1 Samuel 1-2

I read and re-read this opening section of the story of Samuel, marveling at the many ways it prefigures the story of Mary and the birth and childhood of Jesus. Hannah, a woman thought barren, is so faithful, so trusting in the Lord. She pours out her heart to God; she shares her bitterness and her disappointments with Him; and she trusts in Him despite her "deep sorrow and misery" with Him. And God hears her prayer. Eli, the priest, offers her words of hope that God will grant what she has asked. She leaves the temple with renewed hope--her burden seems lifted and she is no longer downcast. Soon after, she conceives a son, Samuel. Keeping her promise to God, she gives her young son to Eli, the priest in the temple, that Samuel might serve the Lord for the rest of his life. In doing so, she offers words of thanksgiving that greatly resemble the Magnificat of Mary proclaimed at the Annunciation--beginning with "My heart exults in the Lord." How trusting indeed in God is Hannah that she can proclaim with joy her gratitude at a time she is giving up her only son to God. I also marvel that Mary, Mother of Jesus, must surely have been familiar with this story and seen the echoes of it in her own life. Perhaps she even drew inspiration and confidence from it. What an inspiring model of faithfulness Hannah is. 

Good Friday

I am in Paris on vacation with my family, and so my postings may be less frequent. Yesterday was Good Friday, and we visited Notre Dame for a most extraordinary ceremony. For nearly 800 years, Notre Dame has been the home of what many believe is the actual crown of thorns "worn" by Jesus during His Passion. The crown has been encased in gold for eighty percent of its circumference, with the remaining twenty percent or so encased in a clear tube in which it may be seen clearly.

On Good Friday, Catholics assemble in Notre Dame to venerate this relic. We joined this awesome procession. Notre Dame was flooded with tourists taking pictures of those venerating the Crown, and the veneration by each visitor was actually broadcast on big screen TVs inside and outside Notre Dame. For me, this reduced the solemnity of the moment and made it feel more like a trip to a sporting event or some other public spectacle. It was, for me at least, very difficult to be truly focused on the moment, and it felt in some ways like a missed opportunity. 

Also on Good Friday, we visited a small church tucked away on a downtown Paris side street, in which Mary appeared to St. Catherine Laboure. The result of the multiple visits by Our Lady was the creation of the Miraculous Medal. The saint's uncorrupted body is displayed in the small chapel there, and it too was brimming with visitors. This group acted much more like reverent believers than the visitors to Notre Dame, and the atmosphere was, fortunately, much different and far more inspiring.

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Deuteronomy 27-30

Moses gathers the people together to give his final words before they cross the Jordan into the land that God has promised them, the land of milk and honey. Moses powerfully lays before them the stark choice they have going forward: they may heed the voice of the Lord and observe His commandments, or they may turn away from Him and ignore His laws. The consequences of that choice are immense. God promises that obedience will result in many blessings for the Israelites and their descendants--victories, prosperity, and fruitfulness. Indeed, among the blessings promised are the words that will later be spoken of the Mother of Jesus: "Blessed be the fruit of your womb." But woe to Israel if they do not heed the commandments, statutes, and decrees, for the ramifications are dire: sickness, invasion, defeat, plagues, famine, and exile. The Lord will "scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other." The famine will be so great that fathers will eat heir children and mothers will consume newborn babies. This parade of horribles is truly frightening. I had a difficult time reading it all the way through. Yet God still leaves the door open for salvation. If at some point this suffering nation ponders these things in their hearts, and returns to the Lord and heeds His voice, He will have pity on them, gather them back together, and once again make them prosperous and numerous, as He once promised their fathers. He will again open their hearts so that they "may love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, and so may live." 

Here, God is terrifying. He is demanding and jealous. Yet in the end, He is merciful and patient. He waits (although not always patiently, Moses suggests) for us to turn back and come home to Him. This section ends with these powerful words from God regarding the choice He has put before the Israelites:

I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.  Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.

I love the image of "holding fast to him." Sometimes, I am afraid. I must learn to cling to him then especially.

Deuteronomy 14-17

The Book of Deuteronomy continues with Moses' explication of the laws by which the Israelites are to govern themselves in Canaan. We see a continuation of certain currents. The Israelites are a specially chosen people. God is a jealous God, who prescribes harsh punishment for those who worship other gods. The Israelites are to treat each other justly and mercifully, as God has treated them. 

Two elements of this passage took my thoughts immediately to the New Testament.

Instructing the Israelites about how to deal with a person in the community who "does evil in the sight of the Lord" by serving or worshipping other gods, Moses teaches that the punishment is stoning, but only after two or three witnesses have testified against the perpetrator.  He continues:

At the execution, the witnesses are to be the first to raise their hands against him; afterward all the people are to join in.

