Word to the Wise
Saturday, November 4, 2023 - Saturday in the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 11:1-2a, 11-12, 25-29 and Luke 14:1, 7-11]In respect to the Gospel, they are enemies on your account; but in respect to election, they are beloved because of the patriarch. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. [Romans]
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2023 ST. CHARLES BORROMEO
In today's first scripture, St. Paul shows his concern for the Jewish faith that he has rejected (at least insofar as the Mosaic Law was concerned). He is confident that God, who chose them as an instrument of salvation, will find a way to keep them in his mercy. The Second Vatican Council, in its groundbreaking document, Nostra aetate, firmly rejects any form of anti-semitism and declares it to be sinful. Subsequent Vatican documents have followed up on this, among other things, saying that we Christians (Catholics, at least) should not try to "convert" Jews.
In our country, at least, there have been some terrible acts of anti-semitism which cannot be justified under any Christian standards. The terrible history of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany should remind us of what happens when anti-semitism becomes part of political policy!!! The current conflict between the state of Israel and the Palestinians, especially Hamas, rests ultimately on an interpretation of God's promises to Abraham and Moses! This will never be resolved in the violence that has occurred in that part of the world that Christian, Jew and Muslim all regard as holy. St. Paul writes: "For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable," but we humans continue to fight over who is gifted and called! I invite all my readers to join me in praying for a lasting peace in the Holy Land. AMEN