Pork rinds, figs and the feast of St Bart 8/24
The Priest who made a nation Weep
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Jerusalem — Early AM, 5th Century B.C. The wind carried its dust like old memories, swirling around the destroyed city walls. The priest and prophet Ezra felt it sting his eyes as he climbed the crumbling steps of—what used to be—the city square. Abruptly, the people and animals behind him stopped their grueling march. Thousands of them—sun baking their shoulders—stood in a silence as thick as invisible clay.
- After 70 years of Babylonian banishment, these souls returned home to absolute destruction. Cyrus, the Persian who recently conquered Babylon; freed them.
- They stood in the temple ashes where their priests were martyred and identities had been shattered. Then, they were rounded up and marched off into uncertainty.
- Some were born in exile and had never heard the Law read aloud.
- All these dusty souls represented a nation returning to their homes. Instead, they found a ghetto in ruins, which fractured every remaining memory.
- These people feared God. Some felt abandoned and neglected.
Unsure what to do next, the Ezra unrolled a scroll. The parchment crackled like dry leaves, as he read aloud. His words sliced through the shimmering heat: “covenant … mercy … return.” Children pressed against their mothers. Old men bowed their heads as the air smelled of ripe figs from distant fruit wagons and market stalls.
“Bless the Lord, the great God,” Ezra announced, as his voice cut through the heat. And the people answered with a roar across the temple remains: “Amen.”
They stood, trembling. A woman near the front began to sob, then shudder uncontrollably. Then another. The whole crowd wept. Their tears turned the dust wet beneath their feet. Ezra felt his own throat tighten. Was it despair? No, this was relief and—opportunity. He lifted his hands in joy.
“Do not mourn in sadness,” he said, his voice gentler now, like cool, refreshing water. “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” Nehemiah 8:9 speaks of this exact moment. “All the people wept when they heard the words of the Law.” But their tears were pregnant with emotion.
- Their tears rebirthed memories of who they were.
- They cried that the exile-carving to their souls had now stopped. It was over and they were free.
- They cried, because the Law sounded like home—in the comforting voice of the Father. The Word brought healing to their hearts.
- They cried because they survived 70 years in a foreign land with little hope.
- They cried because today, God remembered His promises.
- Today was their miracle.
They had traveled far. Babylon’s dust still weighed on their clothes, with the taste of exile still dry on their tongues. Ezra remembered the foreign riverbanks where he first whispered the secret Law, and the way reeds trembled as they listened to God’s Word. He remembered the long nights on his knees, begging God to free His people, who forgot how to be whole. He had prayed for this day to come. And God said yes.
Later, Ezra walked among their pitched tents. Fires were cracking and popping as the evening stars twinkled. He smelled roasting lamb, grain-baked bread, heard children’s giggles and, women singing. He felt the pulse of a nation remembering itself. He whispered into the dusk, “Blessed are You, O Lord, who teaches Your people patience and holiness.” The wind carried his words into the hills, where the moon glowed like a promise.
On this feast of Ezra
When Ezra spoke, their hope turned gold, as Scripture stirred their hearts of old.
They wept to hear their God adored, a people found, a tribe restored.
Today, we cry for similar things: for parents lost, for broken wings.
For vows of love we failed to keep, yet long to feel and wish to reap.
So let the tears fall clean and light; to water faith and soften nights.
The Lord gives joy to those who yearn, to every heart that seeks return.
Sources:
Catholic Church. New American Bible: Nehemiah 8. USCCB.
Catholic Encyclopedia. Ezra. New Advent.
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