June 12, 2019

June 12

June 12, 2019:  Wednesday, 10th week, Ordinary Time

How many connections with today can you fine?
Legend below
Listen
For Psalm 99

Communion and ‘freedom from oneself’ are part of the Christian's DNA.  Christ’s choice of twelve Apostles shows the continuity between the Church and the people of Israel.  After Judas defected, the Apostles knew another had to take his place.  So the community joined in prayer to discern the Lord’s choice.

 Jesus told his disciples they'd be known by their love for one another and explained that their unity was their first form of witness to the Lord and his love.  Judas preferred death, but the eleven chose life and salvation and took on the responsibility of passing it on.  It became necessary to reconstitute the Twelve after the wound Judas's abandonment created.  This inaugurated community discernment, seeing reality through God's eyes, in the perspective of unity and communion.  Communion overcomes division, isolation, and prioritizing private space.

 In Acts, the Twelve manifest the style of the Lord.  Rediscover the beauty of witnessing to the Risen One, going beyond self-referential attitudes, not keeping God's gifts to ourselves, not yielding to mediocrity.  Ask the Lord to help you bear witness to God's love by our unity, which triumphs over pride and divisiveness.

Yodh (animate)
Read
  • 2 Cor 3:4-11  We have confidence through Christ toward God, who's qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, one of the spirit who gives life.  The ministry of the Spirit will be glorious....
  • Ps 99:5-9  "Holy is the Lord our God."  Extol and worship the Lord.  Many called upon him, he answered, and they heard the law he gave.
  • Mt 5:17-19  “I came not to abolish the law and prophets but to fulfill them.  Whoever breaks the least commandment will be called least in the Kingdom, but whoever obeys and teaches the commandments will be called great.”
Reflect
  • Yodh (Yud), the "smallest letter" of the Hebrew alphabet, is the first letter of God's Name; its top spur is "the smallest part of a letter" (Mt 5:18).  Not the smallest letter or part will disappear from the Word.  God uses the small to demonstrate his power.  More
  • Creighton:  Paul knew the law and how easily it is to be enslaved to it.  Rules have their place, help us live our lives, and point us to invisible realities, but they often hinder our growth, understanding, and compassion.  But if they hinder compassion and mercy, they're no longer useful.  The emphasis on fulfillment doesn't negate the sacrifices Hebrews made on behalf of the law.  Jesus emphasized that he wasn't nullifying or destroying the law but fulfilling and completing it.  The ceremonies, sacrifices, restrictions, and other features of the Old Covenant were only a shadow of good things coming,  not the realities themselves.  Rediscover the law in the person of Jesus, its perfect fulfillment, who personifies the meaning behind the law.
    Tetragrammaton (YHWH)
    starting with Yodh
    (remember Hebrew is right-to-left)
  • One Bread, One Body:  "Your credit rating":  We quickly shift from giving God the credit to taking the credit ourselves.  Our perspective is wrong:  we ask God to help us instead of asking God for the privilege of helping him. "When you've done all you've been commanded to do, say, 'We're useless servants; we've just done our duty'" We owe everything to God. "Everything is grace."  "Owing to God's favor, salvation is yours through faith.  It's God's gift, not your own doing or a reward for anything you accomplished, so don't pride yourself on it."  "Every worthwhile gift... comes from above."  "Let the last word be,  He is all in all!  Praise him..."
  • Passionist:  "The letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.”  The Holy Spirit brings us to new life in Christ.  Paul was overwhelmed with the excitement of following Christ. Though he had been a servant of the law, once he encountered Christ, he knew what a difference the new law and the Spirit could make and eager to share it.  Some people who find the Lord slip back into old ways, but Paul remained a new man forever.  In the gospel, Jesus also addressed the relationship between the old law and the new.  Jesus says he's not denying the law and the prophets but fulfilling them.  Am I alive in the Spirit, eager to live the faith Christ gave me?  Will the way I live my faith reveal the joy of discipleship and life in the Spirit?
  • DailyScripture.net:  "Great are those who teach and obey the commandments":  Jesus' loved and meditated on God's law.  "The law" referred to the 10 commandments, the Pentateuch/Torah, or God's whole teaching to his people; Jews also used it to describe the oral law to which scribes added more than God intended.  Jesus made it clear God's commandments must be fulfilled.  God's law of grace, love, and freedom flows from his love, goodness, and holiness.  Jesus taught reverence for God, the Lord's Day, parents, life, property, oneself, and others.  Respect for God's commandments teaches us love of God and neighbor.  God gives us grace to love, forgive, think, and act like him.  We must love his commandments and hate wrongdoing.  The Spirit writes God's law on our hearts, gives us wisdom and understanding, helps us in our weakness, strengthens us in temptation, and transforms us into the likeness of Christ....
Dress legend
  • DISC lanyard, DISC 2003 T-shirt:  DISC 2019 in progress
  • 'J' tie bar (10th letter, like י):  "Not the smallest letter will pass from the law..."; Jesus is fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (gospel); the 'letter' brings death,... (1st reading)
  • 'Dove' pin:  ...but the Spirit gives life (1st reading)
  • 'Stone' tie pin:  The ministry of the Spirit will be more glorious than the ministry of death carved on stone  (1st reading)
  • 'Phone' tie bar:  They 'called' on the Lord, and he answered (psalm)
  • Tie with 'clouds':  The Lord spoke from the pillar of cloud (psalm)
  • 'Tablet' pin (oops; forgot):  I came to fulfill, not abolish, the law...  (gospel) 
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