Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

Over the last several weeks, we have been following Saint Luke’s story of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. We have heard challenging sayings (getting through the narrow door), healings (the ten lepers in Samaria), parables (the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son), dining with the despised tax collector Zaccheus in Jericho, to name a few highlights.

We also saw the continuing conflict between Jesus and the chief priests, scribes and religious leaders. In today’s Gospel, we hear that they wanted Jesus put to death. However, we also read that they could not accomplish this nefarious intention because “the people were hanging on his words.”

Wouldn’t it be a better world if more people hung on to Jesus’ words: of mercy, and forgiveness (the “Prodigal Father”), the last will be first, his love of people rejected by “law-abiding people” (the Samaritan leper, Zaccheus), his angry plead in today’s Gospel that his “house” be a “house of prayer,” rather than a place for selling goods – or worse.

Which of Jesus’ words, sayings, stories, or parables do you most hang onto? What stance or set of values do you, as a disciple of Jesus, strive to live on a daily basis? I pose this question especially as a counter lifestyle to the cynicism, lies, hypocrisy, and hatefulness represented by the attitudes of those who were constantly harassing Jesus on his journey to and arrival in Jerusalem? I believe this struggle continues today.

Eventually, Jesus was put to death by the Roman Empire. Arguably, his values threatened both civil and religious leaders. We remember and celebrate this story at every Mass. And we are asked to “do this in memory of me.”

Let Us Pray:

I give thanks to God for creation and for being wonderfully made. I ask for the grace to see creation as God does – in all its splendor and suffering. I ask for the grace to see how my life choices impact creation and the poor and vulnerable. I ask for the grace of conversion towards justice and reconciliation. I ask for the grace to reconcile my relationship with God, creation and humanity, and to stand in solidarity through my actions. Amen. (An Ignatian Examen)