the dwelling of god - psalm 132 - 17th week tuesday joachim & anne

In this memorial of St. Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Mother and grandparents of Jesus, the liturgy proposes to us Psalm 132 for our prayer and reflection.  Today we are reading the second part of this psalm but to understand it fully we need to go back a little to the first part.  There we can see David's prayer as he expressed his deep desire to build a house for the Lord.  David as king was living in a palace, in a comfortable home but God was living in a tent, and in his love for God he felt he cannot live with that thought.

But God answers David in our psalm today.  Instead of building a house of stone and bricks, God promises David that he would make "a house" in flesh and blood in the line of David.  God will be immanuel – he will dwell among his people, he will make his dwelling among us.  And since time immemorial the church uses this psalm (132) to show us that God fulfilled his promise by sending us his Son Jesus.  "For the Lord has chosen Zion, he prefers her for his dwelling – Zion is my resting place forever, in her will I dwell, for I prefer her."  Zion is the church, the people of God, and among his people God through his Son Jesus.

So why read this psalm on the day when Sts. Joachim and Anne are celebrated?  Because through them, through these parents of Mary, God fulfilled his promise to David to dwell with his people forever – in Jesus, through Jesus.

Today let us think about this.  Do we allow Jesus to dwell in our families, in our workplaces, in our communities?  Are we like Joachim and Anne who allowed themselves to be used by God so that his Only Son can be born in human affairs, his Son can be born in human concerns, so that his Only Son can be born in human decisions?

Do we allow the words of Jesus to be incarnated in our search for solutions to problems?  Or do we set him aside telling him instead do your thing in heaven, do your thing in church, while I do what I see fit on earth?  The question I believe is how much, how often do we allow Jesus to be incarnated in our day to day life?

The concern of David was laying the stone, the bricks, the tiles, the paint, the design for God's house.  But God's is more concerned that the poor are given provisions, the priests are clothed with salvation living holy lives and the devout are joyful. 

Today let us pray that even in our own little way, we allow Jesus, his words and sacraments, to slowly transform our communities and families so that people can truly see and experience that God is dwelling among us, in our persons and not just in our chapel.