Monday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 449


Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites–
everyone, that is, whom God had inspired to do so– prepared to go up to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. All their neighbors gave them help in every way,
with silver, gold, goods, and cattle,
and with many precious gifts besides all their free-will offerings.

This passage from the Book of Ezra recalls an incident which occurred long before Ezra or Nehemiah; and it prefigures the Day that must come someday. The former was the Hebrews' "despoiling" the Egyptians as they escaped four hundred years of bondage: 

And the Israelites did as Moses had commanded: they asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. Indeed the LORD had made the Egyptians so well-disposed toward the people that they let them have whatever they asked for. And so they despoiled the Egyptians.

The latter is the coming Judgement Day and the Bliss which must follow. The Testaments often promise God's people victory, vindication, and prosperity within sight of hostile nations. "Let the nations rage!" (Psalm 2)
The Book of Ezra describes a momentary glimpse of that heavenly day when the Persian emperor Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and their Babylonian friends lavished gifts upon them. 
We are granted such glimpses of heavenly bliss occasionally. Some are unexpected boons that fall upon us when everything seems right after a long period of trouble and anxiety. I think especially of Mary and Joseph finding Jesus in the temple "on the third day." The couple had suffered much anxiety as they searched among their friends and kin for the lost child. It was a long walk back to Jerusalem and only on the third day did they re-enter the gate and go directly to the Temple where, of course, they found him "listening to the elders and asking them questions."
Saint Luke uses that phrase, "the third day," to remind us of the Easter joy that was to follow. Their finding Jesus in the temple was a kind of Easter.
Other "glimpses of eternity" come during our religious ceremonies. These we can and should attend; they are the Bread of Heaven which sustains us through long difficult stretches of our life.
The repetition of words, gestures, songs and rites can seem boring to the inattentive; and especially to the untested. Those who have not experienced the healing, soothing power of prayer, who are accustomed to more entertaining fare to distract them from their otherwise vacuous existence, may not appreciate the food of angels. 
Many of the bored have little knowledge of our history. They do not realize the high cost of faith which has been paid in advance by our martyred ancestors. They are bewildered by stories of men and women who died because they recited the rosary, made the sign of the cross or genuflected before the Blessed Sacrament. They do not glimpse supreme blessings in routine prayers. 
But the Lord still blesses his Church in every age by gathering the faithful to prayer. If we forget God, the Holy Spirit does not forget us. The Spirit still holds before our eyes the image of the Crucified, recalling our past suffering and future Resurrection; and again we sit up and listen to the command of the Shema, "Hear, O Israel!"