Our actions have long-lasting consequences. God’s actions are eternal.
Both the first reading and the Gospel give us a little insight into this mystery – which remains mysterious in the midst of every new challenge we face.
In the first reading today, the Lord calls Cyrus “my Anointed.” The Hebrew word for Anointed gives rise to the tile “Messiah”, or in Greek “Christ.” The Lord says of Cyrus, “I have called you by your name, giving you a title, though you knew me not.” Cyrus was not an Israelite, and did not worship the God of Israel. Yet God says that he is at work in Cyrus, even if Cyrus is unaware of this.
Cyrus was a great conqueror of nations who, rather than wiping out their cultures, took from each of them things that would be useful to govern his vast and diverse empire.
When Cyrus defeated the Babylonians, he sent the Israelites back from their exile to rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem. Cyrus was seeking to maintain his rule; the Lord worked through Cyrus to restore his people.
Long before, when Israel went into exile in Babylon, the Lord instructed them through Jeremiah to settle in the land, to prosper and thrive there until he would bring them back to their own land. Through their exile and through their restoration, God is showing that he is accomplishing his work, even as we seek to accomplish ours.
In the Gospel, Jesus confronts the malice of the Pharisees and Herodians who seek to entrap him. He knows the intention of their hearts, yet he still appeals to them to draw their hearts back to God. They have their plan, and God has his plan.
God accomplishes his eternal will. But we have the opportunity at every moment to be not only unwitting or unwilling instruments of his will. He invites us at every moment to freely embrace his will and give ourselves over to his eternal plan.
Working and praying to maintain peace in these times of conflict – peace in our hearts, our homes, families and communities – may not get us into the news. But it will make us willing and conscious participants, like the Virgin Mary and the saints, instruments of God’s eternal will for the salvation of the world in Jesus Christ.
-Fr. Tom
