal of illness or disease as only 1 part of medicine’s art. The elimination of disease, a good in itself, must be completed by an environment and actions that not only sustain but promote health and enable a person to thrive. This is the unique work of Jesus’ Priesthood seen previously in the Letter to the Hebrews referencing His atoning and sacrificial death. In this section of the Letter to the Hebrews, Jesus’ saving Priesthood is also expressed by His life that ‘lives forever to intercede for us.’

“To make intercession (ἐντυγχάνειν, entugchanein)” is rooted in the language of voicing a complaint or making an appeal. What is most noteworthy is that in antiquity, the complaint or the appeal was secondary to the fact that either HAD TO BE DONE IN PERSON! (Recall times dealing with ‘customer service’ and being put on hold … would things be different if we could talk with someone in customer service eyeball-to-eyeball, mano-a-mano?) The image here is once again one of being an Advocate, a Paraclete. In his Theological Oration IV: On the Son, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus writes, “Petition does not imply here, as it does in popular parlance, a desire for legal satisfaction; there is something humiliating in the idea. No, it means interceding for us in his role of mediator, in the way that the Spirit too is spoken of as “making petition” on our behalf. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Even at this moment he is, as human, interceding for my salvation, until he makes me divine by the power of his incarnate humanity. “As human,” I say, because he still has with him the body he assumed, though he is no longer “regarded as human,” meaning the bodily experiences, which, sin aside, are ours and his. This is the “advocate” we have in Jesus—not a slave who falls prostrate before the Father on our behalf. Get rid of what is really a slavish suspicion, unworthy of the Spirit. It is not in God to make the demand, nor in the Son to submit to it; the thought is unjust to God. No, it is by what he suffered as man that he persuades us, as Word and encourager, to endure. That, for me, is the meaning of his “advocacy.””

Once again, the Word of God in speaking of the unique Priesthood of Jesus the Son of God, we are dealing with a Divine Person Who, like the Other Divine Persons, desires our heart, mind, body, soul and strength. Jesus the Son of our Father desires to be-in-communion-with-us and for that encounter to spark an ongoing relationship with Him as Person. Putting it another way, ““At the heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a Person, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son from the Father. . .who suffered and died for us and who now, after rising, is living with us forever.” To catechize is “to reveal in the Person of Christ the whole of God‘s eternal design reaching fulfilment in that Person. It is to seek to understand the meaning of Christ‘s actions and words and of the signs worked by him.” Catechesis aims at putting “people . . . in communion . . . with Jesus Christ: only he can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 426).””