Luke 21:5-19

Meditatio (Reflecting)

You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

Oratio (Responding)

This reading sounds like a prophecy of the end of time. and On some level it may be. Many things in catholocism are “Both and” But most scholars believe that this is a prediction of the desctruction of the temple in 70AD. In the early years of my faith I wondered why judiasm and catholicism could not have just coexisted, and the Jews would still have their temple and the christians would have their churches. Why did the temple have to be destroyed. First is that the temple was where the lord lived in this world, and when Jesus gave us the eucharist he now resided everywhere in every church of the world, and all of us that recieve the eucharist become the new ark of the covenant the new dwelling place of the lord. Another reason is that the temple was the center of the jewish faith and worship. over 350 of the 613 laws of moses were directly related to the temple and its worship. If the one true god was to bring his message of salvation to all of the world, it had to be separated from the temple sacrifice. The jewish temple worship needed to be broken in order to usher in the new “way” of Jesus. Next I want to address this last sentence, the word “perseverence” does not quite encapsulate the greek word that this was translated from. The translations should be something more like “to put everything under one God”. This is what we are called to do in all of our catholic faith. Our lives, families, spouses, our jobs, everything in our lives needs to be subject to, offered up to, and united to the one true god. That is why the jews could not be allowed to persist in their worship, and this is why catholics cannot allow others to worship other gods, we must tell them that jesus is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the lord except through him. and this is why we must strive to make every part of our lives, united to Him. Anything less is to make excuses and to fall short of the glory of the God.

Contemplatio (Contemplating)

Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.

Resolutio (Resolving)

Oh lord, help me today to unite every aspect of my life to you, and to guide other in my life to do the same. Amen.