![\"\"](\"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/calling-all-nations-talit.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Reading 1:\u00a0Is 56:1, 6-7<\/h3>\n
Although often overlooked, God’s provision for the Gentiles is found throughout the Old Testament. In this passage from Isaiah we hear about God’s acceptance of those who humble themselves before Him and how the Lord’s house will be “a house of prayer for all<\/span> peoples”<\/span>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Thus says the LORD:\u00a0Observe what is right, do what is just;\u00a0for my salvation is about to come,\u00a0my justice, about to be revealed.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,\u00a0ministering to him,\u00a0loving the name of the LORD,\u00a0and becoming his servants\u2014\u00a0all who keep the sabbath free from profanation\u00a0and hold to my covenant,\u00a0them I will bring to my holy mountain\u00a0and make joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices\u00a0will be acceptable on my altar,\u00a0for my house shall be called\u00a0a house of prayer for all peoples.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Questions:<\/p>\n Commentary:<\/p>\n “Thus says the LORD: …”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n You see this phrase throughout the prophets. It indicates that the Lord is about to speak through His messenger.<\/p>\n “Observe what is right, do what is just…”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The prophets regularly called people back to right-living, usually because God’s visitation was at hand…<\/p>\n “…for my salvation is about to come,\u00a0my justice, about to be revealed”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The literal meaning of this verse is most likely that the exile in Babylon would soon come to an end. When we read this verse in the light of the New Testament, we can see it pointing towards both the Incarnation and the Second Coming of Christ when God’s work of salvation will be completed.<\/p>\n “…join themselves to the LORD,\u00a0ministering to him,\u00a0loving the name of the LORD,\u00a0and becoming his servants\u2014\u00a0all who keep the sabbath free from profanation\u00a0and hold to my covenant”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n This is describing Gentiles who enter into covenant life with God. This involved keeping the Sabbath and the remainder of the Law. However, in the New Covenant, thankfully the law is fulfilled in Christ and grace reigns supreme \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n “I will bring to my holy mountain\u00a0and make joyful in my house of prayer<\/em>“<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Literally speaking, this is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. With spiritual eyes, however, this could be seen as either the Church or Heaven.<\/p>\n “…their burnt offerings and sacrifices\u00a0will be acceptable on my altar…”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The offerings these Gentiles make will be acceptable to God and not tarnished in any way simply because they are offered by Gentiles.<\/p>\n With the coming of the New Covenant, the Early Church Fathers saw the Eucharist in sacrificial terms, in which case, *this* is the\u00a0acceptable\u00a0sacrifice offered on God’s altar. We even find a paraphrase of the following passage from the Prophet Malachi in our Mass today:<\/p>\n “My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,\u201d says the LORD Almighty. \u2013 Malachi 1:11<\/em><\/p>\n “From age to age you gather a people to yourself, so that from east to west a perfect offering may be made to the glory of your name” – Eucharistic Prayer #3, Epiclesis<\/em><\/p>\n “…a house of prayer for all peoples”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The concept that God’s house would be “a house of prayer for all peoples”<\/em><\/span>\u00a0appears to have been present at the very founding of the Temple:<\/p>\n “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name\u2014\u00a0for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm\u2014when they come and pray toward this temple,\u00a0then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.” –\u00a01 Kings 8:41-43<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Israel was always meant to be a beacon to the world, to draw all nations to the worship the one, true God. Upon seeing the infant Jesus, Simeon declares that this culminates in the Lord’s arrival:<\/p>\n \u201cSovereign Lord, as you have promised,\u00a0you may now dismiss your servant in peace.\u00a0For my eyes have seen your salvation,\u00a0which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:\u00a0a light for revelation to the Gentiles,\u00a0and the glory of your people Israel.\u201d – Luke 2:29-32<\/em><\/p>\n …and this is what has happened. With the coming of Christ and the founding of the Church, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is now worshiped and adored throughout the world by people of all tongues and nations.\u00a0Hallelujah! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This song is a communal plea for God’s blessing. It was most likely used as a closing prayer in the liturgical worship of Israel, much like the closing prayer at Mass before the priest says\u00a0“Go in peace to love and serve the Lord”<\/em>.<\/p>\n I find it interesting to note that this psalm’s emphasis is how God’s blessings to Israel will ultimately bless the world and make the Lord’s name known. After the closing blessing at Mass we are “sent” (the “missa” from “Ite, Missa Est”) \u00a0out into the world to be an evangelistic witness to the Lord.<\/p>\n R. (4) O God, let all the nations praise you!