Thursday, November 22, 2012

33rd Week, Ordinary Time, Friday, 23-11-12

Apocalypse 10:8-11 / Luke 19:45-48

There is a local dish that is probably of Chinese origin called sweet and sour pork. It is a savoury dish as the meat has a distinct taste of being sweetish and a bit sourish at the same time.

In the 1st reading, the scroll certainly isn't referring to any particular dish although John refers to eating it and tasted sweet in the mouth and turned sour in the stomach.

The scroll is a symbol of the revelation of God about the judgement of the world when the time comes, and John has to prophesy the message of the judgement of God.

The sweet-sour taste of the scroll can have several meanings. One could be that there will be the coming judgement of God and yet there will be mercy.

Another could be that the Church would have to suffer persecution but there is also God's promise of salvation.

Yet it message is not just for the world but also for the Church.

In the gospel we heard of Jesus cleansing the Temple, saying that the Temple is God's house of prayer and yet the people have turned it into a robbers' den.

That should also remind us that the Church is where people gather to pray and to experience the sweetness of God's love. The Church is a sign of God's saving love.

May we never cause any scandal within the Church and turn it into a sour and bitter taste for others.

More importantly, may we ourselves taste and see the goodness of the Lord and share it with others.