A local community got assigned a new priest who they had heard was quite long-winded. One of the more boisterous men said to him before the first homily, “Now Pastor, we are used to a 10-minute homily. Try to keep it to that.” The Priest got up and spoke for 30 minutes. The next weekend the man approached him again. “Pastor, I told you to keep it short.” The Priest just smiled, and that weekend went on for 45 minutes. Another week passed, and this time the man showed up with a brick in his hand. He said, “Pastor if you go more than last week, I’m gonna throw this brick and knock you out.” The Pastor looked at him sternly and proceeded into Mass. At 50 minutes, the man looked at his watch, made eye contact with the Pastor, and tossed it up and down. The Pastor just kept talking. At 55 minutes, it happened again. Eye contact, and tossing the brick to remind him. The Pastor kept talking. When his clock showed 1 hour had passed, the man threw the brick as hard as he could toward the Pastor.
His aim was off. It hit a little old lady right in the back of the head in the first row. The man ran up while the pastor just kept going. He grabbed her, looked her in the eye and said: “Ma’am are you ok!?” She said: “Lord hit me again, I can still hear him preaching.”
As the Church has led us through the Sacred Scriptures this week for daily Mass, we’ve seen the Jewish people go from being exiles in a foreign land to a people who are back home rebuilding their temple. It’s not enough to just rebuild the temple, though. The people have been broken and changed, influenced by their captors. Nehemiah and Ezra understood this. They would also need to rebuild the people by reminding them of God’s covenant, renewing it with Him, and then learning to live again as the people of God. So they build a platform, stood up and read all of the law to them (from daybreak to midday). Many of us grow uncomfortable with a homily that lasts more than twenty minutes, but here they have listened for around six hours. Then came the homily, the explanation of what had been read.
Most of us would be annoyed. We might even think the Jewish people were responding like the little lady hit with the brick, as it says they were sad and weeping. The thing is, they were sad and weeping because they had not kept the covenant. They weren’t upset they had heard all of this, but rather that they realized they had let God down. Ezra reminded them that this should bring joy! They were renewing that covenant! Restoring their relationship with the Lord, God. Then it says they went to “celebrate with great joy, for they understood the words that had been expounded to them.”
Imagine if we could change our perspective? The Eucharist is the renewal of the covenant with God. Each Sunday we go to listen to the words being spoken. Like the Israelites, we are coming from being out in the world, from our “exile” so to speak. The world slowly influences us, and we need to get away from it for a time to remember who we are. At Mass, we are reminded of not just who we are, but who we are supposed to be. Then in the Eucharist we are restored, receiving Jesus Christ Himself; body, soul, and divinity. It should bring us to both states in our hearts. First off weeping in sadness and repentance for not living up to our own dignity and to God’s love for us (which should lead us to confession.) Secondly, renewing that covenant by listening to the Word of God and having it broken open for us in the homily. Thirdly, receiving the Eucharist in joy and thanksgiving, for today is holy to our Lord.
What then though? Then we are commissioned, as disciples of Christ, to go out into the world. Not to seek our own comfort or enjoyment, but rather to spread the good news of salvation. Sometimes we get so caught up in life that our week consists only of sports, education, vacation, and a job to have the money to do those things. Those things aren’t bad on their own, right? However, even in those situations, we should be living as a people set apart. Our behavior should be a silent witness to what we believe, reminding those around us that we are indeed Catholic and that our body, mind, and soul are fueled by the Sacraments. So I ask myself this day: are my actions rebuilding the community around me, helping to make “thy will be done” a reality? Or am I throwing “stones” to silence those that annoy me, even if it might take out the innocent on the way?
A reflection on the readings for October 3rd, 2019: Thursday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time