EIGHTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - B

EIGHTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – B: (Hosea 2:16b-17b, 21-22; 2Cor 3:1b-6; Mark 2:18-22) Theme: We are called to celebrate the feast of Spouse’s love for us Reflection: We are invited to the joy of new communion with Christ - In this eighth Sunday of the liturgical year the Church invites us to make our journey towards the feast and towards the celebration of joy. We need not be too much immersed with the rituals of the fasting and foregoing. We need to travel. We need to make a journey. We need to move actually from the moment of fast to the moment of feast. The preparations are necessary but they are not the end. The end will be the celebration. We need to walk towards this celebration. We need to make a feast because the bridegroom is still there with us, rather we are still with the bridegroom. We need to jump with joy because the powerful and efficacious presence of Jesus is still with us, rather we are still abiding in his dwelling place. The readings of today are particular in giving us this message. The message is in three aspects: God wills to make a bond of love with the humanity, Jesus is the spouse of the Church, the new creation and finally, we need to put on new communion with him. - Last Sunday we have meditated upon the theme that we have to be the bearers of God’s pardon to our fellow brethren. We become this by carrying the same fragrance of forgiveness and embrace. We need to embrace all with understanding and kindness despite their infidelity towards us. We need to extend our warm welcome to all who come to us. We need to also invite even the wrongdoers towards the life of acceptance by pardon. We have to act in such a way, we have to open our heart such a way that they see God’s goodness and love in us and through us. Only from this life of forgiveness and acceptance of each other that the life of unity and fraternity is possible. Where there is fraternity we become the children of the same Father who has united us in spirit. In this way we build up the community of love and all of us together we become one People of God. In this way we construct an edifice worthy of Jesus’ presence and all of us together become one Body of Christ, to which he himself is the Head. In this way we create a space for being the Indwelling Temple and all of us together become a Bride of the Holy Spirit. - There is a link here to the last Sunday’s and today’s reading. There is a continuation. We become the instruments of God’s bond with the humanity. God wills to be united to the humanity. He shares his intimate love by being a God of patience, kindness and a God who enters into the human history. His love is always the same with his people. It is for sharing of his love that He chose and called to himself a nation by setting it apart and higher than other nations. It is for sharing of his love that He made an eternal covenant of faithfulness with his people. It is for sharing of his love that in spite of their frequent infidelity He went in search of them by the means of judges, kings and prophets. His love is unending. He wanted to make his people his bride. This will of God to share his intimate union with his people has been fully realized when he has sent his beloved son to take the flesh of man so that He and humanity become one in Christ. And we, the sanctified Church in the Spirit, and whole human race who is given the offer of love, become the Spouse of Jesus. The readings of today lead us deeper into the meaning of it. Readings: Eternal Love of God invites humanity to become his faithful partner - “I will make you my spouse forever” (first reading): God’s continuous love to the unfaithful Israel is expressed well in this reading. Through the prophet Hosea God calls back his people who have gone away to the indissoluble bond with him. The image used here is strong and full of significance. God appears as the ever faithful Bridegroom whereas the Israel appears as the adulterous people. Therefore, the reading presents to us the dream: the love (Israel) will come back, the spouse will find her again with the freshness of love, the warm arms of the spouse are always open for her return, and there will be the celebration of the new bond which will nullify her past life of misery and adultery. o God makes his people his own: All these elements of waiting of the faithful bridegroom, return of the unfaithful bride, knot of love new love between them is manifested in the precious words of prophets: “Here, I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart… I will make her my spouse forever” (v. 16-21). Nothing will stop this love. Nothing in the world will hinder this bond: God will make her his bride in justice and in law, in love and in benevolence, in fidelity and in knowledge (v.21-22). God will make her his own in everything, and she will remain in him for ever. The past is forgiven and forgotten. The unfaithfulness is overtaken by love. The period of foreign invasions, upper hand of the enemies, destruction of their temples and deportation into slavery find their end because of this love of the bridegroom. He delivers his bride from these clutches. He purifies and sanctifies his unfaithful bride with his eternal and promised love. o God is delicate in his love: the love with which God has loved us and loves us is very great in his delicacy. He does not want to hurt any of his people. He knows the weak attitude of his people. He knows that his people have utterly become unfaithful and they will not be able to come back by themselves. His love has no limit. His