Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

Gospel: Luke 1:26-38 -
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God, to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. He was sent to a virgin, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
The angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could mean.

But the angel said, “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a son; and you shall call him Jesus. He will be great, and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, his ancestor; he will rule over the people of Jacob forever; and his reign shall have no end.”But the angel said, “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a son; and you shall call him Jesus. He will be great, and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, his ancestor; he will rule over the people of Jacob forever; and his reign shall have no end.”Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the holy child to be born of you shall be called Son of God. Even your relative, Elizabeth, is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a child; and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible.”
Then Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.” And the angel left her.

Reflection:
“Let it be done to me as you have said.”
In this gospel text Mary passes through a range of feelings: She was“troubled”by the angel’s strange greeting; she was afraid; she was incredulous (“How can this be…?”); and finally she responded with faithful submission: “Let it be done to me ac- cording to your word.” None of us faces exactly the same leap of faith that was required of Mary. But all of us as Christians are called to accept God’s promises on the basis of faith—without proof or guarantee. Faith, in contrast, is not “natural.”
It was in the space created by Mary’s faith—and not simply in her womb—that the Word became flesh. For this reason she has been called not only the Mother of Jesus but Mother of Church. In subsequent centuries, Mary’s status and her distinctive nature would be the subject of dogmatic pronouncements and learned tomes. But in the end her preeminence is due to her having exemplified the spirit of true discipleship: attention, reverence, and obedience to the word and will of God.
She was in effect the first and paradigmatic disciple. She is thus the first to be honored among the saints.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 13:1-9 -
One day, some people told Jesus what had occurred in the temple: Pilate had had Galileans killed, and their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus asked them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this? No, I tell you. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish, as they did.

And those eighteen persons in Siloah, who were crushed when the tower fell, do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem? I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish, as they did.”
And Jesus continued, “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the gardener, ‘Look here, for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree, and I have found none. Cut it down, why should it continue to deplete the soil?’ The gardener replied, ‘Leave it one more year, so that I may dig around it and add some fertilizer; perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it doesn’t, you can cut it down.’”

Lectio Divina
READ: God promised Moses that he would free his people from slavery. Through Christ, God has set his people free from sin. But as Jesus warns, to receive this gift we must change our ways.
REFLECT: When a disaster strikes—a typhoon, an earth- quake—there is a temptation to ask, “What did they do to deserve this?” Was it their immorality? Their lack of faith? When disaster strikes close to home, we ask, “How could God allow this?” Someone— God or the victims must somehow be to “blame.” But God—whose name is “I AM”- hears the cries of the victims. And God is present in those who respond with compassion and deliverance.
PRAY: Lord, let me listen with your ears to the cries of the oppressed.
ACT: Respond with effective solidarity to someone or some group that is suffering harm or injustice.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32* -
(…) Jesus continued, “There was a man with two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Give me my share of the estate.’ So the father divided his property between them.
Some days later, the younger son gathered all his belongings and started off for a distant land, where he squandered his wealth in loose living. Having spent everything, he was hard pressed when a severe famine broke out in that land. So he hired himself out to a well- to-do citizen of that place, and was sent to work on a pig farm. So famished was he, that he longed to fill his stomach even with the food given to the pigs, but no one offered him anything.

Finally coming to his senses, he said, (…) I will get up and go back to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against God, and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me then as one of your hired servants.’ With that thought in mind, he set off for his father’s house. He was still a long way off, when his father caught sight of him. His father was so deeply moved with compassion that he ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.’
But the father turned to his servants: ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Bring out the finest robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! Take the fattened calf and kill it! We shall celebrate and have a feast, for this son of mine was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found!’ And the celebration began. Meanwhile, the elder son had been working in the fields. (…) He called one answered, ‘Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father is so happy about it that he has ordered this celebration, and killed the fattened calf.’ The elder son became angry, and refused to go in. His father came out and pleaded with him. (…) The father said, ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But this brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found. And for that we had to rejoice and be glad.’”

Reflection:
“Everything I have is yours.”
In reading this beloved parable, we typically focus on the remorse of the prodigal son, and the gratuitous mercy of his father. But another aspect of the story comes into focus when we consider the context. Jesus tells this story in reply to the “muttering” of the Pharisees and teachers of the law who were scandalized by Jesus’ welcome to sinners. Their counterpart in the story is the “elder son,” who looks on resentfully at the abundance of the Father’s love. In this context the story of God’s mercy has a more polemical edge.
It’s message is not so much directed at sinners, assuring them of God’s love and forgiveness—but against the righteous, religious people who would draw a circle around God’s love, one that includes them but excludes everyone else. Jesus does not exclude them—“you are always with me and everything I have is yours”—but how can he fail to rejoice that one who was dead has come back to life?
There are many things to feel indignant about. But the mercy of God is not one of them. Indignant as we are, that mercy extends to us, as well.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46 
Listen to another example: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, built a watchtower, leased the vineyard to tenants, and then, went to a distant country. When harvest time came, the landowner sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the harvest. But the tenants seized his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

Again, the owner sent more servants; but they were treated in the same way.
Finally, he sent his son, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they thought, ‘This is the one who is to inherit the vineyard. Let us kill him, and his inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
Now, what will the owner of the vineyard do with the tenants when he comes?” They said to him, “He will bring those evil men to an evil end, and lease the vineyard to others, who will pay him in due time.”
And Jesus replied, “Have you never read what the Scriptures say? The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and we marvel at it. Therefore I say to you: the kingdom of heaven will be taken from you, and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard these parables, they realized that Jesus was referring to them. They would have arrested him, but they were afraid of the crowd, who regarded him as a prophet.

Reflection:
“The kingdom of heaven will be taken from you, and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”
The crowd “regarded him as a prophet.” What protected Jesus, on this occasion, was also what threatened him. A prophet, after all, is one who speaks truth to power—a dangerous profession. The powerful elite liked to invoke God’s promises as an unconditional guarantee of their wealth and happiness. They measured their faithfulness by the volume of their prayers and the value of their burnt offerings. But for the prophets, the crucial measure was the degree of mercy toward the weak and justice for the poor and oppressed. Many of the prophets suffered persecution or even death.
The chief priests and Pharisees “realized Jesus was referring to them.” In telling this parable, Jesus had held up a mirror. Those captured in it saw their own reflection, and responded in character: “They would have him arrested.”
Lest we be quick to judge the hapless Pharisees: Let us ask ourselves if we have served our Master any better than the wicked tenants. Prophets continue to arise in our midst. If we fail to heed their word, the kingdom of heaven will be taken from us “and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019