I thought the reading from the Original Testament today was very interesting. The reading from Jeremiah certainly is closely linked to the Year of the Priest, as recently proclaimed by Pope Benedict. The message to the Church is very clear. I am sure as priests prepared their sermons for Mass, they took special care to heed the message. The scripture focuses on bad leadership but also followership. On the surface, it is clear but can we dig deeper? What about our leaders who are not commenting on worldly things? What about those that avoid the difficult topics from the pulpit? What about those that divide the world into the spiritual and earthly? Do they not also intend to "destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture"? Are we as followers called by God to be "shepherds over them who will care for them"? Are you allowing yourself to be led down the wrong path? Are you part of the flock that is being scattered? The devil loves it when we do his work for him. The Church is called to be prayerful, righteous, and diligent. We must pray our leaders right. Jeremiah 23:6 concludes, "The Lord is our righteousness."
The spiritual climax of the Gospel of John, as Father John Waiss points out, occurs at the foot of the Cross, where Jesus utters his parting words: “Woman, behold, your son!” and “Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27). While these words were addressed to the Apostle John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the Church has long understood this moment as a universal adoption. To truly image Christ, we must share in His parentage; if we embrace God as our spiritual Father but reject Mary as our mother, we treat Christ as a half-brother rather than our "firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). As Origen noted as early as the third century, the profound depths of the Gospel are only accessible to those who, like John, rest their heads on Jesus’ breast and receive Mary into their own homes. This maternal role is deeply rooted in biblical typology, positioning Mary as the fulfillment of the great mothers of the Old Covenant. She is the New Eve , the mother of all the living according ...
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