My dear parishioners, throughout its history Israel experienced shocking episodes of intellectual and spiritual disintegration. The law painfully illuminated Israel’s shortcomings along the way even as it continued to reassure its people of God’s care in a hostile world. Though a perpetual good, the law failed to achieve Israel’s lasting conversion of heart. The law veiled Israel’s eyes from discerning the Divine Order which it represented. While the law modeled God's fearful holiness, it had the effect of obscuring the personhood of God from his people. The law could not walk with man in the garden in the cool of the evening breeze. [cf. Gen 3:8] Nonetheless, Israel remained God’s favorite flower in the garden of humanity. In an acceptable time the Father sent his only begotten Son into their midst to be born of a virgin: “Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Imman'u-el.” [Isa 7:14] Thus Christ stands at the center of Israel and the world: “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.” [Mt. 5:17] The Son of God fulfilled what the law of Moses could not. Only a person can forgive sins, only a person by his passion and death could restore the broken relationship between God and humanity. Only a person can bestow his Spirit of grace upon a communion of men and women of goodwill, only a person can establish a new covenant in his name. Only a person could liberate the Mosaic Law from its joyless inventory of human offenses. All human longing, wrote Pope Saint John Paul II of blessed memory, is “a search for the truth and a search for a person to whom they might entrust themselves.” [John Paul II, Faith and Reason, no. 33 (1998)] That person is Jesus Christ, fully God and fully human. “Christian faith immerses human beings in the order of grace, which enables them to share in the mystery of Christ, which in turn offers them a true and coherent knowledge of the Triune God.” [no. 33] In his natural though fallen state, the human creature displays an obvious though imperfect beauty. God invites man to ennoble his existence, to acquire a privileged place in his Kingdom. By saying “yes” to God’s loving invitation he enters into the mystery of his own particular nativity: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” [Jn 3:5] This higher level of human existence and dignity is nothing less than a sharing of the divine society of the creator, most perfectly imaged in Jesus’ lovely and indefectible bride, the Church! Jesus, anointed by God and sent “to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” [Isa 61:1], has destroyed the tyranny of evil and chastised human pride. He has shattered the iron collar enslaving man. Christ is the truth and the life, the high priest and the sacrifice. He is the revelation and the revealer, the authority and the just judge. In Christ Jesus, our heavenly father is pleased to receive the human creation as a pure and fragrant offering to his glory. We are set free from the ancient infamy. Sincerely in the hearts of Jesus and Mary. Your pastor, Reverend Richard Barker.
My dear parishioners, throughout its history Israel experienced shocking episodes of intellectual and spiritual disintegration. The law painfully illuminated Israel’s shortcomings along the way even as it continued to reassure its people of God’s care in a hostile world. Though a perpetual good, the law failed to achieve Israel’s lasting conversion of heart.