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Daily Scripture

+ 7th Week of Easter

“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

Readings: Acts 20:17-27 Psalm 68:10-11, 20-21 John 17:1-11

I am in the world no longer, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. [John 17:11]

Shakespeare ‘penned’ the phrase quoted above. I didn’t understand it as a student of Shakespeare in high school but I began to understand it when I waved goodbye to my family as I sailed off to Italy on September 21, 1963 for a three-year stretch in Rome. In fact, it has multiple meanings and applications that I appreciate now more than ever before.

There is another phrase that perhaps gives credence to my thoughts so poorly expressed and it’s this: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Ah, that’s it. At times we need to separate from ‘the source’ in order to appreciate how important it is to stay connected.

The farewell speech of St. Paul in Acts and the farewell ‘prayer’ of Jesus in John’s gospel were more likely composed by the authors of these texts along the lines of the farewell speeches of great leaders of their times in order to attract the attention of Jesus’ followers.

The departure of Jesus and later that of Paul created ‘fallow’ time in the hearts of the neophyte believers that was absolutely necessary if they were to grasp the significance of Jesus’ message and the teachings of St. Paul.

We are once again in ‘fallow’ time as we prepare for Pentecost. It’s a time of discernment during which we are invited to ponder the words and deeds of Jesus so that in his absence, we may come to know his presence in the Spirit that remains within us and around us.

As we ponder, it is important to reflect on the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and reverence of the Lord. And the fruits of the Holy Spirit are qualities that are characteristic of a community living in Christ: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty self-control and chastity.

There is much to ponder as we wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Daily Scripture

Thursday January 6, 2005

+ Thursday after Epiphany

Readings: I John 4:19-5:4 Luke 4:14-22

We were loved into being – by God!

“We are to love because God loved us first. Anyone who says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother or sister, is a liar.” [I John 4:19]

We are fortunate, indeed, if we were the fruit of the love of our parents.
Unfortunately, not everyone was loved into being by loving parents but all of us were loved into being by God. How do we know? By the very fact that we exist! It doesn’t matter how we got here.

It may take years for us to come to that awareness. No parent is perfect and no child responds to love with perfect love but the most beautiful people in our world are those who are convinced of their value in the sight of God. These are the people who are most ready to reverence that God in others. Just as it may be a struggle for some people to become convinced of their value before God as members of the human family, so too it may be a struggle for many of us – all of us, to come to the conviction that God seeks the good of all and expects us to adapt his ‘mindset’ in our dealings with all our neighbors regardless of their race, color or creed.

I suppose the Golden Rule is a perennial truth underlying the words of today’s readings, “Do unto other what you would have them do unto you.”