27 November, 2019. Wednesday of Week 34
1st Reading: Daniel 5:1-6 etc
The mysterious writing appears on the wall, and only Daniel can interpret its meaning
King Belshazzar made a great festival for a thousand of his lords, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand. Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar commanded that they bring in the vessels of gold and silver that his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the vessels of gold and silver that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and began writing on the plaster of the wall of the royal palace, next to the lampstand. The king was watching the hand as it wrote. Then the king’s face turned pale, and his thoughts terrified him. His limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king said to Daniel, “So you are Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah? I have heard of you that a spirit of the gods is in you, and that enlightenment, understanding, and excellent wisdom are found in you. But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you are able to read the writing and tell me its interpretation, you shall be clothed in purple, have a chain of gold around your neck, and rank third in the kingdom.”
Then Daniel answered in the presence of the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, or give your rewards to someone else! Nevertheless I will read the writing to the king and let him know the interpretation. You have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven! The vessels of his temple have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know; but the God in whose power is your very breath, and to whom belong all your ways, you have not honoured. “So from his presence the hand was sent and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENÉ, MENÉ, TEKEL, and PARSIN. This is the interpretation of the matter: MENÉ, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting; PARSIN, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
Responsorial: Daniel 3:62-67
R./: Give glory and eternal praise to him.
Sun and moon! bless the Lord. (R./)
Stars of heaven! bless the Lord. (R./)
Showers and dews! all bless the Lord. (R./)
Winds! all bless the Lord. (R./)
Fire and heat! bless the Lord. (R./)
Cold and heat! bless the Lord. (R./)
Gospel: Luke 21:12-19
The disciples of Jesus will be persecuted, yet not a hair of their head will be harmed
Jesus said to his disciples,
“Before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”
The writing is on the wall. Hold steady in troubled times
To encourage his disciples, Jesus makes an important promise, “By your endurance you will gain your souls” (Another translation of that saying is, “By your patience you will save your lives.”) It is one of those floating principles that can fit into many different situations. Where patience occurs earlier in Luke’s Gospel it says that the seed in the field bore fruit “through patience” (8:15). It echoes in Paul’s urging the Romans to “patiently do what is right” (Rom 2:7). Later in Romans he says that “affliction produces patience, and patience produces character, and character produces hope” (Rom 5:3).
The Greek word for patience or endurance (hypomoné) suggests consistency and dependability. With this in mind, let’s see what today’s gospel says about it. Nothing cannot terrify such a steady person, nor can family relationships even when strained to the limits. “You will be delivered up even by your parents, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends.” Even in such testing times, we must stay loyal to God. We need the conviction that sooner or later God will justify us, and that because of our fidelity, our family and community will be reunited. In the meanwhile Jesus promises “I will give you a wisdom which none of your opponents can withstand or contradict.” Our words will be prompted by true love and honest love of the truth. Such words have power to persuade and will gradually bear their good fruit.
Truly, “by patience you will save your lives” and the lives of all your loved ones. This line, which can fit into many different moments of our lives and enable us to carry onward towards the promised land, has a nice ring in the Latin translation of St Jerome: in patientia vestra possidebitis animas vestras–“In your patience you will possess your souls.”
All this talk about patience reflects the hard reality of life for the church in the first century. Bearing witness to Jesus and to his values under the harsh rule of imperial Rome meant risking prison and even death. The faith of a believer might be betrayed by one of their own family or by a friend. To be recognised as a Christian could cost you your life. It was possible to keep secret about one’s faith and to live a quiet life. But the danger was always there. The risk of following Jesus was very real, in those early days.
Our own relationship with Jesus today isn’t meant to be hidden in a closet like a purely private hobby that is nobody’s business but our own. If our friendship with him is – as it should be – the most important treasure in our lives, it will affect our other relationships, and influence what we say and do. We don’t just keep the faith in some kind of private space but try to live it visibly and in practice. That is not easy, in our culture. But Christ our Saviour gives us the resources we need to live as his disciples and witness to our faith. His enduring presence to us gives us the motivation to really live as his followers.
WOW like always.
Thank you.
Arais liom arís i gcoiscéimeanna Uí Fhiaich ar thriall N Fearghail. According to “Gaelscrínte san Eoraip”, leath.132-133, St Boniface founded the See of Salzburg in 739, choosing his fellow English missionary Johannes as first bishop. In the mid-740s Fearghal/Vergilius arrrived in Bavaria and was made Abbot of St Peter’s by Duke Odilo. When Bishop Johannes died, sometime between 749 and 754, Fearghal was appointed to rule the Diocese as well as the Monastery. He followed the Irish custom, remaining a simple priest while his companion, Dubhdáchrích, who had been a bishop before they left Aghaboe attended to episcopal ceremonies beyond the faculties of a priest. [This Irish way wouldn’t have pleased Devonian Boniface, but in fact he was murdered/martyred in Frisia in 754.] Fearghal did accept episcopal consecration later, dying in 784 after thirty years as head of the See of Salzburg and of St Peter’s Monastery. His successors over the next 200 years, up until 987, continued the Irish tradition of being both Abbot of St Peter’s and Bishop of Salzburg.
Bishop Fergal/Vergilius began building his cathedral in 767 and consecrated it on 24 September 774, feast of his predecessor St Rupert whose remains he transferred there. Rupert had re-founded the ancient Monastery of St Peter early in the 8th century and begun to lay the foundations for the cathedral. He is co-patron with Vergilius of Salzburg Diocese, as well as Patron of the State of Salzburg.
And here I must confess a triple confusion! According to Catholic sources cited in Wikipedia, Rupert died in 710 as Archbishop of Salzburg. According to other Catholic sources similarly cited, Boniface founded the See of Salzburg in 739 and appointed Johannes first bishop. And according to Cardinal Archbishop & Primate of All Ireland, Tomás Ó Fiaich, second Bishop and Abbot Fearghal/Vergilius built Salzburg’s Cathedral in seven years, and from excavations carried out in 1956-59 the foundations show that it was as large as mediaeval chronicles claimed, over 200 feet long and over 100 feet wide, making it larger than Dublin’s Christchurch Cathedral or Armagh’s St Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral.
Can some knowledgeable ecclesiastical historian help me? Ar ndóigh, beidh mise claonta go deo i mo bharúil!