Wednesday of the
Second Week in Ordinary Time
(Hebrews 7:25-8:6; Mark 3:7-12)
Once a seminary professor was complaining to his class about
the way they were praying. “Why do you
always say ‘just’?” he asked. “Why do
you say, ‘We just want to thank you, Lord,” and “We just want to ask you,
Lord.” A student drummed up the courage
to take on the professor. “Just is a word we used to express awe,”
he told him. “We don’t feel that we are
on equal terms with God. I suppose that
when you are a seminary professor with a Ph.D., you can walk up to God and treat
him like a pal.”
Perhaps some of us often lack a sense of awe in praying to
God as well. God is so much greater than we that we might as well be fruit
flies communicating with a whale. What
is remarkable – no, more than that, stupendous – is how much God wants to hear
us. He sent His Son to open
communication lines with us. It is as if
for something of the utmost international importance, a president would not the
Secretary of State but his own father, whom he trusts implicitly.
This is what the
Letter to the Hebrews tells us today and over and over again. Jesus Christ is not the ordinary high priest
but a unique one. He is akin to
Melchizedek who makes a fleeting appearance in the Book of Genesis. Jesus is
the only one worth praying to because he has complete access to God. He came from Him and has returned to Him. Furthermore, Jesus knows our condition
intimately. He has walked in our
shoes. He has traveled our ways. We must never stop entrusting our lives to
him.
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