These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of rushing water or a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. They were singing what seemed to be a new hymn before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. (Rev 14:1-3, 4b-5)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112524.cfm
More heavenly music and a new hymn before the Throne. What a liturgy for the Wedding Banquet of the Lamb! The hymns we grow up with give us the language and the music of faith and prayer.
So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." (Jn 18:33b-37)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112424.cfm
In a time like ours when political discourse and reason has been replaced by conspiracy theories and boldfaced lies, truth has become a rare commodity. But truth matters, as Jesus says. And today we are reminded that the one who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords is not the one who throws his weight around and claims executive privilege and power, but rather the one who testifies to the truth and dies on a Cross.
Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.” (Lk 20:27:-40)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112324.cfm
The Shakers were a non-Catholic religious group founded in 1747 by Mother Ann Lee. Originally founded in England, they moved to the United States in 1780’s. Ann Lee had a revelation that she was the second coming of the Messiah. She believed that this particular verse was fulfilled in her and so the Shaker community she founded was composed solely of celibate men and women, and of course, over time, they died out. The Virgin Mary teaches us that nothing is impossible for God.
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 119)
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
How sweet to my palate are your promises, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
R. How sweet to my taste is your promise!
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112224.cfm
Saint Cecilia, for the manner of her martyrdom, is the patron saint of musicians and singers. May God’s sweet praises pour forth always from our hearts. For those of a certain generation we remember today the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the hope of Camelot.
Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones. They sang a new hymn: “Worthy are you to receive the scroll and break open its seals, for you were slain and with your Blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on earth.” (Rev 5:1-10)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112124.cfm
As the liturgy of heaven continues, we get a new hymn praising the Lamb Who was Slain and proclaiming that we are now a kingdom of priests for our God. Today is the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple of Jerusalem, and we celebrate our share in the One Priesthood of her Son as we echo her hymn of praise.
