Friday, July 30, 2021

 Friday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Leviticus 23:1.4-11.15-16.27.34b-37; Matthew 13:54-58)

Establishing shared traditions and a fundamental law turns an assembly of people into a nation.  For this purpose, Americans celebrate the Pilgrims’ thanksgiving feast and toast the Constitution as basic to their nationhood.  Something similar is presented in today’s first reading.

God tells Moses to initiate the celebration of Passover.  This feast memorializes the Lord’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt.  Before this event and the subsequent covenant, the children of Israel were disparate groups without even a common understanding of God.  After fifty days of journeying in the desert, God presented Israel with His law.  This momentous event is celebrated with the harvest Feast of Weeks also described in the reading.

Whether for civic or religious purposes, we must remember that we are not just a composite of individuals.  As a church or a nation, our common traditions mold us together to form a people with a specific mission.  As Christians, our mission is to tell others about the saving grace of God.  This gift is bestowed on all humanity through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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