The scripture today comes from Obadiah in the Original Testament. "The pride of your heart has deceived you: you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose abode is in the heights, Who say in your heart, Who will bring me down to earth?" (v3). It got me to thinking about the pride we carry as people. There are two kinds of pride of course and I am not talking about the kind that you feel as a parent when your child does something wonderful. I am not talking about the pride you feel when a friend is recognized for doing God's will. I am talking about the kind of pride that causes people to put themselves above our Lord. The kind of pride that allows people to say, "prayer takes the place of thinking." The kind of pride that leads one to say, that prayer hinders medical and scientific advances, it is a distraction." Who will bring me down to earth indeed? Thou shall have no other gods before Me. The first commandment tells us in very plain language that we should depend on God for everything. If we are putting out faith into anything else, it is merely a dead end. Anyone who has walked this road knows what I am talking about. In the moment, it feels terrific but then reality begins to settle in and the search is on for the next great "god." We often call it addiction in modern day terms. We also call it obsessions but in reality it is distractions. Anything that gets in our way of a true and deep relationship with God is another god. Looking back at Obadiah's writing makes us think of the heights that we place ourselves at and think that is a permanent thing. Then we spend every waking moment trying to maintain that level of intensity. It is a false god. It is not sustainable and will leave you unfulfilled. Turn to God your Father and live in His light. There you will be fortified with the rock of Jesus Christ.
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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