love does not turn back. It goes to any extent. It goes in search of the lost sheep. It is he who takes the initiative by remembering his faithfulness. It is he who leads his bride to the lonely place and speaks to her heart opening his arms of love (v.16). God prepares an appointment of love and makes a space for the interaction of two loving parties. His delicate love breaks the barriers of infidelity of his people and invites them to get immersed in its sweet presence. - God imprints this love in our hearts (second reading): God’s love is no more in words but in actions. It is written not by the verbal language but by the language of the heart. St. Paul writing to the people of Corinth exclaims that we are the letter of Jesus written by the Holy Spirit. o With this particular passage Paul proclaims two things: the end of the alliance that is founded on the ‘letter’/ on the word and on the law on the one hand and the beginning of the new covenant written not on the tablets of the stone but on the tablets of the heart (v.3). It again takes us back to the message of the first reading: God will guide us into the desert place (alone with him) and will speak to our heart (Hosea 2:16). His love which is renewed in the Spirit of Jesus will be imprinted in the heart because it is there that he dwells. o We are also reminded of the announcement of the prophet Jeremiah (31:31-34): the spirit is infused into us and it is the spirit of the living God which will give an interior transformation rather than exterior practice of the letter of the law. Again the Old Testament leads us to the beautiful prophecy: “I will give you a new heart and put in you a spirit that is new, I will take away from you the heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh” – is the word of prophet Ezekiel (36:26). o This is the announcement of the renewal of the love that is broken between two parties and the commencement of the new creation. This takes place when Jesus Christ who reveals the will of God’s love to the humanity by the power of the Spirit. Paul reminds us again of the condition we are brought into: we have not received a spirit of slavery to fall again in the fear but we have received a spirit of adoption so that we can cry out to him ‘Abba! Father’ (Rom 8:15). o When God speaks to our hearts and imprints his love within our flesh and soul we become his own. We become partakers of his life. We become sharers of his love. We are made new by the cleansing of our past of unfaithfulness and adulterous life. We are unfaithful because we have neglected his wonderful actions in our life. We are adulterous because we have substituted his love with the desire of the worldly pleasures and we are carried with these attractions of the false love which destroys us instead of making us joyful. To put in a word, connecting it to our theme: God made us His own and he has made us loving bride. - With Jesus, the Bridegroom, we celebrate the joy of love (Gospel): the context of the gospel is a confrontation of Jesus with the Pharisees who give lot of importance to the fasting and the observance of the law. Jesus takes this polemic situation and brings an extraordinary teaching from it. He does speak of the fasting but connects it to the celebration of the joy. He does not totally rule out the virtue of fasting but gives it a true significance. He proclaims that fasting should not be for the sake of fasting but it is for the sake of preparing for the encounter with the joyful celebration. Jesus’ teaching is totally new. He takes the common situation and from it pulls out the novelty of the kingdom of God. One such thing happens in today’s gospel. Jesus taking the argument of fasting, guides his disciples to the new teaching: the presence of the bridegroom cancels out the requirement of fasting and with him starts the new life. o The bridegroom is with them (v.19): the observation of the fasting is needed. But only as long as there are preparative days and only as long as there are mourning days. The Pharisees are aware of only the fasting according to the letter of the law and not according to the spirit of the law. Jesus reveals them that there is a period when the bridegroom is there. When he is there, it is not any more a time of mourn or fast, but a time of joy. Jesus asks them to observe the law but observe them with the spirit of it and with the true and higher meaning of it. They have to practice with the heart. Heart knows well the presence of the bridegroom because it is the place of his love. By teaching this Jesus indicates two things:  He is the bridegroom: Jesus reveals that he is the bridegroom who has come to call to himself the whole humanity. In his incarnation he has become united with the human flesh. Indeed, he has made the human flesh to be in full communion with him by being born of human accord. He is the bridegroom who has come to sanctify and save his bride from the pleasures of human flesh and thus to make her his bride in the Spirit. With his presence the bride has to celebrate not with the fasting but with the feasting. Jesus invites his disciples and Pharisees as well to see in him the bridegroom promised and sent by the Father to fulfil in him the eternal covenant of love.  