The King of Salem was a priest named Melchizedek. It was from him that the patriarch Abraham received a covenantal blessing. Salem means peace. Also David was instructed to settle his new capital at Jeru-Salem - the city of peace. Jerusalem has always been a sign of communion with God, a city of covenant, a place of encounter, a kind of earthly sign for heaven. Jerusalem is called by psalm 48, "true pole of the earth," and it can be said, especially from the first reading for Mass today, that there is a kind of gravitational pull, to bring all men to Jerusalem, to bring them into communion with the living God.
Listen to my homily for today:
If you have trouble listening, click here.
In the Gospel today, Jesus is headed toward Jerusalem, where he warned his disciples many times that he would suffer and die, and then rise on the third day. It is the place where he was going to bring about reconciliation and therefore communion of man with God the Father that had been broken by original sin. Because he is headed toward the city of God, toward the city of communion, some reject him.
Onc thing we must recognize is that God speaks to every heart, trying to pull them closer to himself. Figuratively speaking, everyone is a certain distance from Jerusalem. Our work is to try to bring them closer, and this is done by touching that conversation that he is already having with them and to try to move them a little bit closer to communion with him.
Our Lady helps us do this. She understands that this comes with a price, it comes with rejection, which happened to her and to her beloved Son. May her prayers and intercession aid us in bringing others closer to Jerusalem, to communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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