I am reminded of the woman caught in adultery brought before Jesus by the Jewish leaders, who were trying to trap Him. When He suggested that the person in the community who had no sin cast the first stone, the people who had gathered drifted away and she was spared.  God is just; God is merciful. The way these two truths are juxtaposed, both in the Old and New Testaments is very mysterious to me.

Moses also spoke of the possibility that the Israelites might subject themselves to governance by a king. He directs with regard to that king:

Nor shall he make his people go back again to Egypt to acquire [horses], against the Lord's warning that you must never go back that way again.

St. Joseph is described as a man of faith in the New Testament. I think back to his being told in a dream by God, shortly after Jesus' birth, to take the baby and Mary to Egypt. It deepens my awe and admiration for his faith in God, as that dream and that instruction from God must have gone against his instincts based on everything he had been taught and had heard from Scriptures his whole life.  That is trust in the Lord. If only I had just a tiny fraction of that trust.

Numbers 1-3:32

Numbers is the fourth book of the Pentateuch.  It describes the 38 years covering the end of the encampment at Mt. Sinai through the journey in the desert to their arrival at the border of  the Promised Land. It begins with a census of the Chosen People commands by the Lord. Thus, the journey of the law, from Sinai to the Promised Land begins with a census. Similarly, the story of the birth of the New Law, the fulfillment of the law, Jesus Christ, also begins with a census.  The census ordered by the Romans is the reason Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem, of course. 

Leviticus 8-13:39

Aaron and his sons undergo the ceremony of ordination, the details of which were commanded and carefully prescribed by God to Moses. At the end of the ceremony, Aaron "raised his hands over the people and blessed them. Then the glory of God was revealed to all the people." God reveals His glory through the priest-mediator. This is a concept that continues to this day. Jesus of course is the ultimate Priest and Mediator. In some ways, so too is Mary--a mediatrix who intercedes for us in a special way. Catholic priests have a mediating role as well.  Their special, integral role in the sacrifice of the Mass, established through their ordination, becomes the medium through which we can eat and drink Christ's body and blood. I am not sure, though, what to make of the brief story of Nadab and Abihu, two of Aaron's sons. Consecrated as priests, they make the mistake of burning incense not approved by God, and because they offered up before the Lord a "profane fire", the Lord causes a fire to come forth and consume them. Moses attempts to explain the Lord's ways to Aaron, but he says nothing in response. As I said, I am not sure how to understand this. It seems an incredibly harsh punishment for an act that I do not see the evil in. Perhaps Aaron's silence reflects an inner conflict between love for his sons and his respect and trust in the ways of the Lord. But I wonder if Moses, who repeatedly challenged and questioned God, would have stayed silent had it been two of his sons. Another aspect of the priest's role as mediator is captured in the following direction that God gives directly to Aaron: You must be able to to distinguish between what is sacred and what is profane, between what is clean and what is unclean; you must teach the Israelites all the laws that the Lord has given them through Moses.  So, the priest does not simply mediate the sacrifices that cleanse sins, but also must teach the law and must discern between clean and unclean and good and evil.  Priests are called to these very weighty responsibilities in the Church today as well. Finally, Aaron and the other priests are given an important role in diagnosing leprosy, which is a focal point of a long section in Leviticus. This section suggests to me that leprosy serves as a metaphor for sinfulness. It is a disease that eats away at the body just as sin eats away a person's spirit.  At my spirit.  Like leprosy, sin has a social dimension as well, as both can be contagious and can infect and negatively impact a whole community.

Genesis 45:16-48:7

Joseph's story continues. He is reunited with his father, Israel, who is retrieved by some ofhis sons and brought to the land of Egypt. On the way, Israel has a dream in which God confirms to Israel that he should journey to Egypt, and reaffirms His covenant, telling him that "there [i.e., in Egypt] I will make you a great nation." Joseph rides out to meet his father, Israel, in a scene that reminds me of the parable of the Prodigal Son. Joseph exclaims, "At last I can die, now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive", calling to mind the story of Simeon in the temple when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to be presented at the temple. The story goes on to describe how Joseph is able to husband and then share all of the resources of Egypt to get its people through the famine, but in exchange they are forced to give up all their money and possessions, and eventually to hand themselves over as slaves to Pharaoh, in exchange for the food they need to live. At first I found this unsettling and distasteful even. But thinking more about it, doesn't Jesus ask us to give up our money and possessions and even our lives to follow Him? Perhaps not literally, but in our attachment to these things.