Week 25 Monday (Year 1)

Readings: Ezra 1.1-6; Psalm 125/126; Luke 8.16-18

The Irish comedian Dave Allen gave a lot of attention to religion, in particular to Catholicism, and some of his sketches are still among the funniest on the topic. In considering religion, his attitude seems to have been more puzzlement and curiosity than anger. And he ended each of his performances with the words 'may your god go with you'.

Dave Allen would be amused, I presume, to be compared with Cyrus, King of Persia, who also encouraged the Jews of his empire to return to their homes in Jerusalem, 'their god going with them'. We read about it in the first reading today, where there is an interesting combination of the universal with the particular.

Cyrus had whatever religion he had but he becomes the instrument of the Lord, the God of Israel, in fulfilling words spoken through the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah. Within a few lines we see the Lord described as 'the God of heaven', for whom a house is to be re-built in Jerusalem, and as the God of a particular people, now free to return with 'their god' after their years in exile. All the people of Cyrus's empire, whatever their race or creed, are instructed to help the Jewish people to return and to re-establish themselves in Jerusalem.

One of the great achievements of the prophets like Jeremiah was to teach the people that the Lord - their own local, tribal, God - was not just that but was also God of heaven and earth, the God of all peoples, the Creator of all and the Redeemer of all. And yet God's purpose in the world and in the world's history would still be 'localised', embodied in a particular people worshipping in a particular temple in a particular city. It is as if the returning people are a sacrament, a sign, of the universal presence and purpose of God, the city of Jerusalem itself sacramental and likewise the temple and the rituals enacted therein. It is already 'the Church of God', therefore, this particular people God chose as his own but for a purpose that includes all humanity.

The city and its temple are set on that hill to be lights shining for all who come within their radiance. The mystery hidden from before all the ages - this is how Saint Paul will speak of it - is being revealed definitively and fully through the person, words and actions of Jesus Christ. All will become visible, all will be known: this is how Jesus speaks in today's gospel.

But with this warning: be careful how you hear this, how you understand your place in the story. The particularity can block the universality just as the universality can smother the particularity. But if you 'have' this in the right way - that is in the way of 'not having', since all is God's - then you will have even more, you will see even more. If you fail to 'have' this in the correct way then your hold on it will dissolve completely.

So remember the promise you have received and the particular people with whom you are to live towards this promise. But remember also that it is a promise to be fulfilled not just for that particular people but for all people, for Cyrus, king of Persia, as much as for Jeremiah, prophet in Israel, or for Paul, apostle of the Gentiles. Fulfilled also we hope, by God's grace, for Dave Allen: may God surprise him by welcoming him into the Jerusalem above which is our mother.