25th Week, Tuesday, Sept 26, Sts. Cosmas and Damian
Ezra 6:7-8, 12, 14-20 / Luke 8:19-21
The Jews rebuild Jerusalem; When it was rebuilt, they celebrated.
The Jews who returned to Jerusalem were heartsick at what they saw. The city and the Temple were destroyed beyond all recognition. Nevertheless, the people set to work to rebuild the city. Samaritans tried to block their efforts. At times the workmen found themselves building with one hand and fighting with the other. To add to the hardships, farm crops failed their first year back.
Finally, inspired by Ezra and Nehemiah, the Jews completed the work around 450 B.C. They renewed the covenant with the Lord and celebrated the Passover.
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How persevering are we when everything seems to go wrong for us? "The heights great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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The generation that has seen WWII is passing on. Those that had survived a war that is termed as a "World War" are in their twilight years with not much time remaining. Whether as a soldier or as a civilian during those years of turmoil, whether as a war veteran or as a survivor, they know what it was like and had a story to tell. But more than a story, it was an experience that bound them together, a blood-and-tears experience that is seared into the flesh and into the memory for the rest of their lives. In the 1st reading, when the exiles returned to their homeland, it was return to the desolation and devastation that they had seen 70 years before. Those that had known what the Temple was before the exile had an experience to share with the younger generation who had not seen that Temple before. But it was that experience that bound the exiles together to build the new Temple and to build up the nation again.
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After the enthusiastic return of the Jews from the exile, they soon fell apart into factions: almost all looked after their own interests first. Because they were not a real community, they could not achieve the reconstruction of their modest temple, for to do this, there had to be a community of faith. Finally, with prophets exhorting them, they could muster that degree of unity to finish the temple and to celebrate the Passover feast. Where we are a community, God is present, even without a temple or church.
Herod too, was puzzled about this man Jesus. He wanted to see this strange prophet about whom there were so many rumors. Does Jesus, the Gospel and life and our faith puzzle us? Are we in constant search of the deeper meaning of our Christian life?
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Prayer: God of the covenant, you are present where there are people who believe in you and who gather in your name. Gather us together from our dispersion of selfishness and overconcern about our petty interests, that we may be your people and the living temple of your presence in the midst of all people. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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Saints Cosmas and Damian
Feast day September 26
There are some saints of whom we know very little. People from all over the world may honour them. Shrines and churches may be built in their names. But the facts and details of their lives have faded from our memories or their stories may never have been recorded.
Cosmas and Damian are saints like these. Little is known about them except that they suffered martyrdom for their faith in Syria sometime during the persecutions of Diocletian (around 303). We may never know exactly what happened, but we do know that their witness to the faith was so strong that people turned to them for prayerful help and passed their story on to others.
Legends about these two saints abound. According to these stories, Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers, born in Arabia, who went to Syria to study and practice medicine. But they were concerned about more than healing bodies. They brought their belief in Christ to those to whom they ministered. Not only that, but they also served people without charging any fees. Lysias, the governor of Celicia, heard about these two brothers and he summoned them before him. When Cosmas and Damian proclaimed they were Christians, Lysias had them tortured and finally beheaded. Devotion to these two brothers grew, and many cures were said to have been worked through their intercessions. Later a church in their honour was constructed over the site of their burial. When the Emperor Justinian was sick, he prayed to Saints Cosmas and Damian for a cure. Out of gratitude for receiving this favour, he enlarged the city of Cyr and its church. Numerous other churches were erected for them at Constantinople and Rome. Their names are also included in the First Eucharistic Prayer.
If so little about these saints is actually known, why do we honour them? Part of the answer can be found in tradition. When so many believers continue to honour the memory of martyrs, year after year and all over the world, there is good reason to believe that their lives were true witnesses to the Gospel. People who live and die according to their convictions and faith give hope to the world long after their deaths. Their lives can inspire us and encourage us to be faithful during our little trials and sorrows.
