Gratitude to Those Who Paid the Ultimate Price for our Freedom

Today we honor all of those men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, those serving in all branches of the military.  Like Jesus, who died to set us free and to share His inheritance with us in heaven, the men and women of the military died so that we here in the U.S. and around the world would know freedom from the violence of war and "inherit" peace, so to speak!

Because of the sacrifices of those men and women who served in our military, we are, on the one hand, free here in the U.S. in so many ways: free to plant our gardens, to play in our parks, to visit our neighbors without fear of losing our lives by the likes of a Hitler or by  leaders who taunt their power by a show of force, a parade of military equipment and hundreds and hundreds of men and women and even children marching  like tin soldiers in front of a country's leader. 

On the other hand, we might ask ourselves:  are we really free? Have we sold our freedom to addictions flaunted as "must haves," or "must dos?"  Have any of us become a slave to consumerism, materialism, relativism, sexism? Are any of us locked into attitudes of prejudice and/or hatred? Have any of us chained ourselves to being judges of others, of being this world's superior cynics, of being superior to others, above others and deaf and blind to those in need?

If any of the above is true,  we believe the words of Psalm 68 of today's liturgy: "God arises; his enemies [and ours] are scattered, and those who hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so are they  [our enemies of any kind] driven; as wax melts before the fire. But the just rejoice and exult before God;  they are glad and rejoice."  Let us "sing to God, chant praise to his name" for the freedoms we enjoy and those who won them for us!  It is God ultimately who has given us a home where freedom reigns, whether that home be our country, our State, or the home in which we are raising our family to serve and worship the one true God. It is God who leads us out of our "prisons," away from that which enslaves us, and protects us from the "Hitlers" of our world!

Christ, our Mediator at the Father's Right Hand

In today’s first reading, Hebrews 9: 15, 24-28, St. Paul speaks about Christ, the “mediator of a new covenant.”  Jesus, once and for all, shed His blood for the remission of sin. In Paul’s words:   “… now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice.”    On the cross, Jesus was made sin for us.   He sacrificed His life in obedience to the Father to fully atone for the sin of disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and subsequently by all of us. We have all sinned. And we all are redeemed by the blood of Christ, the unblemished Lamb of God.

Following His death , Jesus entered the sanctuary, not made by human hands like the sanctuary where the blood of unblemished animals were sacrificed over and over again, but the sanctuary of heaven. There at God’s right hand, Jesus intercedes for us day and night, 365 days a year.  “ Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second  time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.”  Though we do not know the time of Jesus’ second coming, we wait upon the Lord with courage.

The Lord will not disappoint! The Lord keeps His promises forever unlike no other!  And, so, in the liturgy’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 98, we “[s]ing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wondrous deeds; His right hand has won victory for Him, His holy arm. The Lord has made His salvation known: in the sight of the nations He has revealed His justice, He has remembered His kindness and His faithfulness toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands, break into song; sing praise.”

Remember Jesus' Resurrection and its Significance

“Beloved: Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead,” Timothy asks of us in today’s first reading of Ordinary Time, 2 Timothy 2: 8-15.  There is nothing ordinary in Jesus’ resurrection.  Proclaiming the resurrection in Timothy’s time resulted for many in martyrdom. They were imprisoned and put to death for speaking in Jesus’ name and for proclaiming their belief in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, as it contradicted the story that circulated among the Jews at the time, and to this day,  namely that Jesus’  body was stolen from the grave during the night while the guards slept.  In their minds there was on resurrection. There was no Easter morning.

We might have a difficult time comprehending the seriousness of the charge against those thrown into prison, suffering, as was Timothy, “even to the point of chains, like a criminal.”  In his pain, Timothy proclaimed that “the word of God is not chained.” Nothing would deter Timothy from preaching God’s Word.  Salvation came from the Word of God who died upon the cross and rose three days later so that we, too,  would rise from sin and death to new life in Christ Jesus.  No way would Timothy stop proclaiming that truth “for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory.”   Timothy goes on to remind us that:

                “If we have died [to sin] with him

                we shall also live with him;

                If we persevere [in being faithful to Jesus]

                we shall also reign with him.

                But if we deny him         

                he will deny us.

                {Even if] we are unfaithful

                he remains faithful,

                for he cannot deny himself.”

Jesus, the Word of God, is faithfulness itself.  He cannot not remain faithful to the Father’s will, namely , that you and are saved from sin and death. 

 For this I was chosen and so were you! What a gift! What love! There is no suffering you and I might undergo  in our efforts to live as Jesus lived that is too much to ask of us given Jesus’ faithfulness to the Father’s will.  Jesus will never, never abandon His mission to save us from sin and death.         How about us?

The Barren Fig Tree

Today’s  Gospel reading, Mark 11¨11-26, is filled with symbolic meanings.  Jesus’ anger toward the barren fig tree symbolized his anger at the Jewish people, who had just sung Hosanna’s to Him as He entered Jerusalem.  (Karris, Robert, O.F.M., ed., The Collegeville Bible Commentary, New Testament, The Liturgical Press, 1988, p. 926) .  Jesus’ anger at the those who had turned  the Temple into “a den of thieves” was not only about violating holy, sacred space, it was also about their rejection of Jesus as the One sent into the world to save the world . The blood of the New Covenant was about to be poured out as expiation for the sins of the world—the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God was/is above any other sacrifice established by humankind and alone would restore Israel and us to the glory God intends for us. Jesus is the “Fuller’s Lye,” the One who purifies, glorifies, justifies and sanctifies us, not any external form of sacrifice. And, yes, the Kingdom God established through Jesus would last eternally. All other kingdoms, that of Herod and future kings,  will wither as did the fig tree.

What “kingdom” do I hope will last forever?  To what human structures have I sworn allegiance and lost sight of Jesus?