ATTENTION ON THE BRIDEGROOM

 


SATURDAY, THIRTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Amos 9:11-15; Ps 85:11-14; Mt 9:14-17

The Fasting of the Attendants

There is usually a marked difference between a model of a building and the actual building. The difference lies not in the design, for that is somehow the same for both. The difference between the two is typologically conceived. It is the difference between reality and its image. It is the difference between a cause and its effect. The incarnation of the Son of God is the cause of God’s revelation of Himself to Israel in the whole of the Old Testament. The Scripture is sealed without the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Hence, the Law and the Prophets are presented as in service of the Gospel. According to the words of our Lord, the Patriarchs and the Prophets strained to catch a glimpse of what is revealed in the Gospel or one of the days of the Son of Man, but it was not given to them. The coming of the Son of God in human flesh is such that whatever advantage the Israelites had is now trivialised by the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Incarnation of the Son of God brought a completely new beginning to the human race, unlike the revelation of the Law and the Prophets, which were directly intended only for the Israelites. The Gospel is the revelation of God in human nature addressed to every human person. This was prophesied by Amos in the following words. “The days are coming now—it is the Lord who speaks—when harvest will follow directly after ploughing, the treading of grapes soon after sowing, when the mountains will run with new wine, and the hills all flow with it.” The salvation promised through the prophets is such that God rewards our faith immediately with eternal life; He does not postpone the reward to later days or times. Saint Paul pointed to this mystery yesterday in the passage from Ephesians, where he addressed the Gentiles as fellow citizens of the city of God and members of the household of God. This is what the Incarnation of the Eternal Word has achieved for us: human nature has now become the dwelling of God as it was created to be. God foretold this through Amos, saying: “I will plant them in their own country, never to be rooted up again out of the land I have given them, says the Lord, your God.” The Gospel makes us hear the voice of God in our own land; that is, within our nature.

The Gospel reveals a completely new reality in this sense, though its images are grasped in the true understanding of the Law and the Prophets. The illumination that comes from understanding the identity of the Son of Man clarifies the Old Testament and the various religious practices contained therein. The disciples of John the Baptist, who were ignorant of the identity of the Son of Man, became embarrassed that his disciples were not fasting with them as the Pharisees did. The Lord’s answer to them underscores all we have said. “Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” By this, he subtly let them know that they and the Pharisees had missed the point of the fast. Many of us are like them. We do many religious acts without understanding why we are doing them. The fact that we affirm the Church’s Tradition does not imply we practice it mindlessly, but with understanding. Every religious activity should be done for Jesus Christ or to bring us to him. He is the bridegroom; we must attend to him in order to be made a bride. For this purpose, he is found in our nature. We must do everything in our power to be found with Jesus. This is what it means to put new wine into fresh skins. Our nature will run with new wine when we are found with him.

Let us pray: O God, who through the grace of adoption chose us to be children of light, grant, we pray, that we may not be wrapped in the darkness of error but always be seen to stand in the bright light of truth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CALLED TO KNOW AND PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL

Image
THE CONVERSION SAINT PAUL, APOSTLE Acts 22:3-16; Ps 117; Mk 16:15-18 Proclamation of the Gospel of the New Covenant Celebrating the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul brings us to a deeper reflection on the meaning and implication of the new covenant in Jesus Christ. As Paul himself narrated in the first reading to his people in Jerusalem, he was so zealous in the practice of Judaism, the religion of his fathers, that his eyes were closed to the new realities and relations God had brought into existence. Though these new realities and relations were prophesied by the prophets and the Law pointed to them, Paul and many of his contemporaries were blind to them. His words are: “I am a Jew and was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. I was brought up here in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors. In fact, I was as full of duty towards God as you are today.” These words of Paul testify that zeal without the knowledge of the will o...
Read more

GOD IS LOVE

Image
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS   Deut 7:6-11; Ps 103:1-4,6-8,10; 1 Jn 4:7-16; Mt 11:25-30 Great Things hidden from the Wise We celebrate the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ is a mystery, as coming from the mystery of the Son of Man. The human heart of Jesus Christ is a symbol and reality of the love of the Son of Man for his brothers and sisters. It is a human representation of the heart or love of the Son of God for us, his own people and creatures. As he revealed in Heb 2:14, that he took on our nature, that he may share everything in common with us. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death.” The Father brought us into existence to be the inheritance and the companions of His Beloved Son. The love of the Son for his own could not let him be, but made him take on our nature and appear among ...
Read more

OUR PRAYERS BEFORE GOD LIKE INCENSE

Image
  SATURDAY, SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP  James 5:13-20; Ps 141:1-3,8; Mk 10:13-16 Let my Prayer come before you like Incense We ascertain the spiritual health of a Christian through the quality of his prayer life. As we have stated many times in our reflections, prayer is the first operation of the spiritual life. Hence, prayer  commences as  a vital activity of our new life in the Holy Spirit. Just as St. Paul wrote that nobody can say Jesus is Lord without the Holy Spirit, nobody can pray without the Holy Spirit giving him the faculty or power to do so. Prayer is a spiritual exercise that requires our being alive spiritually before we can pray. When we receive spiritual life from God the Father through the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ, we reach out to God in prayer as a newborn baby does for its mother’s breast. The Holy Spirit nourishes us on spiritual milk that belongs to Jesus Christ; he is our spiritual food or b...
Read more