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“Nursing Madonna”
by Bernardino Luini, 1520s |
Readings for Saturday of the
Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time [2]
Readings from the Jerusalem
Bible [3]
Readings and Commentary:[4]
Reading 1: Joel 4:12-21
Thus says the LORD:
Let the nations bestir
themselves and come up
to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;
For there will I sit in
judgment
upon all the neighboring
nations.
Apply the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe;
Come and tread,
for the wine press is full;
The vats overflow,
for great is their malice.
Crowd upon crowd
in the valley of decision;
For near is the day of the
LORD
in the valley of decision.
Sun and moon are darkened,
and the stars withhold their
brightness.
The LORD roars from Zion,
and from Jerusalem raises his voice;
The heavens and the earth
quake,
but the LORD is a refuge to
his people,
a stronghold to the children
of Israel.
Then shall you know that I,
the LORD, am your God,
dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain;
Jerusalem shall be holy,
and strangers shall pass
through her no more.
And then, on that day,
the mountains shall drip new
wine,
and the hills shall flow with
milk;
And the channels of Judah
shall flow with water:
A fountain shall issue from
the house of the LORD,
to water the Valley of Shittim.
Egypt shall be a waste,
and Edom a desert
waste,
Because of violence done to
the people of Judah,
because they shed innocent
blood in their land.
But Judah shall
abide forever,
and Jerusalem for all generations.
I will avenge their blood,
and not leave it unpunished.
The LORD dwells in Zion.
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Commentary on Jl 4:12-21
The prophet Joel
concludes his oracle as he presents a view of the final judgment. All the
people of all the nations of the earth are brought to the Valley of Jehoshaphat
or the “valley of decision” (the word hārûs interpreted as “valley of
thrashing” is another possibility [5]).
The time of judgment is portrayed as a time of harvest, the iniquity of the
world being ripe, ready to be crushed in the Lord’s grape press. God’s
faithful, however, will be spared this fate: “Judah shall abide forever, and
Jerusalem for all generations.”
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12
R. (12a) Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The LORD is king; let the
earth rejoice;
let the many isles be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round
about him,
justice and judgment are the
foundation of his throne.
R. Rejoice in the Lord,
you just!
The mountains melt like wax
before the LORD,
before the LORD of all the
earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his
glory.
R. Rejoice in the Lord,
you just!
Light dawns for the just;
and gladness, for the upright
of heart.
Be glad in the LORD, you
just,
and give thanks to his holy
name.
R. Rejoice in the Lord,
you just!
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 97:1-2, 5-6, 11-12
This hymn
rejoices in the supremacy of God the Father.
The apocalyptic imagery demonstrates God’s authority over all his
creation. Natural disasters of all sorts
(earthquakes, storms, and even famines) were seen as punishments from God, as
were misfortunes of all sorts both collective and individual.
-------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 11:27-28
While Jesus was speaking,
a woman from the crowd called
out and said to him,
“Blessed is the womb that
carried you
and the breasts at which you
nursed.”
He replied, “Rather, blessed
are those
who hear the word of God and
observe it.”
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 11:27-28
This short saying of Jesus is not a
contradiction of the woman who blesses Mother Mary; rather it is an assertion
by the Lord that the message is more important, in his eyes, than that
biological relationship. Mary is more blessed because she heard “the word of
God” (see also Luke 1:28-29 and Luke
1:42-45). This passage is consistent in meaning
with Luke
8:19-21.
"In the course of her Son's preaching she
[Mary] received the words whereby, in extolling a kingdom beyond the concerns
and ties of flesh and blood, he declared blessed those who heard and kept the
word of God (cf. Mark 3:35; Luke
11:27-28) as she was faithfully doing (cf. Luke
2:19, 51)" (Lumen gentium, 58)" [6]
-------------------------------------------
Reflection:
The Scripture we are given
today is like a sign seen in many industrial structures. There is a large red or bright yellow placard
with bold letters “Warning! High
Voltage!” Then just below “To be opened
by authorized [trained] persons only!”
The reading from Joel we have is the warning part. He reminds the people of Israel that a
day of reckoning will come and that those nations who oppose the will of God
will be “harvested.”
This warning is followed by
instructions given in the form of what can be seen as a fairly controversial
saying of Jesus as he responds to a person who is clearly thankful to God for
the Lord’s presence. That person says,
in language startlingly contemporary: “Blessed
is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” Our thoughts immediately spring to St.
Gabriel’s greeting to the Blessed Mother, Mary Most Holy at the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-30 ff.), or
perhaps St. Elizabeth’s greeting to her a short time later.
Instead of joining in the
praise of his mother because of her status and relationship, Jesus points
rather at her spiritual grace which allowed her to accept God’s gift/burden
without hesitation. It is this openness
to the will of God that the Lord praises rather than status which may or may
not be deserved. We have clear examples
in modern society. The Lord would surely
praise the political leader who acted with compassion and justice, having heard
and heeded God’s call to love all peoples as neighbors. That praise would be due to that person, not
because of their status, but because they listened to God’s word and acted upon
it.
Similarly, each of us is due
the respect and compassion of others because of our status as fellow human
persons. However, praise would only be
given when our actions reflected the fact that we have heard and listened to
the word of God.
The obvious link between the
Gospel and Joel is like the warning and instruction on the sign. The person who is not authorized [trained]
will get a dangerous shock. Our prayer today
is that we always heed God’s word and act upon it.
Pax
[1]
General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar Miscellaneous
Notes no. 5: “Outside Advent, Christmas Time, Lent, and Easter Time, on
Saturdays which have no commemoration having the rank of Obligatory Memorial or
higher, a Mass in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary may be celebrated. This is
indicated in the calendar by “BVM.” The readings and prayers may be selected
from the
Collection of
Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”
[2]
The picture is “Nursing Madonna” by Bernardino Luini, 1520s.
[3]
S.S. Commemoratio[4]
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.
[5]
Jerome Biblical Commentary (Prentice Hall, Inc., ©
1968), 25:19 p. 443.[6]
The Navarre Bible, Gospels and Acts (Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002),
431.
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