Thursday of Week 26 in
Ordinary Time
(Saint Therese of the
Child Jesus, Virgin, Doctor)
Ezra read plainly from the
book of the law of God,
interpreting it so that
all could understand what was read.
There is so much in this
text for a would-be preacher. The feeling of being in school…only
it’s the ole days and everything is orderly and prescribed. It is a
liturgical school.
The people respond to the
reading and the preaching with guilt. If that’s what God wants of
me…then, wow, I have been pretty far off the mark. And they are sad and
weepy. It looks a lot like contrition.
But Nehemiah will have
none of it…the weeping that is. If it is contrition then that is great news. That is
the sign of having been heard. I actually hear when the story of God’s great love has crashed
against my own response to that love. And I weep. And that really
is a reason for a party!
Reflecting on this text
took me back to my teacher Tom Richstatter and his invitation to dig into the dynamics of sin and grace
and how that dynamic is sacramentalized and ritually celebrated.
Quoting Fr. Tom Richstatter, OFM (click to link to this reference)
In the scriptures:
Forgiveness is recognized by the gifts
(charisms) of peace and freedom. Our word of sorrow meets God's
word of forgiveness and explodes into shalom, wholeness (at-one-ment).
-- We then celebrate the gifts of peace and freedom.
In the Rite:
The rite should then create a space in
which the community can joyfully and gratefully celebrate these gifts. Made whole
in the sacrament, we are strengthened go forth as ambassadors of
reconciliation.
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