Reflection for Lectionary # 435, Sept. 5, 2008, 22nd Friday in Ordinary Time Also the Marian Feast of Mary, Queen of Apostles

Scripture: Friday of 22nd week. I Cor. 4:1-5. Psalm 37:3-4.5-6.
27-28.39-40. Luke 5:33-39. Lectionary # 435:

There is sufficient evidence in the Gospels that Jesus frequented
dinners and even a wedding or two. We see indications of this in the
imagery used by Jesus in answering the query of the interpreters of the
Torah. They ask Jesus, "John's disciples fast frequently and offer prayers;
the disciples of the Pharisees do the same. Yours, on the contrary ,eat and
drink freely." Jesus then replies, "Can you make the guests of the groom
fast while the groom is still with them?" Then to illustrate the meaning
of what he says, Jesus uses another image that speaks of wine and
wineskins. This reflects what would have been the favorite beverage of a
wedding in those days. They did not have Coca Cola or Pepsi! Wine is
essential both to weddings and the picture of the messianic banquet offered
by the prophets and Jesus. The fields are suited for grapevines and their
produce because of the soil and the sun. Jesus knew how to enjoy a wedding
and he is helping the interpreters of the law to understand his point of
view.
The last part of our Gospel reading shows that Jesus' disciples will
fast and pray at the appropriate time but not while the bridegroom is with
them. He continues his teaching, "When the days come that the groom is
removed from their midst, they will surely fast in those days." This
saying of Jesus will also make sense in the light of the Paschal Mystery of
Jesus who dies on a Friday which then becomes a universal fast day for
Christians and a day of reflective prayer. So Luke is speaking both for
the time of Jesus and for our own time when we commemorate the death of
Jesus upon the Cross.
We learn that Jesus is a Wisdom person through the manner in which he
answers questions whether they be from the interpreters of the law, or from
Pilate, or from a devout young man who seeks to do the will of God. His
response today shows us the need for balance, perspective, and integration
in our performing religious actions such as prayer, fasting, almsgiving.
Heart and mind are to work together whenever we analyze, reflect upon or
interpret the Scriptures and the words and actions found within the pages
of the Bible. Again a Latin expression catches the teaching of Jesus very
succinctly, "Virtus in medio stat." Virtue stands in the middle. Amen.

Same day, Septempber 5, Mary, Queen of the Apostles.

Scripture: Acts 1:12-14.2:1-4. Psalm 87: 1-2,3&5,6-7. John 19:25-27.
Lectionary : Mass from Collection of Masses to Blessed Virgin Mary

Our feast honoring Mary reflects on her Queenship and also her
mission to make Jesus known, loved, and served. She is an apostle for her
son and is gathered in the upper room with the named apostles and the holy
women, men, and friends and relatives of her son. They all are awaiting
the coming of the Holy Spirit and are united in prayer as they await God's
sending of the Spirit.
It happens that all of our readings from three separate sources focus
on the area of Jerusalem including the Temple, the upper room, and the
scene near Jerusalem on Mount Calvary. This helps us to appreciate the
geography of the Bible and the New Testament Gospel and Acts. In fact, some
scholars liken the geography of the Holy Land to a "fifth gospel." After
visiting Israel and the Holy Land of Jesus many pilgrims and visitors come
back enthused about reading the Bible and they do so with greater knowledge
and insight. For some, it is the first time that the pages of the New
Testament come alive for them.
We do focus on Mary on this day. As a faithful apostle/disciple of
Jesus she first accepted her call at the Annunciation and did so with
courage and full consent. Her commitment would never waver and we now see
her in that upper room--the last time she is mentioned in the New
Testament. As at the Annunciation she is now overshadowed in a more
dramatic way with the coming ot the Holy Spirit with tongues of fire. She
has been a part of Jesus' life from the start of his own heartbeat within
her to his last heartbeat given for all on the Cross. She is his most
faithful companion, his mother, his disciple. She cooperates in the
history of salvation in a creative way becoming an agent of Jesus' love and
that of the Father. "God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so
that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." (John 3:16). At
the foot of the cross, she too so loved all of us that she gives her son
back to God and accepts in his place the beloved disciple, John. One of the
early theologians named Origen comments on her and this beloved disciple:
"No one may understand the meaning of the Gospel of John, if he has not
rested on the breast of Jesus and received Mary from Jesus, to be his (and
her) mother." (Origen, 250 A.D.).
The Psalm helps us to relate Mary to her own people Israel by imaging
her as the Daughter of Zion. It is a psalm that is frequently used in the
liturgy of the Masses in honor of Mary and in the liturgy of the hours.
Like the Church of the upper room, Mary, too is an icon and image of the
Church especially as the Church is on mission to evangelize. The apostles
will go forth after the coming of the Spirit to bring the Gospel to all
nations and peoples and races.
Mary is the apostle who first brought Jesus to Elizabeth and her son
John the Baptist. And it was Elizabeth proclaimed her blessed.by
Elizabeth:"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your
womb... and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillmentof
what was spoken to her by the Lord." (Luke 1:42,45). And now as Queen of
the Apostles she sends the ones gathered in the upper room to move out
courageously and to preach boldly about Jesus her son.
In the Gospel we have a flashback to the scene where the Church is
born as Jesus sheds his blood mingled with water--signs of the Eucharist
and Baptism. All is accomplished now as Jesus entrusts the beloved
disciple to the woman named Mary. They mutually accept one another as
God's loving gift and represent the Jewish and Christian beginnings of the
Church. We too gather in spirit on this day and celebrate Mary as the
Mother of the Church and the Queen of the Apostles. We now are to be the
creative agents of her love for Jesus and those who are sent as apostles
into the world of our day. As one prayer says, "May the Father, and the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, be glorified in all places through the Immaculate
Virgin Mary. Amen.