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Daily Scripture

+ 33rd Week in Ordinary Time

Keep hope alive!

Readings: Revelation 5:1-10 Psalm 149:1-6, 9 Luke 19:41-44

_As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “if this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.” [Luke 19:41]

In Christian liturgy and literature, he Church has often been referred to as “the new Jerusalem” and heaven as “the new and eternal Jerusalem.” I think it’s a good simile. If you have ever been to the old section of Jerusalem, you surely would have noted the appropriateness of this comparison. Ancient Jerusalem is still very much in evidence if not literally, surely in its ambiance. A walk from the site of the ancient praetorium to Calvary – now well within the city limits – will surely give you a sense of what it may have been like when Jesus made that last fateful journey.

Today Jerusalem is truly an international city and bears within its womb and walls, the extremes of every race and religion. Jews still narrate the story of the great exodus and Christians break the bread of Eucharist while Islamic temples broadcast their ancient chants from minarets that echo through the streets in the wee hours of the morning.

This is the city over which Jesus wept not because it did not make him king but because it did not recognize its day of visitation, that is to say, its moment of opportunity. In reading a passage such as this, we need to put away preconceived notions about our understanding of Jesus’ messianic role in the light of its Christological evolution in Christian teaching today. Jesus was not about establishing new religious structures but about announcing the universality of God’s love – for Jews and gentiles, male and female, of every race and nation.

Would it be accurate to state that Jesus is weeping not just over Jerusalem but over our war torn world? And yet one cannot fail to see signs of hope on the horizon. Bernard Lonergan, Carol Rahner and Carl Jung support this very Christian notion that it is in our moments of deepest despair that a new wisdom emerges leading to a common vision of a new world in which love and respect overcome evil and injustice. Is it possible that in the midst of the turmoil in which our world seems enmeshed people of good can bring that vision to reality not through confrontation but through collaboration?

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 'A'

Saturday January 26, 2008

We are luminaries of God’s healing presence

“The world is not in need of a new religion, nor is the world in need of a new philosophy: What the world needs is healing and regeneration. The world needs people who, through devotion to God, are so filled with the spirit that they can be instruments through which healing takes place, because healing is important to everybody.” [The Art of Spiritual Healing by Joel Goldsmith, quoted in “There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem” by Wayne W. Dyer, Chapter 9, ‘Where there is injury, pardon,’ Quill, Harper Collins, NY, 2003]

Since the Feast of the Epiphany three weeks ago, the Sunday scriptures have focused on the identity of Jesus as the light to all nations. We need physical light to see with our eyes; we need spiritual light to see what the eye cannot see. It is our belief that Jesus is the light that has come into the world to dispel the spiritual darkness that encompasses the world, the darkness that breeds the bacteria of violence and despair.

For sincere Christians, indeed, for sincere searchers and seekers, Jesus is the paradigm of all that we can become over time, in our time and place. When we get into the rhythm of God think and God talk, there is no limit to what God can accomplish through us. The evil that we see around us is nothing more than a denial of the goodness and Godness that is the underpinning of all creation. Earth was intended by God to be the cusp of heaven.

In the prologue to his gospel, John states that Jesus is the true light that enlightens everyone, coming into the world and to those who accept him, he gave power to become children of God—to those who believe in his name, who are born not by natural generation nor by human choice, nor by human decision but of God. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” [John 1:9, 12, 16]

This is a powerful statement of our spiritual identity.

In other words, we were loved into being to show forth the goodness of God and to pave the way for God’s glory to shine in every corner of the globe.

Jesus came to heal broken humanity in ways that at first appear supernatural—through physical and spiritual miracles. In reality, miracles belong to God’s nature and when we accede to God’s invitation to live in grace, God’s nature becomes our nature. And so the miraculous becomes a way of the life for true believers.

The greatest challenge to his disciples was to accept a new way of seeing, a new way of thinking. And that remains our greatest challenge—to look at reality in a new way with the conviction that things do not have to be as they appear and that miracles can and do happen when we are tuned into our higher power.

