Morning Devotion for the Season of Advent
Wednesday December 1, 2021
The Invitatory
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.
Amen.
Our king and Savior now draws near; Come let us adore him.
Reading: Matthew 21:23-27
When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
Meditation – Michael Palmisano
Another excellent rhetorical trap by the cunning Jesus. Throughout the gospels He is repeatedly portrayed as the one who offers no defense for Himself. His responses to our human actions have the dual effect of confirming that He is the infinite Creator incarnate and that we are the finite creatures, destined to reject the greatest Good. However, the “challenge dialogue” above is particularly fascinating to me. It is itself a tangled web of divine agency, authority, and recognition. If John’s baptism came from heaven, then was Jesus’ own baptism a divine redundancy? A double consecration? If it was of human origin, then what place does baptism in general occupy in religious practice?
Ultimately, it’s an impossible task to dissect the rituals, particularly the sacramental rituals, of the Church. They are the great mysteries of our embodied faith. However, we can be fairly certain that Baptism and Eucharist – the Dominical sacraments (instituted and encouraged by our Lord) – are in some way uniquely vital to the life of the Church. But, where have the other five sacraments – Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination, Reconciliation, and Unction – arisen? Are they of divine or of human origin? How do sacraments come to “mean?”
There are certain practices of the Church that have undoubtedly originated from the gradual tug of human necessity, desire, and circumstance. Would it be fair to suggest that these human-born rituals can unbrokenly communicate something of the divine? I would say so. Over time our rituals and deliberate words, prayers, and actions are encoded with a meaning greater than they once were – they effect a world not formerly present to us. For instance, a man-made building is sanctified and envisioned as a “church” by the prayers offered within it. The walls of our own parish are saturated and made holy by the prayers of believers who came before us.
Sacraments and other Church rituals are of similar effect. What makes them “divine” is what (and where) they point us towards. As liturgist Ronald Grimes says, our rituals have a “transcendent frame of reference,” they always point beyond themselves. Some rituals in the Church may be of human origin but they are not fully determined by human beings. In some mysterious way, the rituals, prayers, and sacraments of the Church draw us into a vision of the world as God envisions it might be. They give us a glimpse of the One who unabashedly offers no defense for Himself, but rather unrestrainedly gives Himself to us.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Prayer
Eternal God, the heaven of heavens cannot contain you, much less the walls of temples made with hands. Graciously receive our thanks for our places of worship, and accept the work of our hands, offered to your honor and glory. Amen.
