Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

 Lectionary: 318

For this reason, when he came into the world, he said:
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, As is written of me in the scroll,
Behold, I come to do your will, O God.

A footnote on the USCCB website explains the discrepancy between a verse in Psalm 40 (which says "ears open to obedience you gave me) and its appearance in the Letter to the Hebrews ("a body you prepared for me"): 

A passage from Psalm 40 is placed in the mouth of the Son at his incarnation. As usual, the author follows the Septuagint text. There is a notable difference in Heb 10:5 (Ps 40:6), where the Masoretic [Hebrew] text reads “ears you have dug for me," but most Septuagint manuscripts have “a body you prepared for me,” a reading obviously more suited to the interpretation of Hebrews.

To add to the confusion, the New American Bible Revised Edition, reads more simply, "you opened my ears." (The NABRE is the latest Catholic translation of the Bible; it is offered to American Catholics.) 

Written after the fall of Jerusalem, the Letter to the Hebrews draws sharp distinctions between the Jewish and Christian religions. The disciples of Jesus had suffered much opposition from well-established Jews and gentiles in civil government. The Divine Author's rancor toward the Jews borders on supersessionism, and must be balanced by the affection we feel and the debt we owe to our Jewish ancestors. He is not saying we should despise Jews; he is saying the Son of God took a human body and offered it on the cross for our salvation. 

That bold declaration contradicts everything the Jews and the world believes about God. If there are any religions that believe their god or gods became human, none suggest that a god suffered a painful humiliating death by crucifixion because he or she loved us. 

As we practice the sacrificial life of prayer and penance, we also dig out our ears to hear God's word. We dig out the world's preconceived ideas about how God should act, feel, and think, and what God should do. We open the cisterns of our ears, minds, and hearts to receive the pure, clear, and abundant water of grace until the digging finally discovers the life of the spirit welling up within us. 

This abundant grace welcomes Christians and Jews not for their opinions but for their divine election. It reaches beyond them to the Earth, its peoples, and all its living creatures with the Good News of Jesus.