Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
January 18, 2021
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 110 where we are re-introduced to Melchizedek, the first priest mentioned in Genesis 14.
Psalm 110: 3-4
Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;
before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.”
The LORD has sworn, and will not repent:
“You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
And our two readings today show us Jesus, the one High Priest, through whom we are fully redeemed.
In the days when he was in the Flesh,
Hebrews 5: 7-9
Jesus offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears
to the one who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;
and when he was made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
It is so appropriate to consider the meaning of priesthood as we commemorate the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. In the image of Christ, Dr. King wore a chasuble of justice for our time.
A priest is one :
- who is set apart
- who mediates the Divine
- who bears witness
- who ministers
- who offers sacrifice
- who transforms through prophetic hope
As a Catholic priest vests with the chasuble for Mass, this prayer is said:
Domine, qui dixisti:
Jugum meum suave est et onus meum leve:
fac, ut istud portare sic valeam,
quod consequar tuam gratiam.
Lord, you have said:
My yoke is sweet and my burden is light.
Grant that I may carry your yoke well
so as to obtain your grace.
Indeed, Martin Luther King “carried the yoke well”
to obtain the grace of justice for all of us.
Poetry: two poems in which the poet, Margaret Walker, uses the persona of Amos the Prophet to describe Martin Luther King. One poem is written before, and one after, Dr. King’s assassination.
Amos, 1963 – Margaret Walker – 1914-1997
Amos is a Shepherd of suffering sheep;
A pastor preaching in the depths of Alabama
Preaching social justice to the Southland
Preaching to the poor a new gospel of love
With the words of a god and the dreams of a man
Amos is our loving Shepherd of the sheep
Crying out to the stricken land
“You have sold the righteous for silver
And the poor for a pair of shoes.
My God is a mighty avenger
And He shall come with His rod in His hand.”
Preaching to the persecuted and the disinherited millions
Preaching love and justice to the solid southern land
Amos is a Prophet with a vision of brotherly love
With a vision and a dream of the red hills of Georgia
“When Justice shall roll down like water
And righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Amos is our Shepherd standing in the Shadow of our God
Tending his flocks all over the hills of Albany
And the seething streets of Selma and of bitter Birmingham.
Amos (Postscript, 1968)
From Montgomery to Memphis he marches
He stands on the threshold of tomorrow
He breaks the bars of iron and they remove the signs
He opens the gates of our prisons.
He speaks to the captive hearts of America
He bares raw their conscience
He is a man of peace for the people
Amos is a Prophet of the Lord
Amos speaks through Eternity
The glorious Word of the Lord!
Music: American Dream – Bobby Womack
Lavish Mercy 