Ezra the priest, from our first reading, was a descendent of those Israelites who had been carried away into exile by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. For over a hundred years, Jews had lived and worked in Babylon, cut off from their traditions, their history, their rituals, their stories, and their worship. A generation of Jews was growing up without knowing about God freeing their people from slavery in Egypt, they grew up without knowing the promises God made to Abraham, without the knowledge of the ten commandments or the promised land. They grew up only knowing the gods and practices of Babylon-- a culture which practiced child sacrifice, polygamy, and other behaviors condemned by Jewish law.
Imagine if your children or grandchildren knew nothing about their family histories, knew nothing about their heritage, in fact, they had adopted practices which were exactly opposite of the truths of their faith. In a way, not knowing their history, not knowing their faith, you would say, that they did not know themselves.
While in captivity, some like Ezra the priest strove to keep alive knowledge of the Jewish faith and culture—but most of his fellow Jews had become assimilated by the surrounding culture. Then around the year 458, the Babylonian King Artaxerxes allowed Ezra and Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem and what they found broke their hearts. They found Jerusalem, the once great capital, a wreck--her walls breached and knocked down, the great temple destroyed. Priest and Prophet wept.
But inspired by God, they endeavored to rebuild the temple and rebuild their religion. Nehemiah was tasked with the physical construction of the Temple, while Ezra the priest labored to reeducate the people who had grown ignorant of their history and traditions, their religious rituals and practices; he labored to teach the people who they were, give them a sense of identity as a nation set apart by God, and to teach them the laws of the faith which enabled them to be the people God had chosen them to be.
So as we heard, Ezra gathered the men, women, and children, and read to them from the Torah. He stood on a raised platform in the rebuilt Temple, and from morning until midday read the Torah from beginning to end: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. For hours and hours the men, women, and children listened to their story, their family history, the laws which God had given them. They raised their hands in the air, and proclaimed, “Amen, Amen”. And they bowed down to the ground and wept discovering who they were for the first time: they were not captives, they were not pagan Babylonians, they were the people chosen by God to manifest his greatness.
The story of Ezra and the people of Israel reconnecting with the scriptures, is a wonderful image of what the Church does every time we gather for public worship and the role of the scriptures in our private lives and our families.
Every time Christians gather for worship, at every Mass and liturgy, scripture is read. As Vatican II’s document on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium explains: “Sacred scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. For it is from it that lessons are read and explained in the homily, and psalms are sung. It is from the scriptures that the prayers, collects, and hymns draw their inspiration and their force, and that actions and signs derive their meaning.”
The Scriptures help continue to form us in the bonds of unity and charity and guide our activity out in the world. For example, as we proclaim Gospel passages of Jesus healing the sick, we consider how Jesus heals each of us individually, how he heals the wounds of division in the human family, and how he sends us out to be bring his healing Word to the world.
So in our public worship, the scripture aids our mission and identity and opens us up to the power of the Spirit. In our private prayer lives and in our families, Scripture is meant to nurture, guide, form, challenge, and inspire us as well. A day shouldn’t go by without reading or meditating on some line of the Bible. Your day is impoverished without scripture.
Paul instructs Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” So we do well to study, meditate, seek to understand the scriptures as best we can so that we can be equipped for the work God has for us.
I recommend starting your day by reading the daily mass readings which can be emailed to you daily or freely read on the United States Bishops Website. Scripture is not always easy to understand. Read it anyway. You’ll no doubt find a word or phrase that resonates with you, through which God wants to speak to you. I also recommend reading the weekend readings prior to coming to mass. Having read and reflected upon the readings yourselves, you will derive so much more, than, if you simply come to mass, cold, so to speak.
Read through them and ask yourselves questions like: what does this scripture mean in the concrete details of my life? What does God want me to learn here? What does this passage say about God, about Jesus, about the Church, about the Christian life? God what are you inspiring me to do through this scripture? What wounds are you healing? What virtues are you strengthening? What sins are you converting? Speak, O Lord, your servant is listening.
Having meditated on the scriptures, you will discover how God will use that time of prayer to enrich your family life and your encounters with strangers—how the scriptures are fulfilled in your lives.
Joshua chapter 8 says, “Keep this Book always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words”, says the book of Revelation, “and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it.”
May we continue our worship today thanking God for the Word which is a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path, the word which is more valuable than silver or gold, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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