27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, October 8,2006

27th week in Ordinary Time, October 9th, 2006

Scripture: Genesis 2:18-24. Psalm 128:1-6, Hebrews 2:9-11, Mark 10:2-16

One of my friends is a lector at her Church and was asked to substitute for the readings of today. She was overwhelmed as she read them. Why? Because this would have been her 58th anniversary of her marriage, but her husband had died just about a half year ago. She considered this a grace and a blessing from God that she was called to read about marriage as a covenant and sacrament.

In my own reflections on the readings, I was attracted to think of the key words which I found to be Family life, children, relationships, and, of course, the sacrament of matrimony. I see these themes as realities of life essential to everyone of us and to religion as well as civil society. The lessons from the sacred readings for this Sunday can help each one of us to deepen our own relationships with God and neighbor and for those who are married to deepen their love for their partner.

In the first reading from Genesis, we have what is known as the older theological writings called the Yahwhist since the word for God is the sacred tetragammaton or sacred name YHVH. Out of deep respect for that name, the Jewish people pronounce it ADONAI in order not to offend the holy name of God in anyway. God is the source for the beginning of all life and, the Scriptures focus primarily on human life. No matter what our mindset may be, all beginnings of life start with God (that, of course, is my mindset based on faith). God is eternally the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of what we experience in this cosmos and on our planet earth. Genesis in both traditions reflected in the Priestly chapter one and in the Yahwist of chapter two have their highpoint focused on the creaton of man and woman. The first tradition shows the equality of their creation, while the second, when exegetically studied, shows that they are helpmates and no one is subordinate to the other.

The Psalm for today is a beautiful reflection of home life during the first millennium before the birth of Christ. Family, children, beauty, and dignity are described in this little psalm. When we get to listen to the epistle to the Hebrews we discover that Jesus is not angelic but totally human; one with us in the limitations of human life. This reminded me of the Thomistic axiom "Sacramenta sunt propter homines." The Sacraments, and especially, the Sacrament of Matriomony, are for human beings not for the angels. Jesus is contrasted with the angels in the reading and he, as human, instituted the sacraments. As Catholics we believe in seven sacraments; so do the Orthodox. Baptism and Eucharist are the two accepted by those who have only the Bible as their primary source.

Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus teaches the experts in religion about the meaning of the Genesis text and God's loving plan for woman and man. It includes the blessing of children. Whether we are married or not, have children or not, today is a day for honoring and praying for the family, for children, and for those is the sacred sacrament of Matrimony. Amen.

The 27th week in Ordinary Time, Monday, October 9th, 2006

Scripture: Galatians 1:6-12. Psalm 111: 1-2,7-10. Luke 10:25-37

Three words that spring from the above texts of the Bible are Christ, covenant, and commandments. In the first reading Paul is insisting on the primacy of Christ in the Gospel that he has received from a divine revelation in the extraordinary conversion experience he had. No one is to detract from what has been preached by him and what is handed down by the Evangelists. The preacher is to be a harmonious reflection of what is contained within the Holy Gospels. Paul with his Jewish background pays attention to this divine inspiration and he makes it his commandment to others who are preaching the Gospel. Do not listen to those who depart from its authentic message! Paul is almost totally bound up with Christ as the center of his letters and certainly of his preaching. This is, of course, true for all the writings in the New Testament--all 27 of them.

The Psalmist gives us a beautiful prayer for renewing our covenant with God. He helps us to pray and to remember that it is a covenant of love, mercy, and kindness on the part of God and acceptance and love for the covenant on our part. This is what makes us partners with God. We give thanks to the Lord while remembering that God's love for us is forever.

Commandments are essential to the living out of the covenant. Jesus teaches this today in a sincere lawyer who is asking about the commandments. They are to be summed up in God's love for us and our love for God and neighbor. Jesus is a good teacher so he uses a story and fills it with imagery and suspense. It is the beautiful parable of the Good Samaritan that is given as the lesson about commandments. And certainly every once in a while someone will call you or me a "good Samaritan" meaning that we have done something good for someone in need. This is a good sign for on those occasions we have truly lived out the commandments understanding the true spirit and interpretation of them. So, the three words above, namely, Christ, covenant, and commandment are really about our relationship to God and to Jesus. We come to believe and maybe even know that God is love. Amen.