In the time of the Prophet Zechariah, the author of today’s first reading, Jerusalem had become a ghost town. The temple was gone, the people in exile, and the future not looking too cheery. God gives them a vision of the future though in which not only is Jerusalem restored to its former glory, but even those who previously had no hope of salvation would with joy and fervor want to journey up to see God’s temple. A community of believers that transcends language and nationality, a people who simply want to seek the Lord of Hosts. I love that last line:
“In those days ten men of every nationality, speaking different tongues, shall take hold, yes, take hold of every Jew by the edge of his garment and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”
That line had to be shocking, jarring. For a people who no longer had a home to be promised not just to be returned to their home, but to become the envy of all people (even those who were currently oppressing them.) Jesus comes along almost 600 years later to proclaim and fulfill that scripture. As he approaches the Samaritans, the distant cousins and sworn enemies of the present-day Jews, the Samaritans reject Him. Not because of His message, but because He intended to go to Jerusalem, the home of their enemies. The ancient feud was still very much alive in their hearts and they couldn’t accept even God Himself among them because their hatred had blinded them.
That brings another deeper meaning to this line from the story:
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”
While James and John might have been offended for the sake of their master, they also were probably relying on their own prejudices and thoughts as well. Here the ancient enemy, the unclean Samaritans who they couldn’t stand, had rejected their Master. Let’s destroy them once and for all! They are the enemy, “them.” Instead of realizing they were supposed to be living in a manner that made people cling to their garments, instead of embodying God’s love and hope in a way that made them say “God must surely be with them,” the sons of thunder reacted with anger, spontaneous indignation, and yes, on some level, prejudice toward those they should have been leading to Christ.
On this Memorial Day of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, what can her story and theirs say to us today? I think it says that first and foremost we must let go of old wounds. As Christians, we shouldn’t forget the past but we also aren’t to live there. We should learn from the past but live in the present moment. That means not obsessively worrying about the future, not dwelling on past wrongs, but simply doing the best we can one day at a time. If we do our best then at the end of the day, we’ve done all we can. I think St. Thérèse embodies that perfectly in her little way. She said:
“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
In every moment, we too should be doing as Jesus did, setting our face to Jerusalem. Jesus kept His eyes on His mission, the fulfillment of God’s will. He didn’t allow old prejudices and hatred to distract Him. He instead put one foot in front of another, one day at a time, moment by moment picking up His cross and heading towards His death and resurrection. We are called to do the same. A lot of things and people will try to distract us from that goal, from that mission. The devil will try to drag us into our own exile, make the world of God seem an empty and dusty place. Our Psalm response gives us hope though: God is with us! When we are tempted to look at someone with anger and hate, wanting to call down the fires of heaven to consume and destroy them like John and James towards the Samaritans, I think we can look at these beautiful words of the Saint of the day, the Little Flower, and make them the thoughts of our heart:
“I know now that true charity consists in bearing all our neighbors’ defects — not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.”
Then we can pick up our cross, turn our face to Jerusalem, and with Jesus’ help in the Sacraments of the Church, take one step in front of another toward our own death and resurrection.
A reflection on the readings for Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, October 1st, 2019.