|
Sorrow... Read: Luke 19:45- 48 |
|
The Gospel Reading sparks many memories of hearing this Gospel for years and the homilies given on it. A common theme I have heard is that of the righteous anger of Jesus.
One way to respond to this Gospel is the very concrete image of the parallel between the temple noted in the Reading and places of worship and pilgrimage in 2010. When one thinks of the many business vendors at such places selling religious items, one realizes not much has changed in 2000 years.
Another way to respond to this Gospel is to broaden the definition of temple to not just the Christian version of churches for Sunday morning worship, but to define the temple as God’s creation. Am I a thief (by acts of omission) because I have not protected my corner of God’s creation, i.e., the universe?
A 2010 issue globally that individuals are addressing is immigration on all continents. I see this Gospel Reading integrating with that. Is the ‘house of prayer’ that I participate in welcoming to the stranger? A church of parishioners and clergy who demonstrate voice and courage in welcoming immigrants? Or, are parishioners using their money ‘in a withholding manner’ if other parishioners welcome immigrants?
Selling and thievery comes in many forms, including ideas, philosophies, strategies, etc. What is being sold in our parishes? Strategies to further the needs of the majority parishioners? Strategies to further the needs of our ‘own tribe’? Strategies to keep out those not who are not like the majority of parishioners? Who are not like ‘our kind of people’?
I write this Reflection from a state (Nebraska) and a country (the United States) where such issues are front and center for Catholic parishioners. An Arizona state immigrant discrimination law is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. A similar law will be introduced in the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature in January. A small town 45 minutes from where I live is now divided because of a city ordinance they passed relating to immigrant discrimination. I hear stories about Catholic churches not nurturing the inclusion of immigrants, of diocesan clergy leaders being told their parishioners will withhold money if such were to be done, etc. Over decades many have observed that the most segregated places in the U.S. on Sunday mornings are the churches. |
|
Reflection: How are you growing in Your love for God’s Word? Make time for God’s Word each day.
Mold me according to Your Word, Oh Lord, so that I may become more like You.
|
|
Today’s Bible Reading :
|
|
DAILY HIGHLIGHTS |
|
“...all the people were hanging on his words.” Luke 19: 48 |
|
|
|
Have we considered the 2010 opportunity placed before us, in multiple parts of the globe, to welcome the immigrant and not be at the angry end of Jesus’s statement of thievery? How do we spend our time, energy, money, voice, and behavior on this issue? Are we thieves in any of those aspects in Jesus’s houses of prayer (churches and the universe)? |
|
Bishop and martyr, the father of St. Isaac the Great. A native of Armenia, he studied in Cappadocia and wed a princess who gave birth to Isaac. After she died, he served as a chamber lain in the court of King Arshak of Armenia. In 353 he was made Catholicos of the Armenians. Nerses devoted much effort to reforming the Armenian Church, including convening a synod in 365 based on the principles he had studied under St. Basil at Caesarea. Though he established hospitals and monasteries, his reforms and denunciation of King Arshak’s murder of the queen led to his exile. He returned after Arshak’s death in battle, but relations were not much better with the new Armenian ruler, Pap, whose dissolute lifestyle caused Nerses to refuse him admission into church. Nerses was invited to a royal banquet at Khakh, on the Euphrates River, and was assassinated by poison. |
|
TODAYS SAINT: St. Nerses the Great |
