Almost every Scripture reading and prayer in today\’s Liturgy speaks of all the nations seeing the salvation of God. Let\’s examine the entrance antiphon:
People of Zion, behold the Lord will come
to save the nations,
and the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard,
to the joy of your hearts.
Augustine wrote that \”Peace is the tranquility of order.\” We see in the universe an astounding order to things. When God began the work of redemption there is also a refined order. He chose specific people and events to set this work in motion. From the choice of Abraham and the patriarchs, God founded the Jewish people.
As this people grew, especially in their self-identity, they came to believe they were the only ones to be saved because they had the divine revelation–the promises, covenants and laws. But in the course of time God raised up a great prophet, Isaiah. Part of his message was to correct the people\’s myopic vision of salvation and to expand it to a universal salvation. God\’s gifts of redemption are open to everyone who responds to his call. God chose the Jewish people, the people of Zion, in order to bring all other nations to a love and knowledge of the one true God.
From the chosen Jewish people came Christ the Lord, the salvation of the nations. Thus, following their elder siblings in faith, the Church, the new people of Zion, carry on and extend this mission of proclaiming God\’s love to all the nations.
We have been given the tremendous gift of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a secret to hoard, but an experience of love to share. Blessed John Paul II once said that \”faith is strengthened when it is shared.\” We also owe a profound debt of gratitude to the Jewish people for their fidelity to God\’s covenant through many trials. All people are called to live in peace and brotherhood in the family of God and to worship him together in peace!
Dominican Life on Lotus Lane 