{"id":1689,"date":"2018-11-21T19:25:16","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T19:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/?p=1689"},"modified":"2018-11-21T19:25:16","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T19:25:16","slug":"homily-week-33-03-yr-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/21\/homily-week-33-03-yr-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"HOMILY WEEK 33 03 – Yr II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Memorial: Presentation of Mary<\/em><\/p>\n

(Rev 4:1-11; Ps 150; Lk 19:11-28)<\/p>\n

***********************************<\/p>\n

This memorial of the Presentation of Mary is a commemoration of 543 dedication of the basilica St. Mary the New in Jerusalem. In 1585 this memorial spread to the Western Church. An apocryphal account tells us of Joachim and Anna bringing Mary as a three-year old child to the temple to offer her to the Lord and leaving her there to praise and serve God. The much later presentation of Jesus in the Temple serves as a background: while two turtle doves were offered, the offering of the poor, really no offering was needed as Jesus was himself the Temple. This memorial honors Mary as the Temple where God lives, so for her as well, no offering was necessary. We are reminded that we also are meant to be temples where the Lord lives, offering our lives to the Lord.<\/p>\n

Since there are no set readings for this memorial, every year the celebration takes on a different tone dependent on the readings. This year we are presented with a heavenly vision of perfection, glory and praise, balanced off by a rather harsh gospel inviting us to critique our society\u2019s values and economic structures.<\/p>\n

The first reading, with its numerical symbolism of perfection and infinity, and the psalm with its emphasis on praising God\u2019s glory, fit in with the role of Mary as Queen of heaven and earth in God\u2019s plan of salvation. The gospel parable, with its emphasis on justice, highlights Mary\u2019s role as a woman of justice.<\/p>\n

We are perhaps not used to seeing Mary as a woman of Justice, but she stands in the tradition of the women of the Old Testament like Hannah who combined faith with strong action for justice. In the Magnificat<\/em>, Mary speaks strong words: \u201cGod pulls down the mighty from their thrones, and lifts up the lowly; he sends the rich away empty, and fills the hungry with good things.\u201d She teaches us to have a right relationship with God, others, ourselves and all of creation, and that in short is justice. She was oppressed, a minority, and knew what it was to have few rights.<\/p>\n

The parable in Luke is difficult to understand because we are used to reading it in the light of the parable of the Talents in Matthew. Richard Rohr suggests this could be called a parable of Whistle-blowers who are often rejected and ostracized because they dared to confront and reveal an unjust social and economic system. They are symbolized by the person who wraps up his pound and refuses to cooperate with that unjust and corrupt system. How fitting in a world where there is so much political and corporate corruption, and lust for power and control at the cost of thousands of innocent human lives.<\/p>\n

More specifically, this parable in Luke causes dissonance because it invites reflection on Jesus\u2019 role as a king, when kings were uniformly corrupt, greedy and violent. Jesus\u2019 disciples can neither follow such a king nor understand their role as stewards or slaves of such a king. The value system of Jesus\u2019 kingdom is diametrically opposed to that of the king in this parable. On the other hand, the law of retribution still applies, for those who serve God faithfully will be rewarded and those who resist God\u2019s kingdom will perish. The parable calls for faithful allegiance to a king whose kingdom is opposed to the quests of earthly kings for vengeance and profit at the expense of the poor. We too must protest when the rich resist justice for the poor and take wealth for themselves. The gospel cry of the servants could become for us today, \u201cBut Lord, they already have enough!\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Borgman, author with his wife Danelle of the book Searching for the Beautiful Garden<\/em>, offers this insight into the role of Mary: as Jesus reveals the Father, Mary reveals the Holy Spirit. She is the most perfect model of a human being fully open to and filled with the Spirit of the Risen Lord. She also was instrumental in the Borgmans leaving the evangelical faith tradition and becoming Catholics, partly because as an orphan, when Richard opened his heart to Mary, he found himself able to understand and forgive his mother who had abandoned him.<\/p>\n

The Eucharist can become for us today a joining in with Mary in her praise and exaltation of God for the wonderful way God works in her life and ours. May it also empower us to be instruments of peace and workers for justice, so that all may share equally in the goods of God\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Memorial: Presentation of Mary (Rev 4:1-11; Ps 150; Lk 19:11-28) *********************************** This memorial of the Presentation of Mary is a commemoration of 543 dedication of the basilica St. Mary the New in Jerusalem. In 1585 this memorial spread to the Western Church. An apocryphal account tells us of Joachim and Anna bringing Mary as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ordinary-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1690,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689\/revisions\/1690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}