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“St Francis of Assisi”
by Jusepe de Ribera, 1643 |
Readings for Wednesday of the
Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem
Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: Nehemiah 2:1-8
In the month Nisan of the
twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,when the wine was in my
charge,I took some and offered it to
the king.As I had never before been
sad in his presence,the king asked me, “Why do
you look sad?If you are not sick, you must
be sad at heart.”Though I was seized with
great fear, I answered the king:“May the king live forever!How could I not look sadwhen the city where my
ancestors are buried lies in ruins,and its gates have been eaten
out by fire?”The king asked me, “What is
it, then, that you wish?”I prayed to the God of heaven
and then answered the king:“If it please the king,and if your servant is
deserving of your favor,send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’
graves,to rebuild it.”Then the king, and the queen
seated beside him,asked me how long my journey
would takeand when I would return.I set a date that was
acceptable to him,and the king agreed that I
might go.
I asked the king further: “If
it please the king,let letters be given to me
for the governorsof West-of-Euphrates,that they may afford me
safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah;also a letter for Asaph, the
keeper of the royal park,that he may give me wood for
timbering the gatesof the temple-citadel and for
the city walland the house that I shall
occupy.”The king granted my requests,for the favoring hand of my
God was upon me.-------------------------------------------Commentary on Neh 2:1-8
This reading from
the Book of Nehemiah is one of the “Memoirs” of Nehemiah depicting his request
to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Nehemiah was contemporary of
Ezra, a layman called to extraordinary service and effort. He demonstrates a
constant faith that God was supporting him.
It is evident
that Nehemiah is confidently patient to wait for God’s plan to unfold. “This confidence is seen first, paradoxically,
in his willingness to wait for God’s time to answer his prayer. Those months of
private intercession must have been a peculiarly testing time for so active a
man as Nehemiah, but for him to have forced the issue with the king could have
proved disastrous to his whole enterprise. Instead, he shows that his
confidence is supremely in God.” [4]
-------------------------------------------Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
R. (6ab) Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget
you!
By the streams of Babylon
we sat and weptwhen we remembered Zion.On the aspens of that landwe hung up our harps.R. Let my tongue be
silenced if I ever forget you!
Though there our captors
asked of usthe lyrics of our songs,And our despoilers urged us
to be joyous:“Sing for us the songs of Zion!”R. Let my tongue be
silenced if I ever forget you!
How could we sing a song of
the LORDin a foreign land?If I forget you, Jerusalem,may my right hand be
forgotten! R. Let my tongue be
silenced if I ever forget you!
May my tongue cleave to my
palateif I remember you not,If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.R. Let my tongue be
silenced if I ever forget you!
-------------------------------------------Commentary on Ps 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
The sadness that
drove Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem to rebuild is reflected in this communal
lament. The people of God, dispersed throughout the region, recall the joys of
being in God’s presence in Zion (Jerusalem). We feel in this hymn our own
anticipation of being together in God’s presence as a community of faith.
-------------------------------------------Gospel: Luke 9:57-62
As Jesus and his disciples
were proceedingon their journey, someone
said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”Jesus answered him,“Foxes have dens and birds of
the sky have nests,but the Son of Man has nowhere
to rest his head.”And to another he said,
“Follow me.”But he replied, “Lord, let me
go first and bury my father.”But he answered him, “Let the
dead bury their dead.But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”And another said, “I will
follow you, Lord,but first let me say farewell
to my family at home.”Jesus answered him, “No one
who sets a hand to the plowand looks to what was left
behind is fit for the Kingdom
of God.” -------------------------------------------Commentary on Lk 9:57-62
This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel gives us three sayings of
Jesus about the requirement to place the values of Christian discipleship above
all other requirements of life. Proclaiming the kingdom of God must come before
even family obligations.
In the first, “Foxes have dens…” Jesus does not deceive
anyone – he lives in poverty, dedicated to his mission.
The second, “Let the dead bury their dead,” is a play on
words: let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. Jesus message is the
message of life. This saying was never intended to be taken literally as filial
piety is deeply ingrained in Jewish life.
In the third saying; “No one who…looks to what was left behind,”
Jesus demands more than Elisha (see 1 Kings 19:19-21). “Plowing
for the Kingdom demands sacrifice.” [5]
CCC: Lk 9:58 544
-------------------------------------------Reflection:
The three different Scripture
passages we are given today combine to show us a call and an attitude. Follow the logic here: Jesus, in the Gospel,
tells us that our faith in him and the call to discipleship must color all of
our actions since it is first in our lives.
The Psalmist sings of our inner longing, to be in God’s presence as a
result of that call. And in Nehemiah, we
see the fruits of one who listens to that call and places his life at the
service of God. It is a call and an
attitude.
As in much of Holy Scripture
and the teaching magisterium of the Church the lessons are presented in their
perfect or absolute state. Jesus, after
all, is our example and the one whom we are called to emulate. In him, God’s perfect love is expressed to us,
and since he was also true man, his perfect love for God was also given as our
example. The call is daunting.
We see the call and the
attitude as a requirement in our lives.
It is the bar set by Jesus and the saints, like St. Francis of Assisi
whose memorial we celebrate, that we hope to follow. But how?
We are not perfect as our Savior was perfect. We are not heroic as so many of the saints
were heroic in life (Or...perhaps we are but are just not trying hard
enough). Still, the call is there and
Jesus asks that our attitude of love for others and humble service to all be
what inspires our actions.
Taken as a whole, we could
never hope to achieve the sort of perfect attitude of love driving all that we
do. But taken incrementally, one piece
at a time, we can move in the right direction.
Our challenge is to first place ourselves on a scale. Where are we in our attitude of love for
others, where are we in our actions that glorify the Father? Once we recognize where we are, we pray that
God will help us become a little better - today. Each day we weigh ourselves on that scale and
each day we try for just the tiniest improvement in our quest to become more
like the saints who were much like us and ultimately more like Christ our
ideal.
Today we are challenged to
follow Jesus, to place his glory and that of the Father first in our
lives. To do that we know that our
attitude must become more like our Savior’s, whose every action has pointed to
His Father and the heavenly kingdom to which we are all called. Today we hope for baby steps in the right
direction.
Pax
[1]
The picture used today is “St Francis of Assisi” by
Jusepe de Ribera, 1643.[2]
S.S Commemoratio[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the psalm
and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is
for private use only.
[4]
H. G. M. Williamson, Ezra, Nehemiah, vol. 16, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas:
Word, Incorporated, 1985), 184.
[5]
Jerome Biblical
Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 44:97.
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