Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praise be Jesus and Mary.
Amen.
We have a lot to learn from the first reading,
especially with regard to how we should worship God
and how we should appreciate our freedom of religion
and the fact that we can come and hear the word of God,
and participate in Holy Mass.
The background regarding the first reading is this,
that the Jews have come back from exile in Babylon.
They've rededicated the temple.
They rebuilt the walls of the city.
They've renewed the covenant,
or they're about to renew the covenant with God
and reestablish the law of Moses.
All right, so they've been in exile
for a long time,
away from the temple,
away from the holy city of Jerusalem.
They come back and reestablish everything.
And Ezra, the priest, scribe,
stands in front of everyone with the scroll,
with the law of Moses,
and begins to read from daybreak till midday.
It says that all men, women,
and those children old enough to understand
were all men and women.
They were all gathered before him.
So he's reading from the law of Moses,
from daybreak till midday.
And what does it say?
That all of the people listened attentively.
Now think about how pitiful Christians are today
that have difficulty participating
in one hour of Holy Mass a week.
These people listened from daybreak till midday.
Listening to the word of God,
listening attentively.
Not only that, but it says that they're all weeping.
Okay, for all the people were weeping
as they heard the words of the law,
because they now appreciated,
because of that exile,
they now appreciated what they had,
what God had given them,
the ability to worship.
And so what is our attitude with regard to worshiping,
to worshiping God at Holy Mass once a week?
So many Christians find it to be a burden,
as something to get over with as conveniently as possible.
Okay, Saturday evening is much more convenient for us,
so that's when we'll go,
instead of on Sunday, the Lord's day.
Instead, we should love to worship God.
We should love it.
Would that we could weep at Holy Mass,
at hearing the word of God,
and participating at the holy sacrifice of the altar.
How much we can learn on how to properly worship God.
It says,
then they bowed down and prostrated themselves
before the Lord, their faces to the ground.
Okay, we should at bare minimum come in
and make a proper genuflection before the tabernacle,
which contains,
not only the spiritual presence,
but the real, sacramental, substantial presence of God.
Once again, how many Christians take it for granted,
you know, that they feel obliged,
you know, they have to come on Sundays.
Does anybody think about visiting our Lord,
the presence of God in the tabernacle,
during the week?
And when we have Him at our disposition,
whenever we worship Him,
whatever we want,
well, maybe it will take an exile for us
to learn to appreciate the freedom we have to worship God.
And so Ezra goes on to say that the people should rejoice.
Okay, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength.
The Psalm says,
your words, Lord, are spirit and life.
The precepts of the Lord are right.
Rejoicing the heart.
And so we too,
when we hear the word of God,
our hearts should rejoice
at the gift of having His truth,
of knowing the truth.
Another thing we should note
in this first reading
is that the word of God,
the law that was being read,
required interpretation.
The book of Nehemiah,
chapter 8, verse 8, says,
Ezra read plainly from the book of the law,
interpreting it,
so that all could understand what was read.
Because the word of God
does not interpret itself,
but it requires an authority
to teach us,
an authority to interpret
and help us to understand properly
the word of God.
The second letter of St. Peter says
that no prophecy is subject
to private interpretation.
The second letter of St. Peter says
that no prophecy is subject
to private interpretation.
No, you have to have
an authority,
someone who has been given
the authority by God
to interpret and teach
so that we may properly understand.
Because the word of God
is subject to misinterpretation,
misunderstanding
for the destruction
of the soul.
Again, as the second letter
of St. Peter says.
And so we need to read the word of God
according to the authentic,
authoritative interpretation
of the Church,
of Holy Mother Church,
who is our Mother
and Teacher.
So now we go to the Gospel
and we see
our Lord
is acting like another Ezra.
Like Ezra,
our Lord unrolls
the scroll.
And he's reading from the prophet Isaiah,
talking about
bringing glad tidings
to the poor and liberty
to captives. Remember that was
the message of Ezra.
Rejoice.
And then our Lord,
like Ezra,
gives the authoritative
interpretation.
He hands the scroll back to the attendant.
He sits down and everybody's
staring at him.
And our Lord says,
authority of the Son of God,
today this scripture
passage is fulfilled
in your hearing.
