31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Deu 6:2-6
Heb 7:23-28
Mk 12:28-34
…but this one, because he remains forever, can never lose his priesthood.
The Twelve Apostles in Australia are a collection of massive limestone stacks off the coast of the Great Ocean Road. These amazing geological formations were formed by erosion of the original limestone surface of the land and have existed between 15 to 5 million years ago. Meanwhile, over in Thessaly, Greece, enormous columns of sandstone and conglomerate rock rise up from the ground at the UNESCO heritage site, Meteora. These magnificent geological features have many great Greek Orthodox monasteries built atop them since the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. Cave excavations there have also found human activity, apparently dating back 50,000 years.
Having been to both these ancient formations, I am always in awe and wonder who has stood in this same spot before me admiring the view? What was this coast or mountain like before? In the light of the earth’s history, what does ‘forever’ mean, when each of us has a mere lifetime of 70 to 90 years?
In the first reading of Deuteronomy today, Moses spoke to the wandering Israelites and reminded them of their duty to love and obey the Lord: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” God is also “the God of your fathers” and not just of the present moment. This immutable nature of God is recalled throughout the readings today, as Jesus continues the same teachings, in response to the scribe who asked him which was the greatest of all commandments.
“The Lord our God is Lord alone!” Jesus proclaims. He repeats the first commandment to love God with all of one’s being. However, Jesus also adds on that the second most important is to love our neighbour as oneself. Indeed, looking at the chaotic state of our world today, and the arc of history, we cannot pretend that we have managed to love each other well all of the time. Indeed, each of us has often fallen short – in our personal and public lives.
None of us exists within a vacuum. Each of us is part of a continuum of lives collectively existing throughout history. We come from our families, and then we form families, who will continue to live on after we are gone. Therefore, we have to be extremely aware of how our lives impact those around us and those who come after us. As parents, our faith lives will continue living on in our children’s and grandchildren’s lives.
What faith legacy am I leaving behind? Christ’s priesthood lives on forever and ever because he is the Son of God. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow – just as His heavenly Father is the same through all eternity. No matter what trials and inter-generational wounds we carry, Christ can break those chains up and down the generations because he was there throughout time – even more ancient that those wondrous geological formations we can see with our eyes.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Debbie Loo)
Prayer: Lord heavenly Father, I surrender everything into your mighty and unchanging power. Heal me and my loved ones of the afflictions that have flowed through generations.
Thanksgiving: Praise be to Jesus Christ who is our fortress of hope, horn of salvation and shield of faith – ever-loving, ever-forgiving, forever unchanging.
OXYGEN 
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