Matthew 22:41-46: Messiah
Monday, December 23, 2024
Being a teacher, Jesus asks his listeners a question to see if they have fully understood the enormity of his message; and when it is clear they have not, he calls forth the very principal on which they stand to show them where they err. He truly is a master. He uses what we say and do to mirror back to us the echo of what we declare.
From today’s MAGNIFICAT: From the beginning of time, God has acted to reverse the loneliness which represents the consummate curse to the human race – an experience analogous to hell. Even this master defers to his creator, God, in all the important decisions of his life. He responds to the call of love which washes away the fears of loneliness, anxiety, betrayal, failure and abandonment. This master obeys the voice within that calls him to act in and for love. If Christ does this, if this is what it means to be Messiah, then how can we believe that we know a better way to exist? How do we dare to defy God?
From today’s MAGNIFICAT reflection by Mother Elvira Petrozzi: If you are able to be an instrument in the hands of God, if you have trust, love, and the patience to accept His plans for you, He restores to you what you have given, one hundred times over . . . Those who trust in him will not remain imprisoned in their little plans. I have seen young people who built a cage with their own hands and then fell into desperation because of it.
Christ built no cages; he opened doors and windows. Christ did not succumb to the siren song of Satan to be like gods. Christ obeyed the voice of his vocation.
I am reminded of a favorite verse from Jeremiah: For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for your woe! (29:11)
This is what it means to be Messiah. Obeying God for love of God rather than out of fear or laziness. Loving God for the passion we feel for God rather than from a sense of duty or response to a whim. Committing ourselves to the Messiah even as the Messiah commits himself to God, this is what we believe. This is what we follow. Enormous plans for our joy, rather than little plans for woe. Awesome plans for a serenity that comes from doing what is good and right and beautiful even though there may be pain in the interim. For . . .
It is in the doing that we redeem and are redeemed.
It is in the acting that we declare and are declared.
It is in the obeying that we love and are loved.
This we know. This we believe.
Let us rise up and follow the Messiah born to us this night.
Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 12.2 (2009). Print.
Adapted from a Favorite written on February 12, 2009, posted on Christmas Day 2017.
Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoration_of_the_Shepherds_%28Murillo,_London%29
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