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Feast of Mary, Mother of God, Years A, B, & C, January 1, Annually Lectionary index # 18 |
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Twenty-second digests for the congregation: Arrange with your liturgy committee to have these brief historical introductions read to the assembly before you do each reading.
Who should announce these before the first and second readings, and before the gospel acclamation? They're not Scripture, nor homiletic, so they shouldn't be delivered from the ambo. They're a modest teaching. So let the presider say them from the chair. Let the lector turn toward the presider and listen.
Print this page, cut it at the blue lines, and give the introduction paragraphs to the person who will speak them. | ||
| Feast of Mary, Mother of God, January 1 | ||
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Before the first reading:
After the Jews' return from exile, their priests retold the encouraging story of the nation's founding under Moses. They tended to emphasize the roles of earlier priests, like the sons of Aaron.
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After the psalm, before the second reading:
Paul's goal in the letter to the Galatians was free them from their self-imposed obligation to keep the old laws of Moses. He calls that old stance slavery, and assures us we are God's children and heirs.
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Before the gospel acclamation:
Luke's writings emphasize the wide spread of the good news through the work of unlikely messengers. Very early, shepherds, whom most held in low regard, hear the word of God from angels and begin to tell it to everyone.
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The priests' vision of what was good for the nation included the restoration of worship in the temple, naturally enough. So ritual prescriptions and the duties of Levites and the sons of Aaron (priests in the historical era described in Numbers), dominate much of the book. Indeed, today's passage begins thus: The Lord tells Moses to tell Aaron to tell the priests, "This is the ritual way to bless the people."
The Theological Background: Perhaps this paragraph is in the Lectionary today because the feast coincides with the civil new year in many countries, and the blessing formula is a nice way to begin a new year. But a key phrase in the formula bespeaks a breakthrough in our evolving understanding of God, "The Lord let his face shine upon you." Many ancient peoples believed that it was possible to see the face of God, but dangerous, often fatal, to do so. Ancient Israel shared this conviction for a long time (see Exodus 33:11, Deuteronomy 34:10, and Genesis 32:31, for example). But here their priests encourage the people to expect to see the face of God shining (smiling, perhaps?) on them. At least, that's the effect the priests predict for those who worship at the temple. This is a god still awesome to those who obey and worship him, but less dreadful than previously believed. That's progress.
Proclaiming It: Don't rush this short reading. Distinguish the actual blessing formula from its surrounding imperatives. Pause a moment after "Say to them:" and pause again before "So shall you invoke ..."
If the essay above about seeing the face of God persuades you, then emphasize "The Lord let his face shine upon you." To get a feel for how that should sound, think about faces you have liked to gaze upon. Think of the face of a person you love deeply, or of someone with whom you have shared exceptional honesty and candor, or of someone whose courage you admire. How does it feel when you and that other special person let your faces shine upon each other? If you can express that feeling in your proclamation, you'll be faithful to the ancient priests' teaching about God's face and our blessedness.
The Theological Background: Now the law of Moses was not a bad thing, but it promised more than it could ever deliver. Keeping the law could not save anyone. Salvation, Paul teaches, comes as an undeserved gift of God, which we accept by faith in Christ. Our position vis à vis God was effectively that of slaves when we thought we had to keep the Mosaic law; now ransomed from slavery, our position is the more favorable one of adopted children.
Proclaiming it in Our Liturgical Setting: This passage is in the Lectionary today because, well, we need a New Testament reading not from the gospels, and this is a rare Pauline reference to Jesus' birth of a woman. The phrase "in the fullness of time" is also appropriate for the season. But to the author, those are details supporting the main point: that because of Christ our status before God (face to face with God, we might say) is now that of chosen children. Be sure to contrast with your voice the words that name our various statuses: ransom, adoption, sons (or children, depending on the translation), Father, heir.