Wednesday of the
Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
(Daniel
5:1-5.13-14.23-28; Luke 21:12-19)
The English poet John
Donne wrote a masterful essay known by the phrase “for whom the bell
tolls.” The author takes an everyday
experience of hearing a funeral bell toll into a meditation on death. He says that the death toll should remind people
that they too will die to face God’s judgment for how they conducted their
lives. Donne advises all, “… never send
to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” A similar message is given with “the writing
on the wall” in today’s first reading.
The three words, “mene,”
“tekel,” and “peres,” are from the ancient Near East language
Aramaic. Each can be used as both a noun
and a verb. Mene as a noun is a
unit of weight or currency. As a verb,
it means to count or number. Here it tells King Belshazzar that his days are
numbered. Tekel is also a unit or currency. In addition, it means to weigh. It indicates to Belshazzar that God has found
him weighing little or wanting in virtue.
Peres means a half portion and to divide. Belshazzar’s kingdom will be divided between
the Persians and the Medes.
We can be sure that we
are going to die. As rich as he is, we
hope not to die like Belshazzar. Rather
let us live virtuous lives so that God finds us at death worthy of eternal life
with Him.
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