Breaking the Word

8^th Week in Ord. Time, Friday – 2^nd June 2023 – Sirach 49,1.9-13; Mark 11,11-26

Living the Memory Lane

The first reading apparently stresses on the good people living on after their death by being remembered by their family and friends. It was a practice held in ancient Hebrew times, an understanding of their belief about the afterlife. Sirach recalls two sets of people – both the famous and the unknown. Through this eulogy, he shows how a devout Jew of the 2^nd century BCE thought of the history of his people. In today’s reading, Sirach recalls those countless good people who have lived down through the ages but of whom nothing is known and everything forgotten. Generation after generation, they brought children into the world and handed on their traditions and will continue to do so. Their ancestors are glorious because of their recognition of God, their honourable achievements, their recognition by their own generations, their godlikeness, their legacy to their children, and their lasting name and memory. Here the real emphasis is on how God remembers those who have done good deeds. God is to be praised in the good and faithful actions of people, since goodness should always point back to the one who is good. It is again an opportunity to recall with gratitude our ancestors for setting up our social and religious structures and handing on the cultural and sacred treasures of our earlier ages.

8^th Week in Ord. Time, Thursday – 1^st June 2023 – Sirach 42,15-26; Mark 10,32-45

God’s Mystery in Creation

The first reading describes how God wonderfully created the world and preserves all of creation. Creation then becomes an expression of God’s very being, reflecting his truth, his goodness, and his beauty, and God has total insight into all that takes place in his creation. Thus, Sirach speaks of the glory of God manifested in the beauty and marvels of creation. It is the product of God’s word, his creative, life-giving word. This is one of the first mentions of the creative “word” of God. In it God’s total knowledge (omniscience) and wisdom (ability to apply knowledge to action) are also described. There is nothing which can be hidden from God’s knowledge. The future, too, is known to him from all eternity. He reveals what has been and what has yet to be. Not a single thought escapes him, nor can anything remain hidden from him. In the same way, the fruits of his wisdom can be seen everywhere and he remains unchanging from all eternity. There is nothing that can be given to him which he does not already have, nor can anything be taken away from him. He needs no one to give him advice on how he should act. Down the ages, the beauty of our world has never ceased to mesmerize artists of all kinds – poets, painters and musicians. This beauty is something which will endure in one form or another as long as our created world exists, while, at the same time, each created thing has been brought into being to meet a particular need determined by him. These are evident as one looks upon what God has created and continues to keep in existence.