According my Catholic Study Bible the Psalms were used by the Jews in worship just as we Catholics use the Psalms every day in worship in today’s liturgy. In Psalm 8 which was supposedly written by the author, David, talks about the Son of Man. Who is the Son of Man anyway? Here David talks about the Son of Man and crowning him to rule over the works of God’s hands. David was not a prophet but he did have a heart for God and Jesus being one of three persons in one God which leads to the following question. Was David talking about Jesus or the human race in general. David did not know Jesus, but he did have a relationship with God. so what inspired him to write about someone in the future who had authority and kingship.
Yet you have made him little less than a god,
crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands,
put all things at his feet ( Psalm 8:6-7 )
Some translations say less than the angels. In Matthew Jesus has a prediction of His Passion. ( Matthew 20:18-19 ) “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised one the third day.”
Who is the Son of Man to you? Do you have a relationship with him? Have you sometimes let it lapse? Yes I am guilty.
I had not been to the sacrament of Reconciliation in over 3 months. In prior reflections I have spoken about the peace of receiving the sacrament. However, just like the Pharisees, I said one thing and did another. By the grace of God, I went to confession on Saturday Oct 1st. The walls of the Church did not shake or buckle. As it turned out our parish has a highly motivated energetic young priest in our parish who just graduated from the seminary in June, 2016. The Monsignor who I usually go to receive the sacrament had just finished a wedding and was not available. It is always comforting after you confess your sins to hear the words that your sins are forgiven and go and sin no more and then he gave me the best penance on top it all. He did not tell me to say a prayer or multiple rosaries but told me to give something up or abstain from something. He did not even give me a time limit but let me choose the thing to give up and the length of time to which I would give it up. In choosing this I had to talk to Jesus and find out what He thought. Wow!
It was humbling and empowering. I have heard of fathers who had their children choose their own punishment, but never received it in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
But what about Luke’s Gospel of today “ Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” I have seen so many scrupulous Christians not just Catholics worry over this verse and it says just after this verse “do not worry”. If you go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation with a humble contrite heart you can never blaspheme the Holy Spirit because you are acknowledging the forgiveness of God in the confessional. The scriptures this week have focused on this. One of my favorite contributors to a Catholic Moment Mary Ortwein wrote on Tuesdays reflection and I quote, “Both St. Paul and Jesus point out today (October 11th) that outward expressions of relationship with God need to have inner meaning.” I had written my previous comment before I read Mary’s beautiful reflection.
In truth, we acknowledge the Son of God every day of our lives. We lead lives that try to be Christian and honorable to our Catholic Faith. We try to do good in our lives and we still sin. When we sin we separate ourselves from Christ and because of this we want to get back into a relationship with our Savior. That is our journey to heaven. We do not go out to sin but our human nature steps into the fray and the Devil makes us feel worthless, but we all know this is a lie. The world, the flesh and the Devil will always be there in our earthly existence. However, we have a way of acknowledging the Son of Man, yes Jesus and the acknowledgement is in repentance.Again “ do not worry” mercy and forgiveness are not far away, but you have to take the first step.
Daily Mass Readings: Ephesians 1:15-23; Psalm 8:2-3AB,4-5,6-7; Luke 12:8-12
