Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
THE MEMORIAL OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Cycle C
Readings:
Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19
Psalm 74:1b-7, 20-21
Luke 2:41-51
Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments. That is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: Finding God
The Church celebrates the Memorial
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the Saturday after the Solemnity of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and
the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are family celebrations of God's
generous love for His covenant children. The First Letter of St. John tells us
that "God is Love" (1 Jn 4:8). God is the author of life, and His deep and
abiding love gives value and purpose to every human life. St. Louis Grignion
de Montfort spread the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in France in
the 18th century to encourage Catholics to turn to the love of the
Mother of Christ, who is also the mother of all Christians. He called all
Christians to accept her comfort and her son's promise that salvation is a gift
of God open to all members of the human family. Mary of Nazareth opened her
heart to God and fulfilled His divine plan to bring the Redeemer-Messiah to
humanity. Now you must find Jesus, give Him a place in your heart, and let Him
lead you on the path to eternal salvation.
In the First Reading, Lamentations, Chapter 2 urges the sinful people of the holy city of Jerusalem (the virgin daughter of Zion) and her leaders to repent their many sins and appeal to the mercy of God. The Virgin Mary is the faithful sinless Virgin of Zion.
In the Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist laments the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple by the Babylonians in 587 BC. He tries to understand why the tragedy occurred, asking God "why" He visited His wrath upon His covenant people and urging God to forgive and redeem His people.
In the Gospel Reading, after visiting Jerusalem for the festivals of Passover and Unleavened Bread, Joseph and Mary discovered Jesus was missing from the returning caravan. They immediately returned to Jerusalem and found Him at the Temple, conversing with the teachers of the Law. This event was Jesus's first public teaching. His last public teaching would take place the last week of His life in the same location, teaching in the Jerusalem Temple.
The First Reading Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19 ~ Yahweh's
Wrath and Zion's Ruin
2 The Lord has devoured without pity all of Jacob's
dwellings; in his fury, he has razed daughter Judah's defenses, has brought to
the ground in dishonor a kingdom and its princes. [...] 10 The elders of daughter
Zion sit silently on the ground; they cast dust on their heads and dress in
sackcloth; the young women of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground. 11 My
eyes are spent with tears, my stomach churns; my bile is poured out on the
ground at the brokenness of the daughter of my people, as children and infants collapse
in the streets of the town. 12 They cry out to their mothers, "Where is bread
and wine?" As they faint away like the wounded in the streets of the city, as
their life is poured out in their mothers' arms. 13 To what can I compare you—to
what can I liken you—O daughter of Jerusalem? What example can I give in order
to comfort you? 14 Your prophets provided you visions of whitewashed illusion.
They did not lay bare your guilt, in order to restore your fortunes; they saw
for you only oracles of empty deceit. [...] 18 Cry out to the Lord from your
heart, wall of daughter of Zion! Let your tears flow like a torrent day and
night; give yourself no rest, no relief for your eyes. 19 Rise up! Wail in the night,
at the start of every watch. Pour out your heart like water before the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who collapse from
hunger at the corner of every street.
The sinful actions and covenant disobedience of the people of Judah unleashed Yahweh's wrath (Lamentations Chapter 1). The second lamentation cries out for God's mercy. Judah was willingly misled by false prophets and failed leaders (verse 14), while they ignored true prophets like Jeremiah. Therefore, God used the Babylonians as His instrument of divine judgment when they destroyed Solomon's Temple and Jerusalem in 587 BC. Too late, the people mourned their sins, wearing sackcloth and ashes as signs of repentance (verse 10).
However, the inspired writer tells the people that God listens when they call out to Him and urges them to "cry out to the Lord from your heart" and "lift up your hands" in prayer. He calls upon the people to repent their sins and give sincere prayer as a possible remedy to their plight (CCC 2110-2114, 2811).
Notice that the inspired writer repeatedly uses the phrase "daughter of Zion." Zion was the original name for the citadel of Jerusalem from the time of the Jebusites before the conquest of the city by King David (2 Sam 5:6-9). Later it was applied to the mountain on which the city was built and the city itself (Ps 2:6; 147:12; Is 1:27). Allegorically, it was also understood as the Kingdom of Heaven (Heb 12:22; Rev 14:1). See the document "Zion and the Presence of God."
"Daughter of Zion" became a term for the covenant people consecrated as the pure Bride of Yahweh. It appears in Psalm 9:14 and frequently in the books of the prophets (i.e., Is 1:8; 10:32; 16:1; 37:22; 52:2; 62:11; Jer 4:31; 6:2; Mic 4:10, 13, etc.). Unfortunately, the city of Jerusalem and the covenant people continually failed in their role as the unblemished "daughter of Zion." But there was one who lived up to the title: the Virgin Mary, the sinless spouse of the Holy Spirit who bore God the Son, humanity's Savior.
Responsorial Psalm 74:1b-7, 20-21 ~ The People Lament the
Destruction of Solomon's Temple by the Babylonians and Call Upon God'
Response: Lord, forget not the souls of Your poor ones.
1b Why, God, have you cast us off forever? Why does your anger burn against the sheep of your pasture? 2 Remember your people, whom you acquired of old, the tribe you redeemed as your own heritage, Mount Zion where you dwell.
