visible rhetoric

We continue to reflect on our first reading today, this time from the book of the prophet Micah.  Our reading has in reality a prior verse which was for whatever reason omitted by the liturgy.  The omitted verse says, “ Marshal your troops now, city of troops, for a siege is laid against us.” That’s the first verse and from there follows our reading today, “but you Bethlehem-Ephrathath.”    Jerusalem was threatened by enemies from all sides and so the prophet Micah shouted at the top of his voice – “marshal the troops.”  It was a call to arms rousing the people to join in the fight against the enemies and this cry was addressed to Jerusalem which was referred to by the prophet as the city of troops, the city of armies, of soldiers, of generals and commanders.  So on the one hand there was a shout “marshal the troops, in Jerusalem the city of troops.”  But on the other hand (and this is where our first reading begins) there was this feeble and ...

Two points from our gospel today. Chinese medicine believes that sickness is caused by an imbalance of the chi or what we call the life force in our body.  If this life force is unimpeded and unobstructed, if it revolves around our bodies smoothly and consistently there will be equilibrium and with it health.  But when it becomes impeded we also become sick, we begin to feel aches and get affected by a lot of diseases.  Thus to restore this equilibrium we have such a thing as an acupuncture to restore the balance in our bodies, or to restore the smooth flow of the chi.  The chi must be unimpeded, able to roam freely and smoothly in our bodies in order to stay healthy.

Today we read for the last time from the First letter of Paul to the Thessalonians.   Paul wrote the Thessalonians in part because of their anxiety about the second coming of Christ or what the letter calls “the day of the Lord.”  Just as in our time there are people who are fond of putting a date on the second coming of the Lord despite repeated warnings from Jesus himself that nobody knows the day or the hour, not even Jesus, not even the angels know, but only the Father.  This disturbance could have also happened in Thessalonica and people were confused, people were afraid and they have a lot of questions as to what will happen.  So Paul had to explain to them that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night and like labor pains upon a pregnant woman – it is sudden, it comes when we least expect.  And Paul to further encourage the Christians pointed out that a Christian, a believer should not be afraid for after all we are children of ...

Today we reflect on our first reading from the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians.  When Paul wrote to them, Thessalonica was still a young church.  Paul founded it but he did not stay long in that church because of the persecution coming from Jews. In our reading today Paul shows us how to become community builders.  We are a community and we need to do our part to build up our chapel community and Paul by way of example shows us how.  Three characteristics. 

Today we read from our first reading, from the book of Judges.  Judges in the Old Testament are not the judges we have now who sit in court and hear cases.  In the Old Testament Judges were military leaders during that time in the history of Israel when it was not yet ruled by kings.  Each to their own tribe and each were ruled by the tribal leader.  But when Israel was in crisis because of an external enemy God raised Judges who united the twelve tribes militarily in order to fight a common enemy.  Today we read the call of one of the major judges by the name of Gideon.  Who was Gideon?

Today we celebrate the Assumption of our Blessed Mother.  God who is divine does not occupy space.  God after all is spirit.  To become man, to become flesh means to occupy space.  In the Annunciation Mary provided that space.  Thus God became man, the word became flesh, Jesus who is God was born in time and space because one day in a town called Nazareth, a young woman by the name of Mary consented when the angel asked her to give God a space in her person, and through her person, a space in the world.  This is what we refer to as the mystery of the incarnation.

We have read the second to the last part of Deuteronomy where Moses hands down the mantle of leadership to his successor Joshua.  Tomorrow the last part will be read – Moses will be allowed to get a glimpse of the Promised Land on top of Mt. Nebo, and then he will die. Moses was 120 years old.  He was not allowed by God at the last leg of the journey to the Promised Land.  Why was he not allowed?  Because Moses at one time did not trust God.  When they were in Merribah, when the people complained that they have no water, Moses was instructed by God to tap the rock so that water will come out of the rock.  Moses did not just tap it once.  He tapped it twice.  Probably he could not wait, probably he was anxious that water did not immediately come out of the rock, probably Moses was afraid as to what people might say if by any chance water would not come out as God said it would.  The point is Moses did not trust God’s word that water w...