Solemnity

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

The scene in Revelation, which occurs as an interlude in the depiction of apocalyptic judgment, focuses on those who will be protected because of their fidelity to God. The “seal of the living God” is like a signet ring used to claim ownership; those who have been marked with the seal belong to God and are therefore safe. They are among the “great multitude” that includes Christians from beyond ethnic Israel who have “won the victory” and remained faithful during the time of persecution. The robes washed white in the blood of Christ signify renewal, joy, and resurrection; the palms signify victory. Now safe, the faithful worship God with the Lamb, a fitting response to the salvation won from them both.

The First Letter of John has, up to the point of our reading, been developing the theme of “fellowship with God,” which means a sharing in God’s eternal life through Christ. This fellowship is manifested in loving others, repentance, and avoiding sin. To be in fellowship with God means to be a child of God. This places us in the light, in truth and goodness, not in the darkness of moral depravity. The relationship is in place and is safe as long as we remain in fellowship with Christ. Those who have hope in the future glory that they will share with Christ ensure that they are pure, avoiding turning away from Christ and his commandment, which in the Johannine literature is summed up in the phrase “love one another.”

The Beatitudes are, on the one hand, good news of “blessedness.” On the other hand, they make clear that following Jesus is difficult. Poverty of spirit means renunciation of both material and other “possessions.” Meekness, mercy, and peacemaking often go against our desire to strike back or get even. We must work diligently to develop the kind of single-minded devotion to God implied in purity of heart and hunger and thirst for righteousness. And of course, no one seeks persecution and insult. Those who are able, throughout their lives, to finally meet the challenge of the Beatitudes are perhaps few, as Jesus will later warn, but they will indeed be blessed.

Jan 12 2025

God to the Rescue!

I had a dream on the feast of the Assumption many years ago. It was one of those dark and scary dreams in which I was running through the streets of a town, dodging evil creatures and malevolent attackers. Suddenly I found myself in an abandoned lot. No trees. No buildings to hide me. No, no, no! I was totally exposed.

Have you ever had a nightmare like that? Or lived through a horror like that? Today’s reading from Revelation starts with a similar terror. A woman wails aloud. A serpent stands ready to devour her child about to be born, a horrifying reptile whose tail can sweep away the stars!

Yet the child is caught up to God. The woman is secured in the radiance of the desert. She and her baby are safe. As we celebrate the Assumption, we read this account because of its parallels. We believe that at the moment of death, however it happened, Mary was not devoured by death, but caught up to God.

Is death like that distress? Is it followed by an abiding sense of tranquility? We do not know. We may think that we grasp God, but in reality, no. The Redeemer is here for us. The Lord is our Rescuer, the one who snatches us from terror and brings us to peace.

In my dream, as I stood so frightened in that open field, peaceable people encircled me, powerful people who loved me and were pleased with me. The horror could not come near. I was safe. I was secure. Brightness surrounded me. Now when I think of Mary and the communion of saints, I swell with courage. I feel that I have been surrounded by them.

No matter what, we are safe. We dwell secure. All will be well.

Consider/Discuss

When you were younger, was there a place where you dwelt secure or a person with whom you were thoroughly “at home”? Where do you find safety now?
What is it like to feel alone and in terror? How is that different from being surrounded by love? Think of times when the Lord has been your Rescuer.

Living and Praying with the Word

Holy Spirit, you are the divine tie who binds us with those who are in heaven. Illumine our hearts to see that we are not alone, that those who have gone before us are cheering us onward toward peace and everlasting life. Be with us in moments of earthly terror and fear. Rather than seeing things from our earthly perspective, grant us knowledge to see things from a heavenly viewpoint, that ultimately, when this is over, all will be well. Snatch us up, carry us away to you!

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

After the seventh trumpet has blown, signaling God’s triumph over diabolic powers, the temple opens and the ark of the covenant is revealed. This scene of divine victory immediately shifts to an image of Israel giving birth to the Messiah. The child is saved from Satan, the huge red dragon attempting to destroy him. One sees here a reference to the attempt of the powers of hell to destroy Jesus through his death on the cross, only to be foiled when he is raised from the dead and ascends to heaven. The woman, who now represents the persecuted church, is protected by God just as Israel was protected in the wilderness after the Exodus.

