Daily Retreat 04/11/06

2006 Apr 11 Tue: Tuesday of Holy Week

Is 49: 1-6/ Ps 70(71): 1-2. 3-4a. 5ab-6ab. 15 and 17/ Jn 13: 21-33. 36-38

From today’s readings: " I will make You a light to the nations.... For You are my hope, O Lord.... Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray Me...."

Light to all the nations

When all the rest of the world was wallowing in the darkness of paganism, God chose the Israelites to be His own people, to whom He would entrust His revelation, both in the Old Testament, and the New Testament. But the reading from Isaiah (the second "Servant Song") explains how Jesus, God’s chosen Servant, had a mission, not just to the chosen people Israel, but also to the whole world, as the light to the nations, bringing salvation to the ends of the earth.

Jesus, of course, was aware of the universal dimension of His vocation - while He concentrated on preaching the Gospel first to His own Jewish people, He also gradually and deliberately spread the good news to all nations.

As we meditate anew on the events of Holy Week, we thank God for His universal plan of salvation, that the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ effects, not just the people of that past time and place, but also our lives in this time and place - it’s sobering to realize that only the Jewish people were the original beneficiaries of revelation, but because of Christ, we share that great gift!