Daily Readings Reflection for 9/04/09

Reflection on the Daily Readings for 9/04/09 by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM

Today’s Readings


Scripture: Lectionary #435. Fri. of 22nd week.  I Colossians 1:15-20.
Psalm 100:1.2.3.4.5.Luke 5:33-39.

"Word are our teachers." And Jesus is the Word of God who teaches in clear,
practical, and everyday language which has been translated so well in our
English language. There is no excuse for us not to learn something new from
him every day. He is not abstract; Jewish teachers are never abstract! He
does not use philosophical categories, nor think in Aristotelian formulas.
He teases us with paradoxes and parables in ordered to get us thinking
along his lines. They are all positive and could help everyone on this
earth to learn something new each day.  Wisdom is his gift to us in what he
teaches. He never misses an opportunity for a teaching moment and enlivens
that with his down to earth speech. Are we willing to take the time to
listen to him by reading the Gospels?  Do we have the listening of the
heart that would make his words improve our own way of living or are we
locked into the steady flow of computer knowledge, noise, and new fads?  It
is worth our effort to take some time out and think in silence over the
wisdom sayings and teachings he shares with us. Do not waste the day--Carpe
Diem!

In listening to Jesus we will learn about the kingdom of God and how we can
easily fit into it by doing the will of God through learning, that is,
becoming disciples of Jesus.  Our faith in Jesus will result in the good
grades of good works done for others and even for ourselves. It is not a
selfish aggrandizement of knowledge just to show off.   The Beatitudes and
the Sermon on the Mount are a good way to learn about Jesus' lesson plans
that we can use for our own learning and teaching opportunities.  They are
positive ways of making the precepts and laws of the Lord and of the Church
more compatible with what is happening in the world today.We can be
tantalized by his parables which are also powerful vehicles of practical
wisdom teaching us how to do things rightly in life.

Take the lesson for today from Luke. He is using images that will help us
understand some simple things, namely, that there are proper seasons and
days which are set aside for fasting and intense prayer. One does not fast
on a wedding day and at the wedding or birthday parties. We are not to sew
old patches on a new tear; nor new patches on an old garment.  Wineskins
should be filled with old wine and those same skins should not be used for
new wine which is still fermenting.  You get the point. Jesus' disciples
are to learn how to teach as Jesus does.  They and we are involved with
people who want to learn about the things of God and Jesus, but in a
meaningful and attractive way not with old worn out barnacles of rigid
thinking and useless supersitions or "traditions."  We are as disciples of
Jesus to teach and take people at where they are not where we want them to
be.  Practical wisdom is experiential and useful.  We learn by doing. We
learn to be where Jesus encourages us to be.

Paul shows us how Jesus is the image of the invisible God and the first
born of creatures. He too is telling us to listen to Jesus our best Wisdom
figure. Jesus as Word is both divine and also human and thus he is able to
help us reach beyond ourselves and to taste and see how good the Lord God
is. Amen.