That in essence is the good and gracious news of Jesus Christ our Savior. “He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among he people.” [Matthew 4:23]

We are called to be luminaries of the divine presence that is already in our midst. Disciples of Jesus are called to be the delivery system of God’s love, animators of God’s grace, conduits of peace and joy.

For this to happen in practical ways, we need to have a direct experience of God. Ironically, the first step toward a direct experience of God is to let go of all the fears and anxieties and doubts about what God can do in the most impossible set of circumstances.

Wayne Dyer in his book, “There’s a Spiritual Solution To Every Problem” put it this way:

“Letting go. Yes, that’s correct, detach yourself from your thoughts of anger, bitterness, self-pity, or whatever and just love your body as the temple that God gave you to house your soul on this journey. The process of letting go and refusing to harbor thoughts of illness will bring a calm healing energy to you in the moment and this peace will be your reward for letting go.” [“There’s a Spiritual Solution To Every Problem, Chapter 9, ‘Where There is Injury, Pardon,’ Wayne W. Dyer, Quill, Harper Collins, NY, 2003]

This is the kind of attitude that results in miracles of healing in a world torn by dissension on so many levels—at home, abroad; on the campaign trails, in the stock exchange, in heartlands and on the battle field.

I think the prayer of St. Francis can be a wonderful mantra, a daily guide for the serious disciple:

“Lord, make me and instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
where there is injury, pardon,
where there is doubt, faith,
where there is despair, hope,
where there is darkness, light,
and where there is sadness, joy.”

There is no way that we can live in grace and not be instruments of peace and peace cannot coexist with injustice or injury or hatred.

But God’s love is a quiet love. It has been said that one of the main functions of formalized religion is to protect people against a direct experience of God. [C. G. Jung]

When I was a child,
I used to think of God as an old man
high in the sky
with a long white beard stretching over the earth,
sweeping silk silver-lined clouds.
A sort of Santa Claus—a gentle soul
but not adverse to “making a list and checking it twice
to find out who’s naughty or nice.”

Such talk among adults is silly isn’t it? —fodder for Gnostics or agnostics and even atheists? Perhaps, but I think God enjoys a bit of banter now and then.
And I suspect God is often amused
at the attempts of great and small,
of prophets, priests and popes among them
to pin on God a personality
and put words in God’s mouth
as if such were possible
though I do believe artists and poets have come close
in their playful pursuit to depict
the movement of love through the lens of ancient sages
down through the ages—quiet love.

‘The Great Mystery’
is the name our Native American ancestors
gave to God because they knew
God is mysteriously part of everything and everyone—quiet love
penetrating the depths of eternity from one end to the other
birthing us to life
at every moment—day and night.

I believe that Jesus gave birth to God in humanity
uniquely as no one else in human history—as movement, as life, as goodness, as love.
I think of Jesus as the incarnation of ‘quiet love.’

I think too of all the people confined to silence, not by choice,
in cells of solitude, prisoners of their body
the windows of their minds closed to the familiar faces of yesterday.
Quiet love silenced by the slow deterioration of the mind
or worse, empty souls, searching for someone to love,
searching for someone to love them.
And the many who have lost their way on lonely streets
or in caves of dark despair
waiting for quiet love to free them from the isolation of insignificance
or the dysfunction of worthlessness or ironically, iconic vanity.
Waiting for quiet love to touch them.

Yet quiet love seeps through the cracks and crevices
of ancient times and places
and over time we come to know our origin
and our destiny
in quiet love—
that will not be silenced.

A truly Catholic parish is about people coming together to form a unique mix of culture and color, of gender, age, education, economy, political allegiance and yes, theological persuasion.

I think our parish enjoys a uniqueness built on a deep respect for every individual with a strong sense of community and mutuality rooted in Jesus Christ, our light and ever present guide.

We are luminaries of God’s abiding and healing presence.

May our light shine bright enough to dispel the darkness of in times of disillusion, discord and despair.