 |
“Saint Francis Xavier”
artist and date are Unknown |
Readings for Saturday of the
First Week of Advent [1]
Readings from the Jerusalem
Bible [2]
Readings and Commentary: [3]
Reading 1: Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26
Thus says the
Lord GOD,
the Holy One of Israel:
O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem,
no more will you weep;
He will be gracious to you when you cry out,
as soon as he hears he will answer you.
The Lord will give you the bread you need
and the water for which you thirst.
No longer will your Teacher hide himself,
but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,
While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears:
“This is the way; walk in it,”
when you would turn to the right or to the left.
He will give rain
for the seed
that you sow in the ground,
And the wheat that the soil produces
will be rich and abundant.
On that day your flock will be given pasture
and the lamb will graze in spacious meadows;
The oxen and the asses that till the ground
will eat silage tossed to them
with shovel and pitchfork.
Upon every high mountain and lofty hill
there will be streams of running water.
On the day of the great slaughter,
when the towers fall,
The light of the moon will be like that of the sun
and the light of the sun will be seven times greater
like the light of seven days.
On the day the LORD binds up the wounds of his people,
he will heal the bruises left by his blows.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Is 30:19-21, 23-26
This
reading from Isaiah gives hope to those who are without hope, as the prophet
speaks of the patience and mercy of the Father. God, says the prophet, hears
the cry of his faithful and provides for them. The tone here, using the word
"teacher," links this passage to the Gospels, where sixty-five (65)
times Jesus assumes that title and admits to that role (John 13:13). The prophet foresees
a time of great prosperity when the faithful hear the Lord and obey.
“Isaiah’s
impassioned appeal to Jerusalem. He is adamant that God wants nothing more than
to answer the prayers of his people in Zion (30:19) to send blessings upon them
(30:23) and to heal their wounds (30:26). They have only to put their trust in
him (30:18) and to discard their worthless idols (30:22) to receive these
mercies.” [4]
-------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (see Isaiah 30:18d) Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.
Praise the LORD,
for he is good;
sing praise to our God, for he is gracious;
it is fitting to praise him.
The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem;
the dispersed of Israel he gathers.
R. Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.
He heals the
brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
He tells the number of the stars;
he calls each by name.
R. Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.
Great is our LORD
and mighty in power:
to his wisdom there is no limit.
The LORD sustains the lowly;
the wicked he casts to the ground.
R. Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
This
hymn of praise anticipates the coming of the Messiah who restores what is lost
and gives hope to the poor. It is the poor upon whom he lavishes special
blessings: "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
-------------------------------------------
Gospel: Matthew 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8
Jesus went around
to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Then he summoned
his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
Jesus sent out
these Twelve after instructing them thus,
“Go to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Mt 9:35–10:1, 5a, 6-8
"Seeing the crowds, Jesus experiences an inward tremor,
and that movement of compassion activates his poetic imagination as a pious and
learned Jew. He recalls the passage in the book of Numbers (27:15-17) where Moses asks God to appoint a man to lead Israel, lest
it be like sheep without a shepherd and the passage in Ezekiel (34:5) where the prophet says of the Jews: 'They are scattered,
they have no shepherd, they have become the prey of wild beasts.'" [5]
This selection emphasizes Jesus' early struggle to accomplish
what he came to do by himself. We sense his humanness as he says, "The
harvest is abundant but the laborers are few." Christ has the sense
that the disciples are ready to take a more active role in proclaiming the
Kingdom of God. He asks them to pray for God’s spirit and strength (“so ask
the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest").
At the beginning of chapter 10, St. Matthew names the Twelve
and calls his special friends apostles, which means “one who is sent” (the only
time in St. Matthew’s Gospel this term is used). They are then sent, but only
to the “chosen people.” It is not until after Christ’s death and
resurrection that the Gospel is brought to the Gentiles.
CCC:
Mt 9:38 2611; Mt
10:5-7 543; Mt
10:8 1509,
2121, 2443
------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
Scripture presents an
interesting paradox today. The reading
from the prophet Isaiah describes God’s infinite patience and mercy. He calls the faithful and offers them the
fruits of his creation to give them ease.
Isaiah depicts a time of idyllic peace.
The image of the New Jerusalem is seen as a place where all of God’s
blessings come together.
Contemplating those verses
one might almost think of the final scene from the movie Forrest Gump where the main character, the mentally challenged
Forrest, sees his young son off to school telling him he will be waiting for
his return. He then sits down patiently
to do just that. The implication is that
he will sit in that spot until his son returns at the end of the day.
Psalm 147 does nothing to
dispel the notion of patient waiting, basking in God’s mercy. Rather it supports Isaiah’s understanding
that our Heavenly Father has intense love for those who suffer. It is they who most urgently hope for the
coming of the Kingdom of God.
Next we are given St.
Matthew’s Gospel in which the Lord charges his disciples to go out into the
world to proclaim that “the Kingdom of
God is at hand.” There is no sense
of patient waiting, but rather a feeling of the need for intense preparation.
The answer to the paradox is
explained, of course, by looking at the genre of the Scripture. Isaiah, the great prophet, is seeing the
Kingdom of God that is to come. He
envisions the great and merciful God who loves his people, providing all good
things for them. Jesus, although having
all the gifts of prophecy, is an active force, preparing the people for the
Kingdom of God, which is at hand.
Using the analogy of the
farmer, Jesus sees that the seeds sown by the prophets and fed by the Law of
Moses are ready for harvest. The flock they represent is ready to be shown
their final destination. So he sends his friends out into that field to collect
the harvest, something he would need much more time to accomplish alone.
Now we step back and look
around. We are preparing for his return
as well as the celebration of the Lord’s Nativity. Are we to withdraw from the world and sit
patiently waiting for the Kingdom of God that will come, like Forrest Gump? Or
are we to go into the world to assist with the harvest? The Lord’s will seems clear in this
instance. He calls us, like his
disciples, to be active in the world and to assist with his harvest,
proclaiming the coming Kingdom by word and example. The great feast will come later.
Pax
[1]
The picture is “Saint
Francis Xavier” artist and date are Unknown.[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]
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, Isaiah, © 2019, Ignatius Press, San Francisco,
CA. p.60.
[5]
Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume I, Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius
Press, San Francisco, CA, © 1996 p. 516.
No comments:
Post a Comment