25th Week, Tuesday, Sept 26, Sts. Cosmas and Damian
Ezra 6:7-8, 12, 14-20 / Luke 8:19-21
The Jews rebuild Jerusalem; When it was rebuilt, they celebrated.
The Jews who returned to Jerusalem were heartsick at what
they saw. The city and the Temple were destroyed beyond all recognition.
Nevertheless, the people set to work to rebuild the city. Samaritans tried to
block their efforts. At times the workmen found themselves building with one
hand and fighting with the other. To add to the hardships, farm crops failed
their first year back.
Finally, inspired by Ezra and Nehemiah, the Jews completed
the work around 450 B.C. They renewed the covenant with the Lord and celebrated
the Passover.
***
How persevering are we when everything seems to go wrong for
us? "The heights great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden
flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the
night." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
***
The generation that has seen WWII is passing on. Those that
had survived a war that is termed as a "World War" are in their
twilight years with not much time remaining. Whether as a soldier or as a
civilian during those years of turmoil, whether as a war veteran or as a
survivor, they know what it was like and had a story to tell. But more than a
story, it was an experience that bound them together, a blood-and-tears experience
that is seared into the flesh and into the memory for the rest of their lives. In
the 1st reading, when the exiles returned to their homeland, it was return to
the desolation and devastation that they had seen 70 years before. Those that
had known what the Temple was before the exile had an experience to share with
the younger generation who had not seen that Temple before. But it was
that experience that bound the exiles together to build the new Temple and to
build up the nation again.
***
After the
enthusiastic return of the Jews from the exile, they soon fell apart into
factions: almost all looked after their own interests first. Because they were
not a real community, they could not achieve the reconstruction of their modest
temple, for to do this, there had to be a community of faith. Finally, with
prophets exhorting them, they could muster that degree of unity to finish the
temple and to celebrate the Passover feast. Where we are a community, God is
present, even without a temple or church.
Herod too,
was puzzled about this man Jesus. He wanted to see this strange prophet about
whom there were so many rumors. Does Jesus, the Gospel and life and our faith
puzzle us? Are we in constant search of the deeper meaning of our Christian
life?
***
Prayer: God of the covenant, you are present
where there are people who believe in you and who gather in your name. Gather
us together from our dispersion of selfishness and overconcern about our petty
interests, that we may be your people and the living temple of your presence in
the midst of all people. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
***
Saints Cosmas and Damian
Feast day September 26
There are some saints of whom we know very little. People
from all over the world may honour them. Shrines and churches may be built in
their names. But the facts and details of their lives have faded from our
memories or their stories may never have been recorded.
Cosmas and Damian are saints like these. Little is known
about them except that they suffered martyrdom for their faith in Syria
sometime during the persecutions of Diocletian (around 303). We may never know
exactly what happened, but we do know that their witness to the faith was so
strong that people turned to them for prayerful help and passed their story on
to others.
Legends about these two saints abound. According to these
stories, Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers, born in Arabia, who went to
Syria to study and practice medicine. But they were concerned about more than
healing bodies. They brought their belief in Christ to those to whom they
ministered. Not only that, but they also served people without charging any
fees. Lysias, the governor of Celicia, heard about these two brothers and he
summoned them before him. When Cosmas and Damian proclaimed they were Christians,
Lysias had them tortured and finally beheaded. Devotion to these two brothers
grew, and many cures were said to have been worked through their intercessions.
Later a church in their honour was constructed over the site of their burial.
When the Emperor Justinian was sick, he prayed to Saints Cosmas and Damian for
a cure. Out of gratitude for receiving this favour, he enlarged the city of Cyr
and its church. Numerous other churches were erected for them at Constantinople
and Rome. Their names are also included in the First Eucharistic Prayer.
If so little about these saints is actually known, why do we
honour them? Part of the answer can be found in tradition. When so many
believers continue to honour the memory of martyrs, year after year and all
over the world, there is good reason to believe that their lives were true
witnesses to the Gospel. People who live and die according to their convictions
and faith give hope to the world long after their deaths. Their lives can
inspire us and encourage us to be faithful during our little trials and
sorrows.
