3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
22-23 January 2022 – St. Lambert
Neh
8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10
I
Cor 12:12-30
Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21
Praised be Jesus Christ!
“Then they bowed down and prostrated themselves before the
Lord, their faces to the ground. Ezra read plainly from
the book of the law of God, interpreting it so that all could understand
what was read.”
“Ezra read plainly from the book of the law of God…”
That’s from our first reading from the prophet Nehemiah and
our Gospel passage from Luke pictures the Lord Jesus in the synagogue of
Nazareth reading and interpreting from the book of the prophet Isaiah. In both
instances we’re talking about Sacred Scripture, both Old Testament passages,
the first from the book of God’s law and the second from one of the prophets. In
both cases we are talking about the Word of God. In the first case God’s word
to his people is being interpreted by Ezra the priest scribe, obviously an
authority in Israel, and in the other case by Jesus, the Son of God, Who is
Himself the Word of God made flesh.
Granted,
both of these situations are extraordinary. In the case of the prophet Nehemiah,
God’s people had recovered the book of the law the observance of which had been
neglected by their forefathers and the knowledge of which had gone lost to
them. It must be said, from this reading it is evident that the people of
Israel were a bit confused and overwhelmed at this recovery or discovery; they
were filled with no small amount of emotion and regret. They had to be comforted
and told not to be fearful or sorrowful but rather to rejoice and celebrate
because by coming once again to an understanding of God’s law they were being taken
back into their historical covenant, into their relationship with God their
strength. At least for this Sunday, the passage from Luke’s Gospel does not represent
an exact parallel; it stops short of giving us the second part, namely the people’s
reaction to coming face to face with God’s Word. That part of the account will
come next Sunday, as we continue reading from St. Luke’s Gospel. But already today,
we note that Jesus very clearly proclaims Himself to the people of His hometown
for Who He is:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed
me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to
captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and
to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” …He said to them “Today this
Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Sticking closer to Nehemiah so as to leave the Gospel part for
next Sunday, my question is whether we are as moved by God’s Word as were those
people standing there in the open place before the Water Gate.
I am
not pointing fingers, but I am thinking of the scene in George Bernanos’ novel,
Diary of a Country Priest, where an older priest advises a young
priest not to open his heart to the people of his parish, especially to guard
himself against the cruelty of the farm kids in his catechism class [Bernanos
wrote his masterpiece back in 1936 in French and I have a copy in English of
the 12th edition printed in 2002. Just to say: It is a very popular
book with much to say even yet today]. My point would be to let you know that
people today share a lot in common with French peasants and petty nobility from
back before WWII. Hearts can be fickle, but more to the point, people in every
day and age can be ignorant of the faith, its power to transform and save us.
Another
one of my favorite examples in the same vein is of a Dominican priest saint, St.
Vincent Ferrer, who lived from 1350-1419, nicknamed “The Angel of the Judgment”.
He traveled around the countryside in Europe preaching from makeshift pulpits
set up in fields at the edge of villages and towns. He called people to
repentance before the impending judgment of the world: his was the time of the
Great Western Schism, when the Church was in very bad shape. Some other authors
title St. Vincent the angel of the Apocalypse and many times in paintings you
will see him depicted with wings. St. Vincent preached the fear of the Lord; he
preached the coming judgment of all the world. He preached to big crowds and
did not just threaten. He had a group of confreres who accompanied him, who
would work then individually and in small groups to teach the people their
basic prayers, even the Sign of the Cross, basic catechism and prepare them for
the sacraments, Baptism for those who had not been baptized and Penance for
those who had not been to confession in a long time.
From
the time of Ezra reading the law, from Jesus and the Apostles themselves, over
the course of 2000 years of Church history, the call has been for repentance
but couched always in the terms of the book of Nehemiah.
“Do
not be sad, and do not weep” – for all the people were weeping as the heard the
words of the law. He said further: “Go, eat rich foods and drink sweet drinks,
and allot portions to those who had nothing prepared; for today is holy to our
Lord. Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength.”
Today,
just as in other periods, such as that before the time of Saint Vincent or later
during the Enlightenment in Europe, when kings, emperors and petty nobles
pressured priests and monks into limiting themselves to practical moral
preaching about how to be good citizens and good farmers, neglecting prayer and
penance, you commonly hear lay people complain that the Church, that Catholic
preachers are not feeding them with the full Gospel. By the same token, many
people are scandalized by the laxity of those called to exercise sacred
ministry within the Church. The message is discredited because of the unworthy
messengers.
My
message to you today, would be to look to the book of Nehemiah for inspiration.
His Excellency Nehemiah and Ezra, the priest scribe, were just as ignorant of
what was in the book of the law as were the people who heard the book read that
day. But both together were ready to let Sacred Scripture transform them in
accordance with what was proclaimed in the assembly and interpreted for them by
the Levites. Nehemiah and Ezra fulfilled their responsibility before God and
His people, calling the people back to the observance of the law, back to
living under God and thereby calling them back to God’s love and His abundant
favor.
The
Church’s liturgy of the Word today reminds us that we are called to do the
same. As a watchman or a guard dog, to use two images from Scripture, I cannot
be silent. Your priests and deacons, charged with preaching and teaching,
cannot neglect to proclaim to you, to confront you and themselves at the same
time with the fullness of the Gospel message. We must call you to repentance,
to reform of life before the impending judgment. Unworthy as we are, if we don’t
do it then who will call us back to the straight and narrow, who will tell us
of God’s love and of what counts in life?
Knowledge
of who God is in Jesus Christ, knowledge of your basic prayers, faithfulness to
the Commandments and to the Precepts of the Church, genuine repentance, which
involves renouncing sin and avoiding the near occasions of sin, having regular
recourse to the Sacrament of Penance, all go a long way to assuring that just
like those people so long ago in the open space before Jerusalem’s Water Gate,
so we too can rather rejoice in the Lord Who saves us and sets us free from Satan’s
pride for happiness with Him in this world and in the next.
Just
one recommendation! It has been a month already since most of you made your confession
for Christmas. Consider making a good confession now as a preparation for Lent which
starts on Ash Wednesday, March 2nd. It could make your 40 days of
Lent more fruitful and help you make an even better Confession during Lent in
preparation for Easter.
Praised
be Jesus Christ!
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