Time of passion and the time of life: Jesus indicates that there will be the time when he will be surrendering himself to suffering and death and it will be the proper time for the fasting and mourning. The bridegroom will be taken away (v.20). Then begin the days of preparation: preparation for new life. The new life will be offered in the Resurrection. Jesus invites his listeners to understand this truth that they have to prepare to meet him in fasting but once they find themselves with him they should give up what is past and start a life of love with him: a life of a true bride. o New patch and new wine (vv.21-22): the mini parable confirms the novelty that Jesus brings about: the new patch cannot be put to the old cloth and new wine cannot be poured into the old grapes. The new life is to be totally radical and reformative. The new life cannot be just a mask for the old life. We cannot just put on the new shirt on the dirty body. When the body is bathed it should be covered with the fresh and clean cloth, otherwise there is no use of the bath taken. So also with the life of Christ. When we accept him we have to follow him thoroughly. We have to give up our old self. We are sanctified and saved and thus we have to put on the new cloth of joy of Jesus. This is what Jesus is inviting his people to understand: with Him everything is new. Fasting leads to the feast of joy and the preparation leads to the celebration of life. Conclusion: We are called to live in the newness of heart - The ritual is sacred but the heart values more: we remind ourselves of a small story. There was a priest who used to tie the cat to the pillar before starting the prayer because it was disturbing him. It has become almost a custom: before the prayer he ties the cat. One day priest died and the new priest who observed the old priest has done the same: he too ties the cat before the prayer. It continued and continued. One day even the cat died. The priest has brought the new cat because he thought that the prayer cannot be started if there was no cat tied. Often our ritual practices become a habit of daily observance rather than living of its meaning. The Pharisees were like this: they do rituals but do not understand the spirit of its practice. Jesus condemns this kind of practice. - What is sacred has to be carried more in the heart rather than just in the ritual performances. We need to learn to understand what the Spirit is inspiring us to do behind our liturgical celebration. Daily Mass and Sunday Mass are very good and it keeps us ‘united’ to Christ as the bride to the bridegroom. But if the Mass becomes only an observance of the law otherwise of which is a sin, then there is something wrong with our practice. It becomes a mere ritual: we come and go without learning anything from it. We do it without taking the spirit into ourselves. We have to offer to Jesus not our sacrifices and rituals but our hearts. The Bible is clear in this: I want kindness, sacrifices and it speaks elsewhere: these people sing for me with the lips but their hearts are far away from me. God needs our heart. God desires our soul. God wants our interior offer. - Listen and speak to the heart: yes, God desires our heart. Heart is the place for the encounter of love. God and man meet there. They meet there to express the words of their love. They meet there to extend the warmth of their love. They meet there to exchange the gestures of their love. One speaks and the heart of the other responds. One listens and heart of the other rejoices. It is the language of the heart. It is the ritual of the soul. It is the spirit-filled life of love. In fact, God always talks to the depths of our heart. This is the newness of message that Jesus has brought about. Kingdom of God is not the question of food and drink but the peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). This kingdom is within us. It is within our heart. It is Jesus himself who indwells there in our heart by the power of the Spirit. All the exterior celebrations, be it fasting or any other ritual performance, have to help us to reach to the interior life of our heart. Otherwise, we fall into the tendency of the Pharisees: they perform but do not live. To be true Christians and to be the true bride of Christ we have to listen to our heart and speak to our heart because Jesus has permanently fixed his tent there. - In Christ we are new creation. In Christ we have new life. In Christ we become new beings. We are called to live such newness of life with radical decision: we accepted Jesus and we are there with him forever. We should not go back to our old nature because it becomes infidelity (first reading). We should not neglect what is written on the stones of our heart because it becomes spiritless life (second reading). We should not just cover what is old with the new mask because it becomes broken life (gospel). We are called to allow ourselves to be led, to be accompanied and to be loved by Jesus, the Bridegroom and the Head, who takes the initiative. He takes the first step to guide us into place of meeting (first reading), he writes upon our heart his letter of love (second reading) and he is the Spouse in whose presence we have celebration and feasting of love. - Our task is to open the heart: as the partakers of Jesus’ life and as the sharers of his love we have also a mission to accomplish: we need to open our heart to the others. By opening our life to others we extend the fragrance of Jesus love. By opening our heart to others we invite others to leave aside the fasting and celebrate the love of Jesus because they too have now become new creation and new bride to him. We ourselves have to become a spirit-filled life rather than the letter-filled ritual. We need to make this journey from the letter to the spirit. We need to move from the stone to the flesh of heart. We need to begin our travel from the fasting to the feasting. Only then we are capable of leading other to the same celebration of joy, love and life.