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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

Monday January 10, 2005

+ Monday, 1st Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: Hebrews 1:1-6 Mark 1:14-20

Extraordinary things can happen in ordinary times, Part II

“After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. ‘The time has come’ he said ‘and the kingdom is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.’” [Mark 1:1]

As I woke up to the radio news on WCBS this morning, I said to myself, “the same old news between the same old commercials with a slightly new twist.” Then I said to myself, “I think I’ll go back to Curtis & Kubie on WABC; at least if nothing else, they make the news interesting with their endless banter. Tired of their endless banter, I had stopped listening to them several months ago! I suppose this says more about my fickle nature than it does about Curtis and Kubie or daily news reports and commentaries.

Just to let you know that I haven’t lost all my marbles, after morning prayer, I usually tune in to WNYC, the local PBS station which in my opinion scores high on truth and low on bias.

Today, we really get back to ‘ordinary time’ in the Church’s ‘year of grace.’ The phrase ‘year of grace’ was coined by Pious Parsch, a respected commentator on Catholic liturgy in the reform movement prior to Vatican II. It’s a good phrase. It means, another year of opportunity to open up to God’s grace in the ordinary circumstances of life, living the sacrament of the present moment, which is the only moment that counts.

The kingdom or better named, the dominion of God is always close at hand but never fully realized. I suppose it would be better to state that Jesus came to teach us what life would be like if we accepted God’s way over that of earthly rulers. Perhaps it should be stated more realistically, if we allowed God’s universal, indiscriminate and equalizing law of love to permeate our human attempts to bring peace to our world. I think if was John Paul II who stated so well in words similar to these, “If you want to make peace, then bring justice instead of making war!”

This appears to be as much a minority opinion as it was in the time of Christ.