04/09/2023

In the first years of St Paul's preaching he emphasised the Parousia. The Apostles originally taught that Jesus would return in their lifetimes. They had suffered the unbearable sorrow of Good Friday and the intolerable emptiness of Holy Saturday. Jesus' Resurrection on the third day had brought with it a joyful understanding of what they had been witnessing over the previous three years of discipleship. 

There could be no doubts now that Jesus' Kingdom was not of this world and and in their first prayers after the Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit they taught themselves and their converts to pray that the Lord would soon return from His Father in Heaven. Maranatha.

In today's letter to the Thessalonians Paul assures them that their dead loved ones will also be present at the Parousia. There will be no advantage for the living over the dead for the end of time will bring all of us to Eternity, Life Everlasting where we will be truly happy in fulfillment of God's will for his creation. Paul is preaching to real people and he knows that all of us have souls which still live on after the death of our bodies.

In the Synagogue of Nazareth Jesus' the Carpenter's son is asked to read from the scrolls. I don't think that this would have been the first time that this had occurred for he grew up there in a devout family. He was previously known to the congregation but now had a reputation, which had quickly spread from Capernaum, as a "wonder worker".

At first, the words of Jesus are received with awe. The Quorum knew who he was and are amazed that he has changed so much since last they saw him. Jesus challenges them to understand God's Providence. What we know and do with our lives in the human reality in which we are living. Why are some cured but not all ? Why does God permit evil to happen? Why are Jews the chosen ones?

The rest of Jesus' teaching on earth still makes these direct challenges to us all. My life has been spent trying to face these same questions with the help of the grace of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This grace is won for us by the same Jesus whom his neighbours wanted to throw off the cliff into the waste heap outside Nazareth. Jesus it is who, three years later completed God's revelation of himself with the Descent of the Holy Spirit onto those gathered in his name in Jerusalem and who promises to be with us until the end of time. Maranatha!

Dear Lord, I pray that you will look with favour on my efforts to bring my life into the holiness that you have made possible for all mankind. All of as are created equal and can choose  to be for you or against you. Help me to be true to my Baptism and resist the Devil, the World and the Flesh. May Mary the sinless being from whom you begot your humanity continue in her loving support for the sinners on earth and for the repentant in Purgatory.