Some Christians in Corinth apparently denied the resurrection of the dead, to which Paul responded that if there is no resurrection, then obviously Christ was not raised from the dead, making their faith in him pointless. They are still in their sins, have no hope beyond this life, and those who have already “fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” But Christ was raised from the dead, and his resurrection was not just for him but for all who have received life in and through him. At his second coming, those who are “in Christ” will be resurrected, too. Christ alone will be sovereign, the only authority, and all powers will be subject to him, including and especially the power of death.

Mary expresses prophetically in her Magnificat the meaning of the coming of the Messiah. True to character, God has shown mercy not just to her, but to all who have remained faithful and waited in hope for the longed-for salvation, making good on the ancient promises. The fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation, however, will not be good news for everyone. Those who do not fear God, the proud and the rich, those who are satisfied with a world just the way it is, in which some have and others do not—for these, the coming of the Messiah will be a time of judgment on them and on their way of life.

Jan 10 2025

Tastes of Beauty in the Body of Christ

She was young. But she remembers that dry day like it was yesterday. “This is ridiculous. How can he give us his flesh to eat?” She listens to the shouting. She sits outside the synagogue. As a woman, she’s not permitted to enter. But she can hear them clearly. This is Jesus of Nazareth they are yelling at; Jesus, whose love has transformed her; Jesus, whose words burn like a fire inside of her. Can they not see what he is offering? “Bread of Life—who does he think he is? We know his father from Nazareth. He’s a carpenter’s son.” The door opens and the leaders stomp their feet into the dust of the dry ground and walk away.

She wants to shout after them in the distance, “You never really heard him,” but again she hears voices at the doorway, not so loud, but irritated: “This saying is hard; who can accept it? The Bread of Life! How can he say he is the Bread of Life?” Those who had walked closely with him began to walk away also. She knew these ones. She had eaten with them. They were his own. “We will no longer go with him . . . I am going home.” She is grief-stricken. She shouts, “How can you leave him? His words are Spirit and life!” “Ah, woman, you are young. Go home also.”

The door opens a third time and he comes out, full of sorrow. “Will you also leave me?” Peter says the words she will remember all her life. She has told them to her children and her children’s children. Now as her community is struggling with betrayal and desertion, she shares what Peter said: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Rain began to fall on the dry soil, watering the earth.

Consider/Discuss

Is this teaching of Jesus too hard? Doubt tastes like dust in the mouth. Faith refreshes like the rain. As many walk away, how can we express what Jesus in the Eucharist means to us? How can we describe the taste of glory that comes as we open our hands to receive him?
We believe that the Eucharist is the sacrament of unity in the Church. Yet like this unnamed young woman of the first century, some sit at the peripheries, some voices are not heard, some are rendered invisible. How can we be more conscientious in our sharing, our koinonia, in bringing in those at the edges, to solidify the Body of Christ?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, you are the Bread of Life. We have tasted your manna. We have been touched by your presence. You unite us so that together we can abide in you. At the same time, we grieve for those who walk away. We love them. How can they go? Even the angels weep.

Holy Spirit, bubble up within us so that we bring your life to the world in which we live.

Jan 10 2025

Scripture Study for

Israel has finally arrived on the threshold of the Promised Land. Through the years, they struggled to trust that the God who delivered them from bondage can take care of them and provide for all their needs. This has been, and will continue to be, an important challenge, since distrust leads to the worship of other gods. Moses thus reminds the people of all God has done for them, providing them with food and water, and not just any food, but manna, a special food created by God for them. Through the trials, God has been teaching them that they can and must rely on God, who provides all they need for the journey.

Paul’s rhetorical questions regarding the blood and body of Christ occur within the context of an admonition to the Corinthians to avoid buying meat known to have been offered to pagan gods. Eating meat from such sacrifices, even if one does not believe that the gods are real, constitutes a “participation” with them. Just as ancient Israel could have no relationship with any gods but the God of the covenant, so Christians may not “participate” with anyone but Christ. They do this in the sharing of the cup of blessing and the breaking of the bread. This common participation creates a single body, whose members are responsible for each other and therefore should show proper concern for each other.

Jesus’ claim to be “the living bread that came down from heaven” occurs within a scene that begins with a question about believing that Jesus has been sent by God. The crowd has asked for a sign (“What can you do?” [6:30]), like the sign of the manna given in the desert. Jesus responds that he himself is the true bread from heaven. Just as the manna nourished the people, Jesus says, so he, who is the true bread from heaven, will nourish those who can accept it. When they eat Jesus’ flesh they will be receiving him, establishing or strengthening a mutual indwelling. Through this mutual “abiding” Jesus shares his own eternal life with the recipient.