April 16, 2010
Friday of the Second Week of Easter
Reading 1 Acts 5:34-42
A Pharisee in the Sanhedrin named Gamaliel,
a teacher of the law, respected by all the people,
stood up, ordered the Apostles to be put outside for a short time,
and said to the Sanhedrin, “Fellow children of Israel,
be careful what you are about to do to these men.
Some time ago, Theudas appeared, claiming to be someone important,
and about four hundred men joined him, but he was killed,
and all those who were loyal to him
were disbanded and came to nothing.
After him came Judas the Galilean at the time of the census.
He also drew people after him,
but he too perished and all who were loyal to him were scattered.
So now I tell you,
have nothing to do with these men, and let them go.
For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin,
it will destroy itself.
But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them;
you may even find yourselves fighting against God.”
They were persuaded by him.
After recalling the Apostles, they had them flogged,
ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus,
and dismissed them.
So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin,
rejoicing that they had been found worthy
to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.
And all day long, both at the temple and in their homes,
they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the Christ, Jesus.
Jn 6:1-15 Gospel
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.
A large crowd followed him,
because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.
Jesus went up on the mountain,
and there he sat down with his disciples.
The Jewish feast of Passover was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
“Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little.”
One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people recline.”
Now there was a great deal of grass in that place.
So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
“Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted.”
So they collected them,
and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,
“This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.”
Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off
to make him king,
he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
…………..
Today we are concluding the second week of the Easter season, the most important in the Church year, And we are getting used to again hearing, praying and singing that special word “ALLELUIA”, in Hebrew “Hallelu-l-Yah” - Praise to God, which in proper Church Latin is Laus Tibi, Domine.
For another mark of the Easter season occurs today, a sure sign of the nearing end of the school year. Just 6 weeks away from becoming seniors, today our junior class will receive their Priory School rings, and so it is to them and for them I primarily speak this morning, although it applies to the rest of us too.
The rings the juniors will receive, like this one, are in fact signet rings, which makes them much more than just a piece of jewelry.
In the first reading ,we hear the wise advice of the Rabbi Gamaliel, whose sage advice was followed by the Sanhedrin. They turned the apostles loose in order to let God work through them or not. By their fruits they would know them.
The wise Rabbi Gamaliel was a teacher of St Paul,and was himself a student of the great Rabbi Hillel,the first to understand and explain the levels of meaning in scripture.
The wisdom of Rabbi Hillel, Rabbi Gamaliel and the other great Pharisaic rabbis are contained in an encyclopedic work called the Talmud. And the Talmud relates a story about King Solomon, the paragon of Wisdom, and his signet ring.
Because of his God given wisdom, and his signet ring, King Solomon had power over animals, spirits and demons and the power to speak with them. His ring, you see, represented this wisdom, and was inscribed with not only his sign, the Seal of Solomon we know as the Star of David, but also with the Tetragrammaton, the all-powerful personal name of God, and that other name of God…Truth, the source of all wisdom.
In the building of the temple, Solomon used his power to bind AshmaDaeva, the King of Demons we hear of in the book of Tobit, and demonstrated how the power of God could bring good forth from evil as the demon cut the stones that built the temple. But eventually Solomon fell victim to his own pride and believed he could subdue the King of Demons by himself, and so his ring was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a fish.
Ringless and wisdomless, Solomon was powerless over Ashmadaeva, who took Solomon’s place as king for 3 years, while Solomon wandered the earth as a beggar to repent for his sins of pride, excess and luxury.
Eventually Solomon became a lowly cook, and after three years, while preparing a dinner for a king, Solomon found his ring in the belly of a fish he cut open. The signet ring bearing the powerful name of God was once again Solomons, And he returned to Jerusalem and deposed the demon king. Solomon had to learn he could not be wise on his own.
That word “signet’ has the meaning of sign; So the signet ring is a sign of something.
Mere possession of a signet ring transferred all the power and authority of the one whose sign was on the ring to the one wearing it. In the case of Solomon, as king he stood in for God, whose sacred name was on the ring, with power, authority and wisdom on earth, God being the source of those blessings.
Today you Juniors will receive the ring which bears the sign and seal of Saint Louis Priory School. As I said moments ago, you are 6 weeks away from completing this junior year, which is definitely the hardest year of our program, and to complete this year successfully, as you are about to, makes a great public statement to all of us and to our community, about your personal character, your integrity, your wisdom, your hard work and your virtue. You will truly have earned the ring you receive today.
And as a class, the class of 2011, you are making a powerful statement of your loyalty and devotion to each other and to this school.
In the book of Sirach it says: (Sir. 17:17 ) “A man’s goodness God cherishes like a signet ring, a man’s virtue, like the apple of his eye.” The signet ring is cherished by the one whose sign it bears and who gives it, and by the one who receives it and wears it.
I have told the story many times of the seniors of the class of 2000 who lost a ring in digging the Field Day mudpit. And how every year we hear from graduates of prior years
ho lost their rings and want to replace them.
These lost rings were not rings like Solomon’s with special powers, just Priory senior class rings, signet rings.
What makes such a ring so special, that it should be cherished, that two eighteen year olds swim in the mud for hours to find it, that graduates now at prestigious universities
ould want our ring back on their fingers ?
The signet ring is made to leave an 3 dimensional impression, an impression to effect the meaning it symbolizes. If you think that sounds vaguely like the definition of a sacrament, you are right. The signet ring is a secular sacramental. It is a sign that the wearer possesses the power of whatever the impression signifies. And this is not just something from ancient history.
We see this upon the death of a Pope. Upon the death of Pope John Paul II, his ring, the Fisherman’s ring of St Peter, was destroyed, to show that no man then had the authority & power that he had. And upon his election, Pope Benedict XVI received a new ring of St Peter, fitted to his hand, to show that he alone now had that authority.
Again we hear in the Gospel, on the return of the prodigal son, the proud and happy father ordered his servants, “Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger.” The ring meant that son was once again an heir of the loving father.
Now you are the new heirs, the new senior class-to-be of Priory, the ones chosen by us as worthy to wear our ring. But you also have chosen to receive it and accept all that it means
The Priory ring leaves the impression of the Priory coat of arms and our motto, Laus Tibi Domine.
You and I and the world have the right to assume that the Priory student or graduate who wears this ring, whether he is here on campus, away at college, on the job or partying with friends fully embodies the meaning & values & virtues and honor of this school & community.
That is why it is our custom that you wear your ring with the signet facing inwards until you graduate, so that for the next year, every time you look at your hand you will see our arms and our motto and be reminded...that is what you are to present to the world and that is to represent you.
The seniors and you who are just a few weeks away from being seniors wear our ring and are truly known by this ring because you are our chosen ones, the best we have here, the product of your own hard work and of the education you have received in this place the product of the work of monks, faculty, staff, parents, benefactors and friends. With this ring you have an army behind you.
And when you graduate and turn the shield and motto around to face the world just as you begin to face the world, then the world will know you by the character, the personal authority and integrity you have built here under the power of these symbols.
You wear this ring because you … juniors and seniors…are heirs of the Priory Tradition.
That tradition is summed up in the impression the ring makes.
Our coat of arms shows the waves of the Thames River, on whose banks is Westminster Abbey, to which we trace our English Benedictine origin; The English Benedictine congregation is the oldest congregation in the most ancient of the Church’s religious orders. It indicates our faithful adherence to eternal and enduring truth, to the truth of faith certainly, but to all truth, for all truth is of God.
The single flower is the rose of York, sign of the Virgin Mary. And York is the sight of Ampleforth Abbey, which founded The Priory School, & from where Fr. Luke, Fr Timothy, Fr Paul, Fr Ralph and Fr Finbarr came, and where Fr Laurence and Fr Benedict made their novitiate. That rose indicates our loyalty & relationship through our mother Mary and our mother the Church, to family, friends and to each other, all those relationships which we celebrate and cement in this Eucharist.
The three fleures de lis are the symbol of St Louis of France, and so of our own city of St Louis and this civic community. They indicate not just our location but our dedication to service of our civic community and our local Church, just as Saint Louis so well served his people and church that he rose to sainthood though it.
Our motto “Praise to you, O Lord” means that we know where we should stand in relationship to God and what our obligation to Him is. We praise him for his gifts, especially his gift of life, and the gift of faith, of knowing revealed truth. We praise him for our gifts of intellect, talent, opportunity and freedom, and we praise Him with our lives. And especially this morning we praise Him in this Eucharist. Together, not on our own, we gather our fragmented lives together so that by the power of God nothing will be wasted and all things great and small give Him praise.
After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galillee, in the same area in which he multiplied those loaves and fishes. Jesus told the tired, frustrated apostles “Cast your net over the side of the boat, and you will catch something.” No matter that you didn’t catch anything before. And just as he miraculously multiplied loaves and fishes on land, He provided a miraculous catch of fish from an empty sea.
We are here in this world to offer to God our humble and few loaves and fishes so that he can make them increase. We are all here in this world to cast our nets and see what God fills them with.
This upcoming year for you Seniors to be will largely be devoted to discovering where to cast your nets next. If we listen (you will doubtlessly remember that that is the first word of St Benedict’s rule)…If we listen for where God tells us to cast our individual nets, we will indeed catch miracles of happiness in our lives. And that is what we are about here at Priory, learning how and where to find and how to make miracles.
So that ring around your finger sums up in a circle of metal the six years you spend here,
and sets for you an ideal to follow for the rest of your lives. It means a lot, and that is why the seniors in 2000 combed through the mud for three hours. And that is why when those graduates at prestigious universities lost their rings, they had to purchase another.
We are all proud and happy that you juniors , the class of 2011, OUR class of 2011, will wear this ring.
May you be proud to wear it, May the world know you by it.
May you embody all that it signifies, and may you receive every blessing it promises.
By the LORD has this been done;
it is wonderful in our eyes.
O LORD, grant salvation!
O LORD, grant success!
Alleluia! Laus Tibi Domine.
THE BLESSING OF THE CLASS RINGS
Almighty and ever-living God, we ask you to bless † these rings and those who will wear them.
May they be for them a sign of their unity with one another and of solidarity with all those
who make up the long tradition of Benedictine life we celebrate in our heritage.
Bless all the members of this class of 2011. May their rings serve as a reminder
of your ever-present love and care for them.
Through the intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever-Virgin, and Saint Louis, our patrons,
may the members of this class always know your blessing and grace in their lives.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen
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