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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 November 28, 2004

+ 1st Week in Advent

God speaks through many voices.

“And I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.” [Matt 8:11]

Despite advances in Ecumenical Theology among all the Christian Churches and discussions with non-Christian traditions, there are still many Christian believers, Catholics among them, who assume that non-Catholics are not among the ‘saved.’ Ironically, there are many non-Catholic Christians, evangelical and fundamentalists among them who believe that Catholics are not among the ‘saved,’ and Islam fundamentalists refer to all outsiders as “Infidels.”

God has got to be either crying or laughing. I would prefer the latter but I think in view of religious wars and the politicizing of religious belief, God may be crying.

Jesus did not come to absolutize religion but to liberate humanity from the rigidity of excessive absolutes. Are there no absolutes? Of course there are; God is absolute and God’s will that all humanity come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved is absolute. But honest believers struggle in their search for ultimate truth.

We Catholics believe in Jesus as “the way, the truth and the light.” But our grasp of this mystery is always contingent on our willingness to accept the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Many of us are selective about beliefs. We put words in Jesus mouth that he never spoke. Even the Church can slip into a selective understanding of what Jesus said in the light of ‘Catholic Dogma.’

We need to keep open to the possibility that although we may be close, we haven’t gotten it completely right yet.

God speaks to us even from the other side of the fence.