Last week the Church offered us the Books of the Maccabees for reflection. This week we are offered the book of Daniel that we rarely reflect on too. In the year 587 B.C the Babylonians took almost all the Jewish people from their homeland to captivity in Babylon. Under different Babylonian kings such as Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, the Jewish people suffered great abuse and persecution in exile but never abandoned their belief in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Today in Our First Reading we hear the Babylonian King Belshazzar threw an extravagant party for hundreds of his noble men, officers and their wives. There was plenty of wine, food and entertainment, as the crowd “praised their gods made of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone.” The scene painted is of power, self-indulgence, and carousing.
Human Pride on Display
Under the influence of alcohol, King Belshazzar ordered that even the gold and silver vessels that had been stolen from the Temple in Jerusalem be brought and be used in the profane feast.
The act of using the sacred vessels in profanity crossed a red line! It was sacrilegious, and an insult to the God of the heavens! Like a scene from a movie, the party came to an abrupt stop when a human hand with fingers appeared to be “writing on the wall” of the banquet hall. Everyone in the banquet hall saw a hand, writing on the wall. Fear replaced revelry. All were terrified, including the King.
At the heart of this reading is a divine confrontation of human pride. There are times when we human beings seem to be at the peak of human power, influence, economic success, career success, and talent success and we place ourselves above God or think we have become God himself! We are cautioned today that there comes a time when God “weighs” us on a scale and says, “enough is enough!” There comes a time when God is fed up with how we have used the gifts and blessings He has given us – not for His glory or service of others, but our own glory. There comes a time when God wants to wake us up from our delusion that He is dead, and we have now become God himself!
God's Authority Over Our Lives
Today we can ask ourselves: 1- In what ways can I become humbler before God and recognize His ultimate authority over my life? He is the one who controls my breath, every cell of my life, and every organ of my life. 2-In what ways can I place more trust in God instead of my personal gifts, influence, or material successes?
There is an African proverb that says, “A bird that flies off the earth and lands on an anthill or a tree, is still on the ground.” However much we think we have gone beyond God, He is still in charge of our lives.
May the grace of God heighten our awareness that -who we are, and what we will be - is all because of His grace. May His grace teach us wisdom and humility. May the celebration of Thanksgiving this week be an authentic dramatization of our humility that it is on God that we depend on and not our strengths; that it is His grace and not our human efforts, that we have come this far! Amen.
- Father Fred's inspirational homily was recorded live during Mass at the Father Peyton Center this morning. You can view the Mass (at the 30-minute mark) on the Family Rosary YouTube page.
- To join the Rosary and Mass Livestream, visit the Family Rosary YouTube or Facebook page at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, Monday – Friday. Consider inviting others to join too! (*If you are not a member of Facebook and a signup window appears, simply select the X at the top of the pop-up message and continue to the livestream.)
