Why did God order feasts?

 

Feasts remind us of God’s love and care for us.

Reflection on Today’s Readings, Friday of 17th Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, and the Memorial of St. John Mary Vianney, August 4th, 2023
Texts: Leviticus 23:1.4-11.15-16.27.34-37; Psalm 81:3-6,10-11; Matthew 13:54-58 

Today’s first reading speaks of some feasts that God commanded the people to observe. We have to know that every Mass is a feast of the Lord. Every Sunday is a day of solemn assembly in which there shall be no laborious work. One of the questions that comes to mind today is this: Why did God order feasts?  Perhaps, for His own good and pleasure because the feasts centre on His marvels and glory. It cannot be so because the deeds only show His love for us and the goodness He has in Himself.  

We could also think that God order feasts for our joy and reconciliation with one another. This is because feast often comes with joy and reconciliation. However, God wills our joy and reconciliation but it is only meaningful if they come from the essence of the feast. Feast is a period of joy and reconciliation but their source is the meaning of the feast. We miss the point when the joy and reconciliation come from leisure and seeing one another.  

The feasts celebrate God’s love and goodness towards us

The essence of feast is the preservation and acknowledgement of God’s deeds and glory. Whenever we celebrate Holy Eucharist, our joy and reconciliation should come from the love of God revealed in paschal mysteries. The feasts celebrate God’s love and goodness towards us. The feasts are therefore periods to reflect on God’s deeds and love for us. There are present in feasts the materials for reflection on God’s deeds and love.  

Feast brings to life in our time and space the past events. We become participants in the events as we celebrate them. Hence, they enkindle and strengthen faith, love and hope in God. They remind us of God’s love and care for us. Hence, God tells us that on those days there shall be no laborious work. This is to prevent worldly cares from taking our times for devotional practices. Feasts are needed for spiritual growth and advancement.  

They are not celebrations of worldly things or man

They are feasts of the Lord not because God commanded them but because they celebrate God’s deeds and glory. Such feasts honour and glorify God. They are not celebrations of worldly things or man. This has often been the case for some of us. Such celebrations neither honour nor glorify God. This has often made the feasts meaningless and fruitless. 

Today we hear that the people found the teaching of Jesus astonishing. It shows the people that His teaching is of God. The psalm says, “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes (118:23). The deeds of the Lord are astonishing so as to draw us to Himself. This happens when we are minds are full of love and admiration. If our minds are filled with prejudice and biases, we will take offence and deny ourselves of benefits. The people of Jesus’ countrymen took offence at Him because of their prejudice and bias.

The  memorial of St. John Mary Vianney

Today is the memorial of St. John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests. “He was the son of a peasant farmer, and a slow and unpromising candidate for the priesthood: he was eventually ordained on account of his devoutness rather than any achievement or promise” (Universalis).  

He is a testimony that it is not about achievement or being promising in the sight of men. It is about devoutness. He was not promising in the sight of men but promising in God’s sight. “He was a noted preacher, and a celebrated confessor: such was his fame, and his reputation for insight into his penitents’ souls and their futures ... The tens of thousands of people who came to visit this obscure parish priest turned Ars into a place of pilgrimage” (Universalis). We can be saints like him by our devout life.   

Prayer  

Almighty and merciful God, who made the Priest Saint John Vianney wonderful in his pastoral zeal, grant, we pray, that through his intercession and example we may in charity win brothers and sisters for Christ and attain with them eternal glory. Amen (Collect)  

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke