REMAIN IN FAITH
In today's first
reading we hear Paul's words, which are very important for us to reflect on and
are worth repeating. "Remain faithful to what you have learned and
believed, because you know from Whom you learned it, and that from infancy you
have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 3:14-15).
One of the
principle causes of the advancement of civilization was the development of
written languages. That human beings have been able to communicate with each
other through sounds is marvelous enough, but the fact that the meaning of
these sounds could be permanently recorded and disseminated through writing is
astounding. This development is part of God's plan and He has used it to
communicate Himself to us through sacred Scripture - sacred writings - which
God Himself has inspired.
St. Paul,
today, tells us that the Scriptures - inspired by God - are useful for
teaching, for reproof, correction, and training, in order to lead us toward
holiness on our journey. In a sense this is a classic understatement! Next to
the Eucharist, the Scriptures are our most precious possession.
Words, written or
spoken, are the expression of a person's ideas. The words of Scripture are
God's Words, but He has only one idea and that idea is a person, His Son. We
say that parents conceive a child and that people conceive ideas. This double
meaning of the word is helpful in understanding that God conceives His Son
after the fashion in which we conceive an idea. The Church teaches, then, that
Jesus - the Word of God made flesh - is present in the words of sacred
Scripture. Consequently, this explains why the Lectionary that we use at Mass
and which contains the Word of God deserves such great respect and honor. It is
with much of the same reverence and appreciation in which we receive Christ in
the Eucharist.
We always talk
about the importance of "listening."
The other night I was watching the Discovery health channel and was
appalled as they openly spoke about sperm banks! Marketing and looking for the right gene to
sell the sperm to, I found to be quite unnerving; a woman seeks a donor who is
the most educated and whose performance is the greatest.
Who do we listen to
and learn from? In today's Gospel, David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, calls
Jesus "Lord," and He is our Lord. It is the work of the Holy Spirit
to make Jesus known to us. What does it mean to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord?
Jesus is the Master of our lives. He is the Person to Whom we give our lives
over to or submit to in a complete and total self-offering. We can be ruled by
many things; for instance, our unruly passions, the love of money, giving birth
by selling genes to produce only what we call the elite, love of money,
alcohol, or drugs, etc. Only the Lord can truly set us free to love and to be
loved as God intended from the very beginning.
At the dawn of
civilization, oral communication was rudimentary and a written language did not
exist. God foresaw the development of written languages so that we might
benefit from the permanent record of His revelation. But it is up to us to
listen. It is only then that we will let Jesus reign in our hearts!
Deacon John Ruscheinsky
Deacon John Ruscheinsky