Response:
3 Direct your steps toward the utter destruction, everything the enemy laid waste in the sanctuary. 4 Your foes roared triumphantly in the place of your assembly; they set up their own tokens of victory. 5 They hacked away like a forester gathering boughs, swinging his ax in a thicket of trees.
Response:
6 They smashed all its engraved work, struck it with ax and pick.
7 They set your sanctuary on fire, profaned your name's abode by razing it to the ground.
Response:
20 Look to your covenant, for the recesses of the land are full of the haunts of violence. 21 Let not the oppressed turn back in shame; may the poor and needy praise your name.
Response:
Psalm 74 is a lament written not long after the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple by the Babylonians in 587 BC. The psalmist tried to understand why the tragedy occurred, asking God "why" He visited His wrath upon His covenant people. Mount Zion in verse 2 refers to where the Temple stood as the dwelling place of Yahweh among His covenant people. He urges the Lord to remember the covenant He made with His people and asks Him to restore the land and the people so they can once again praise His name.
The Gospel of Luke 2:41-51 ~ Finding the Boy Jesus Teaching
in the Temple
41 Each year, his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast
of Passover, 42 and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to
festival custom. 43 After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44
Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for
him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 but not finding him, they
returned to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in
the Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking
them questions, 47 and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding
and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his
mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have
been looking for you with great anxiety." 49 And he said to them, "Why were you
looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" 50 But
they did not understand what he said to them. 51 He went down with them and
came to Nazareth and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things
in her heart.
The God-ordained feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread took place in the early spring. The feasts were a memorial of the Exodus redemption that the covenant faithful relived every year, remembering God's mighty works on behalf of the children of Israel (Ex Chapter 12; Lev 23:4-14; Num 28:16-25). The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 15-21st) began at sundown on the day of the Passover sacrifice. It was one of the three "pilgrim feasts" in which every man of the covenant who was thirteen years and older was required to appear before God's altar with his sacrifices (Ex 23:14-17; 34:18-23; Dt 16:16-17; 2 Chron 8:13). In the first century AD, the Jews celebrated the two feasts as though they were one 8-day feast, referring to them as either "the Passover" or "Unleavened Bread" (Mk 14:12; Lk 22:7). It was a joyous time, and even though only male members of the covenant were required to attend, it was not uncommon for entire families to make the journey to Jerusalem, like the Holy Family on this occasion.
The Jewish Talmud defines thirteen years as the borderline for fulfilling the law. Still, it was common for parents to bring twelve-year-old sons on the pilgrimage to familiarize them with what would become a duty the following year. At the end of the eight days, when His parents left with the caravan to return to Galilee, they discovered that Jesus was missing. He was missing for three days in Jerusalem (verse 46), just as He will be missing on the three days between His crucifixion and Resurrection twenty-one years later. "Finding" Jesus on the third day prefigures His resurrection appearance and continued visitations with His disciples for 40 days between Resurrection Sunday and His Ascension.
When Joseph and Mary discovered Jesus was missing, they immediately returned to Jerusalem and found Him at the Temple, conversing with the teachers of the Law. This event was Jesus's first public teaching. His last public teaching would take place the last week of His life in the same location, teaching in the Jerusalem Temple.
As time passed and Jesus grew, His parents may have begun to take for granted His divine mission that an angel from God revealed to them before He was born (Lk 1:26-33; Mt 1:18-21). This episode reminded them that their son was the Son of God. He knew His divine identity and understood His divinely ordained destiny. Jesus's response to Joseph and Mary in verse 49, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" is the first evidence in Scripture that Jesus was conscious of being "the Son of God," as He confirms in Joseph's presence that God is His Father. This acknowledgment in no way diminishes Joseph's important role in Jesus' life as His foster father and protector.
"51 He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them, and his mother kept all these things in her heart." Jesus traveled down from the mountains of Judea and returned home to Nazareth in Galilee with his parents. He was obedient to the commandment to honor His parents according to the Law (Ex 20:12; Dt 5:16). That Mary "kept all these things in her heart" means that she contemplated the significance of these events. She meditated on the events regarding her role in salvation history that the angel Gabriel revealed to her at the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38). She also must have thought of the suffering she and her son must endure that St. Simeon prophesized at baby Jesus's Temple presentation (Lk 2:25-35). And, she must have contemplated what was likely to unfold in the future, according to the teachings of the prophets with which she was familiar (Is 52:13-53:12; Jer 23:5-7; Ez 34:23-25). Her thoughtful contemplation shows her appreciation for God's divine plan and her continuing part in that plan as Jesus's mother. Mary would have understood that she was the fulfillment of prophecy:
This was the destiny for which Mary had been conceived without sin as the mother of the sinless Redeemer-Messiah. Mary fulfilled God's divine plan to bring the Redeemer-Messiah to humanity. She gave her sinless heart to God, so you could give your heart to God the Son and receive forgiveness for your sins. Now you must find Jesus, give Him your heart, and allow Him to be a continuing presence in your life.
Catechism References (* indicates Scripture either
quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Luke 2:41-51 (CCC 534*);
2:41 (CCC 583*);
2:46-49 (CCC 583*);
2:48-49 (CCC 503*);
2:49 (CCC 2599);
2:51 (CCC 517*, 531, 2196, 2599*)
The Virgin Mary:
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2022; Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.