<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n May God have pity on us and bless us; May the nations be glad and exult May the peoples praise you, O God; Questions:<\/p>\n Commentary:<\/p>\n “So may your way be known upon earth;\u00a0among all nations, your salvation”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n In blessing Israel, God’s name will be known throughout the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In our Second Reading we do not read verses 16-28. I would suggest that, in preparing to guide people through this passage, that you read it in its\u00a0entirety\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0As you will see, in those intervening verses, Paul uses a wonderful analogy of an olive tree to illustrate the Jews and Gentiles in salvation history.<\/p>\n Even without reading those missing verses, we can see, in broad strokes, Paul’s line of thought. He states that, through the unbelief of the Jews, the whole world is opened up to be reconciled to God, showing that, through disobedience, God’s mercy is revealed.\u00a0He\u00a0emphasizes\u00a0throughout that, even though they rejected Jesus, God has not forgotten the Children of Israel, His special people\u00a0and one day they will\u00a0recognize\u00a0Him as Lord.<\/p>\n Brothers and sisters:\u00a0I am speaking to you Gentiles.\u00a0Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles,\u00a0I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous\u00a0and thus save some of them.\u00a0For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,\u00a0what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n …[verses 16-28]…<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.\u00a0Just as you once disobeyed God\u00a0but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now disobeyed in order that,\u00a0by virtue of the mercy shown to you,\u00a0they too may now receive mercy.\u00a0For God delivered all to disobedience,\u00a0that he might have mercy upon all.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Questions:<\/p>\n Commentary:<\/p>\n “I am speaking to you Gentiles”<\/em><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n In his letter Paul now begins to speak to the Gentiles. Here, and in the omitted verses, he cautions them against pride. I think there is still a danger of this among Christians today: to look down on Israel as having “missed the boat” because they missed the Messiah. Paul calls us to humility. The salvation we currently experience is not through anything that we ourselves have done, nor because we are exceptionally clever or holy, rather it is only through God’s grace and mercy. If we\u00a0succumb\u00a0to pride we can be removed from “the olive tree” just as easily as we were added…<\/p>\n “…apostle to the Gentiles…”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n This particular mission of Paul’s was revealed even prior to his conversion:<\/p>\n “But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel’ – Acts 9:15<\/em><\/p>\n “…to make my race jealous”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n The Jews have temporarily stumbled by not accepting Jesus as the Messiah, thus creating a window of opportunity for the Gentiles to enter into the Church. Paul’s hope seems to be that, in seeing the grace that God lavishes upon the Gentiles, the Jews will be so jealous that they will want a share in it too!<\/p>\n “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,\u00a0what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?<\/em>“<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n This is a rhetorical question. There are a few ways in which we could interpret “<\/span>life from the dead<\/em>“<\/span><\/em>:<\/p>\n 1. That the acceptance by the Jews will result in a spiritual awakening in the world. I don’t think this is the meaning of the passage since we read elsewhere that the final gathering in of the Jews will be the final stage in God’s plan.<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0That the acceptance by the Jews will result in the physical resurrection from the dead which will accompany the final judgement. This is possible and Paul may have this idea at the back of his mind, but I don’t think that this is his primary thought.<\/p>\n 3. I think he means that the acceptance by the Jews of Christ will result in a national “resurrection” of Israel. The prophets often used the metaphor of a body to describe the spiritual state of Israel (Is 26:19, Ez 37:1-12, Hos 6:2<\/a>). Sometimes Israel was sick, weak, even dead! Upon recognition of Jesus, however, it will be suffused with grace and restored to divine life.<\/p>\n “For the gifts and\u00a0<\/em>the call of God are irrevocable..”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n God doesn’t change His mind and God’s purposes will still be fulfilled despite, even through, the initial rejection of the Jews.<\/p>\n “…delivered all to disobedience that he might have mercy upon all<\/em>“<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n This isn’t teaching universal salvation.\u00a0The idea here is that sin is allowed in order that salvation may come. Both the Jews and the Gentiles have been disobedient at times, but this was used to show God’s mercy:<\/p>\n “…where sin increased, grace increased all the more” – Romans 5:20<\/em><\/p>\n Even when sin abounds, God’s saving power is still at work and His purposes will be fulfilled.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm\u00a067:2-3, 5, 6, 8<\/h3>\n
\nmay he let his face shine upon us.
\nSo may your way be known upon earth;
\namong all nations, your salvation.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
\nbecause you rule the peoples in equity;
\nthe nations on the earth you guide.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
\nmay all the peoples praise you!
\nMay God bless us,
\nand may all the ends of the earth fear him!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n
Reading II:\u00a0Romans 11:13-15, 29-32<\/h3>\n
\n
Gospel:Matthew 15:21-28<\/h3>\n