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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

Sunday February 13, 2005

+ 1st Week in Lent

But the greatest temptation in life is to denial.

Readings: Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7 Romans 5:12-19 Matt 4:1-11
“The eyes of both of them were opened and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig-leaves together to make themselves loin-cloths.” [Genesis 3:7]

It’s a dramatic but creative story about denial.

The truth of the matter is that Adam and Eve who are the biblical prototype for all humanity, male and female, were not convinced that they were created in the image and likeness of God. I suppose it was too good to be true. The invitation of the serpent was a temptation to denial. If they indeed did not mirror God’s beauty or grasp God’s goodness or understand God’s wisdom, then indeed, they could easily succumb to such an invitation, and they did!

In the very first chapter of the old Baltimore Catechism the question is asked, “Why did God make you?” The response: “God made me to know him, to love, and to show forth his goodness in this life and to be happy with him forever in the next.”

Many of the questions and responses in this old catechism do not work but this one does. Indeed, we were created in God’s image and likeness and it is our destiny despite our repeated denials, to become like God.

The description of the temptations of Jesus in the desert were intended by Matthew to assure us that even Jesus was not exempt from the temptation to deny his origin in God. But Jesus overcame the devil’s tri-fold insult and in so doing, allowed the power of God to rule his humanity – he was obedient unto death and in son doing manifested the goodness and greatness of God in human form.

Lent provides yet another opportunity to overcome our temptations to denial – to blindness to our potential for goodness that God has placed within us if only we can be humble enough to confess our pride and stubbornness.

“Not on bread alone shall we live but on every word that comes from the mouth of God!”