So there we have
the authoritative interpretation
of those passages
from the prophet Isaiah.
That Jesus Christ, the Son of God
and Savior of the world
is the one who brings us
glad tidings and liberty
to captives.
You see, the Old Testament
regarded
temporal punishments,
exile,
enslavement,
and temporal
rewards.
Freedom,
a peaceful, ordered life
in this world.
But the New Testament
and the Gospel in Jesus Christ
regards, of course,
eternal punishments
and eternal
rewards.
That exile in Babylonia
far away from Jerusalem,
the Holy City,
the Temple,
and God's presence
is like the soul in mortal sin
who is far from God
and far
from His friendship.
But Jesus Christ
who saves us and redeems us
has brought
forgiveness
and the possibility of bringing
grace back to that soul
of vivifying again
the soul in mortal sin
bringing Him back
that joy of being in
the state of grace and in
the friendship of God
and promising Him
eternal rewards.
Now, the second
reading
talks about the church.
Saint Paul is teaching us
about the church
under the
figure or
symbol, example
of the body of Christ.
We call
one of the things that we call the church
is the mystical body
of Christ.
And that comes from this reading.
And now we see in here it says
that there may be
no division in
the body.
We see how the church must be one.
That
Christians, there's no such thing
this concept of the invisible
church, that
many
non-Catholic Christians
have. This
division in the body. They don't believe
the same things. They don't have
the same faith. They don't belong
to the same church.
Visible church.
But here, Saint Paul says there is
maybe no division
in the body. We must
be united in
faith, in beliefs,
and in worship. This is the will
of God, of course, that
there be one baptism, one
faith, and one Lord.
And so we are grafted
into this body of Christ
at baptism.
Again, Saint Paul says
for in one spirit we were
all baptized into
one body.
That's how you enter the body of
Christ, is through valid
baptism. But there
must be no division.
Okay, that we all have
the same beliefs, the same
faith.
Now we see here how
important it is
that we be
in the state of grace. I talked about
our Lord's redemption
and salvation, about bringing
the soul from
mortal sin to the state of grace. This is
important not only for us as individuals,
but also for the
entire church.
We can't imagine that our
personal sins
don't hurt anybody.
They have an effect
only on us and on our personal
relationship with God. That is not
the case. It has an effect
on the whole church.
And everyone in the church
has an important role.
The eye cannot say
to the hand, I do not need you,
nor again the head to the
feet, I do not need you.
Everybody has their place
and their role in
the life of the church and the mystical
body of Christ, and it is
important.
But, if an individual member
of that mystical body
is in the state of mortal sin,
he is a wounded,
a dead member.
And so it's like
walking around
with a broken ankle.
Right?
With an arm
that's not functioning.
That body is not going to
be able to work,
perform the works that it
needs to, as effectively as it
would if all of the members
were healthy.
And so we have a responsibility
in front of
all the church, the entire
mystical body of Christ,
to do our part, to be
the saints that God has called us to be
so that the mystical body of
Christ is healthy and
vibrant and strong.
But if the majority
of the members, if the great
majority of the members don't
have faith, that is they are
living in mortal sin because they have
rejected this or that
definitive teaching of the church,
or
are not observing
the commandments, and for this reason
are in mortal sin,
then the mission of the church
is going to be
seriously weakened.
And that's why after
2,000 years,
less, the
great majority of humanity is not
even Christian,
because of the weakness of the
members of the body of Christ.
If everybody were
living their baptism
to the full, living their
Christian faith and was a healthy member
of the body of Christ, the whole world
would be converted by now.
So we need
to do our part. Of course
we don't have control over
the rest of the members, but
our health, our vigor
will help to sustain them.
If one part suffers,
all the parts suffer with it.
If one part is honored,
all the parts share its joy.
And so, for example,
when we have the canonization
of a new saint,
this is one part of the mystical body
being honored, and we all
rejoice. If you rejoice
at the canonization
of a new saint, that's a good sign.
That is the
spirit, the Holy Spirit,
the spirit that animates the church
living in you,
that causes you to rejoice
that a member of the mystical
body is being honored.
Thanks be to God.
So we should all
strive to
become those saints that
God wants us to be.
In the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
.
.