Readings: Ez 6:7-8, 12b, 14-20; Ps 122; Luke 8:19-21
Today is a great day for the Catholic Church in the United States. Today Pope Francis comes to the US. Suddenly, the Catholic Church and Pope Francis are the topic of newscasters and magazine cover stories. Millions of people will rearrange their schedules to be present in Washington, DC, New York City, or Philadelphia—to attend a papal event, to line the streets where he will pass, or just to stay home to watch it all on TV. This is a great day, a great week to be Catholic in the United States.
The mood in America today is pretty much the same as the mood in Jerusalem in today’s reading from Ezra. The scripture readings for the next two weeks center around a joyful time in the history of the Jewish people. The people of Judah had been carried off to Babylon in 597 and 586 BCE (before the common era, or BC). Then King Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon. He decreed in 538 BCE that the Hebrew people could return from exile in Babylon to Palestine and rebuild their temple in Jerusalem.
Two books of scripture, Ezra and Nehemiah, tell the story of the people’s return. Ezra is written from a priest’s point of view and focuses on rebuilding the temple. Nehemiah was a layman and official of the Persian court, as well as a devout Jew. His story of leading the people to rebuild the walls and city of Jerusalem is told in the book of Nehemiah. There is much overlap in the two books. They are short. You might want to read their story of what it took to re-establish a nation under God. It was not easy to rebuild walls, doors, and community. It was not easy to rebuild Jewish worship, morality, and faith.
It took some doing, but, at last, the temple was done. The reading today tells of how the priests worshiped to celebrate its completion: “The children of Israel—priests, Levites, and the other returned exiles—celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. For the dedication of this house of God, they offered…” We hear then of how many animals were offered. Then the people kept the Passover, offering the sacrifices of that feast.
It is perhaps hard for us to appreciate what this scripture is describing. Killing animals is not how we worship. Such activity does not seem a wonderful thing to do. It was wonderful to the people of ancient times. The people had been worshiping in synagogues and their homes for the sixty or so years of exile. The sacrifices to Yahweh, by the Law of Moses, could only be offered in Jerusalem in the temple. When there was no temple, there could be no sacrifice.
For an equivalent, imagine we could not have mass for sixty years. Then the day comes when mass can be offered again. Perhaps some of our readers are in countries where that has been true, where the mass had to be celebrated privately. Then the day came when faith and worship could again be public. You would know how great the joy would be on that day!
Think of the great joy when Pope John Paul II returned to Poland in 1979. Many people believe the groundswell of celebration and faith that spontaneously arose as he kissed the ground at the Warsaw airport as the beginning of the end of the Cold War and communist domination of Eastern Europe.
In the United States this week, we have an opportunity to experience the joy felt by the Jewish people as they again worshiped in their holy temple in Jerusalem—as they rediscovered their faith and roots. We have not been oppressed by communism, nor carried off to exile in a distant land. But many among us have lost touch, appreciation, and recognition of the power and value of both Christianity and our Roman Catholic expression of Christianity. We do not rejoice to go up to the house of the Lord. Instead, on any given Sunday, studies report 75% of baptized Catholics are not at mass. Instead we spend Sundays in sports stadiums, shopping malls, other churches, or just skipping church to stay home to rest. Too often we have lost the joy of worship, the joy of going up to the house of the Lord.
The celebration of the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem led to the people’s re-commitment to their faith. As they rebuilt the temple, they rediscovered documents which more fully enabled them to know what God expected of them. The reading of the fuller law and their response is recounted in upcoming scripture readings from Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, and Nehemiah. When the residents of Jerusalem heard and understood what God expected of them, they repented. They changed their ways.
May we, today, in the United States, also come to a new understanding of our Christian, Catholic faith as Pope Francis comes. May his message, through media, reach the many who have distanced themselves from God and from the Church. May we, like the people of Jerusalem in 538 BCE, celebrate, repent, and come back to worship, learn, and be community together in the house of the Lord which is the Catholic Church.
As our Gospel reading says today, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” We have the opportunity to be the mother and brothers of Jesus EVERY day by virtue of our baptism. Let us hear the word of God through Pope Francis…and act on it…to claim that opportunity to be the intimate family of God.
The psalm today says, “I rejoiced when they said unto me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Do you rejoice to go to mass, to go to the house of the Lord? Or is this a time in your life when something clouds its beauty?
Prayer
For the prayer today, pray Psalm 122. Pray it that you may rejoice in worship at mass. Pray it for all those in the US today who have not been to mass much lately. Pray it for all who go to mass, but do not know the joy of worship it contains. Pray for Pope Francis and the people of the United States. Click here to access the text of Psalm 122.
