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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 October 9, 2006

+ 27th Week in Ordinary Time

We need to see the world from the inside out.

Readings: Galatians 1:13-24 Psalm 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 14c-15 Luke 10:38-42

“Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part …” [Luke 10:42]

And the only way to see the world that way is to enter into the silence of our hearts to ponder the mystery of who we are and how we fit into the cosmos.

It has been stated by many sages that ultimately God speaks the loudest to us in the depth of hearts. But the din of daily pressures and the noise of the daily ‘traffic’ to silence God’s voice can ‘silence’ the voice of God and so we can easily become rudderless in the river of God’s grace.

God’s is generous in grace but God doesn’t do life for us. God does life with us. Remember, we are partners—God and us and Jesus is the master teacher.

Psalm 139 is a wonderful prayer for every day:

“Lord you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.

My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.

Truly you have formed my inmost being;
You knit me in my mother’s womb.
I give you thanks that I am so wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.”