2 Kings 25: 1-12 / Matthew 8: 1-4
Babylon strikes Judah again: The city and the Temple were destroyed.
Judah’s “day of reckoning” dawned in 587 B.C. That
date is branded forever on the heart of every Jew. It marks the year when
Babylonian armies descended upon Jerusalem and reduced the city and the Temple
to a pile of charred rubble. The people who survived the devastating defeat
were led off to captivity in Babylon. There they joined many relatives and
friends who had been taken captive ten years before.
The great philosopher Santayana said that those who do not
learn from the past are condemned to repeat it. What does God want us to learn
from the defeat of Judah and the destruction of the city and the Temple? “How
lonely lies Jerusalem. . . .Her children have been captured and taken away. The
splendor of Jerusalem is a thing of the past Lamentations 1:1, 5-6
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The year 587BC is seared into the minds of the
Biblical Jews whenever they recall their nation's history. That was the year of
the Babylonian invasion that resulted in the Exile in Babylon of the Jewish
nation. On top of that, the magnificent Temple that was built by king Solomon,
that Temple which was the pride and glory of the nation was utterly demolished,
along with the city of Jerusalem. Stripped of all dignity and status, with no
country or land to call their own, and being slaves in the land of their conquerors,
the Jewish people began thinking and reflecting. Why did such disaster and
humiliation come upon them? Why didn't God protect them or come to their help?
Upon deeper reflection, they came to realize that in the first place, they had
sinned and turned away from the Lord. This was despite repeated attempts by the
prophets to call the nation to repentance and to turn back to the Lord. Hence
it can be said that the one good thing that came out of the Babylonian Exile
was that the people turned back to God in repentance and asking for
forgiveness. The history of the Jewish nation serves as a lesson for us
especially when we become complacent and begin to take God for granted.
Yet the history of the Jewish nation also affirms the fact
that God answers whenever we call to Him, especially in repentance and asking
for forgiveness and healing.
It is like what the leper said in today's gospel: Sir, if
you want to, you can cure me. And the reply of Jesus was: Of course I want to!
Be cured!
*****
A COMPASSIONATE HEART
Introduction Punishment comes to the Jewish people
for their persistent infidelity. Jerusalem is destroyed with its temple and the
people sent into exile.
Immediately after the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew gives us
a series of miracles of Jesus, the first of which is narrated in today’s
gospel, the cure of the leper. Jesus had spoken with power, now he acts with
power; Jesus had spoken of the law of love, now he himself puts it into
practice in an act of compassionate help to an outcast. Note that in the Bible
leprosy is closely linked to sin and like a physical sign of sin. Let us honor
our Lord in his compassion and forgiveness.
Opening Prayer
Lord God, our Father, your Son Jesus Christ revealed to us your
compassionate, healing love. Let his presence here in our midst fill us with
his power of sharing in the miseries of our neighbor. Let our words be like
balm on open wounds in their hearts and let our deeds bring healing to all
those around us. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Commentary Only the poor were left behind in a
torched and ravaged Jerusalem. The Babylonians had leveled the city, and the
temple was destroyed. The Judean king’s son was murdered and the king himself
was hauled off to Babylon, a captive. Who were the poor of God who become such
a privileged people in the scriptures? Originally it was a social category: the
poor people of the land, with precious little of this world’s goods. Materially
they may have suffered, but they were in the best position to be responsive to
God. God alone was their true provider, and the recognition of this was at the
heart of biblical spirituality. As time went on, it was the spiritual qualities
of the true anawim or “poor of God” that were emphasized. The anawim lived with
a true sense of dependence on God, one that went beyond social status and
looked to basic dispositions of the heart. It could apply to anyone in society,
although there was always the recognition that die socially deprived were in an
ideal position to have the spirit of the anawim. It is this spirit that
characterizes the leper in today’s Gospel. He knows what Christ is capable of
but prefaces his request with trust in the willingness of the Lord. “Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Points to Ponder The spiritual qualities of the poor Poverty
as openness to God Poverty in religious life.
Intercessions
– With all who seek pardon and reconciliation, we cry out to
you, Lord, and with all who have found and grant forgiveness, we thank you,
Lord: Lord, hear our prayer.
– With all who are rejected by their communities, we cry out
to you, Lord, and with all who accept people and restore their dignity, we
praise you, Lord:
– With al who hide their suffering, we cry out to you, Lord,
and with all who share with others and uplift them, we praise you, Lord:
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father, you are good to us. With these gifts of
bread and wine we offer you the sacrifice of Jesus that brought us your
forgiveness. Reconcile us with you and each other and keep cleansing us from
the leprosy of pride and hard-heartedness that mar in us the face of Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
God our Father, your Son Jesus has spoken among us his words
and deeds of healing. He has answered our plea for forgiveness and fresh hope
in life with the gift of himself. Make us too capable of stretching out our
hands to those in sorrows and pain and of touching them with our love. And may
our compassionate help reach out most of all to the outcasts of this cold
world. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Blessing When we have sinned, we too should go to God and tell him: Lord, you can clean me, and he is very willing to do so, for he loves us and heals us repeatedly. May we also bring healing to the people around us, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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Saint Irenaeus
Feast day June 28
Irenaeus linked the Church at the time of the twelve apostles and the Church of the second century. He wrote and taught the faith handed on by the apostles and preserved it when it was attacked. His chief concern was unity among the churches. Irenaeus was born about 130 in Smyrna, a port town in western Turkey.
He traveled to Lyons, France, where he was ordained a priest. Eventually, he became its bishop. Irenaeus faced a strong battle against Gnosticism. This heresy claimed that eternal life could be gained only by receiving special knowledge about God, knowledge available to a chosen few. Irenaeus taught that, according to Scripture, God wished all people to be saved and to know the truth. The name Irenaeus means “peace,” and this saint was true to his name.
At one time, a group of Christians in Irenaeus’s homeland did not want to celebrate Easter at the time the Church in Rome had decided. Irenaeus explained to Pope Victor I that this was not a matter of faith. The date for celebrating Easter was an old tradition for these people. His pleading helped the pope decide in their favor. Irenaeus was an important writer and a strong witness to the teaching of the Church as it came from Peter and the other apostles. Perhaps Irenaeus was martyred; we know only that he died in about 200.
