Eighth Sunday Ordinary

Eighth Sunday Ordinary
February 26, 2006

"I will espouse you to me forever... in right and in justice" (Hosea 2). "You are our letter, written on our hearts... written not in ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets that are hearts of flesh. (2 Corinthians 3: 1-6). " Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?" (Mark 2: 18-21)

Hosea compares our life with the Most High to a loving and dedicated marriage. Those of us fortunate enough to have a person in our lives upon whom we can rely as a life long friend, lover and soulmate have a unique window into our life with God. Not much in this life gets us any closer than this. Whether or not we have such good luck, the Holy One of Israel is courting us. Often we are too shy, fearful and reluctant to allow the kind of intimacy with which this persistent Lover pursues us.

St. Paul refers to his beloved friends in Corinth as a living letter of reference written by the Holy Spirit directly on our hearts and bodies. Accompanied by this he did not need any recommendation written on paper or law engraved in stone to be accepted by another community. How would our local and world communities look if we all carried one another in the Spirit around with us as letters of introduction? No one would be a stranger or an outsider.

Jesus answers a question about why he and his disciples do not practice asceticism (lasting) like the Pharisees and John's disciples. He says that while the "bridegroom" (the Messiah) is still present we should be in a rejoicing mode. There will be plenty of time later for fasting when he is gone. When is the Messiah with us, and when not? When should we be rejoicing and when in mourning and penitence? Are we thinking only of the Messiah's physical presence, or also about God's presence permanently living in our hearts and bodies? My own recent experience tells me that this is more than an historical reference to the life and death of the Messiah.

My Sicilian grandmother always wondered why we should deliberately deprive ourselves of the sacred gift of food when it was available. She still carried the memory of times and places in the old country when it was never certain there would be enough to eat. We should partake without guilt while it is available. Of course, we all have times when we could benefit from intentionally foregoing something good as a reminder of the unfinished business of the transformation of our world into eternity. Nevertheless this is a permanently new time with the Spirit of the Messiah in and around us. As Jesus says, "new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” New age, new rules