Sr. Sarah gave a great talk Monday night on “God, are you listening to me?” I will upload the recording–although sorry to say, it is filled with a LOT of static. (Still working on the cause of that . . .) She has promised to re-tape it. Anyway, I want to at least refer you to something she quoted in her talk. You can find it here.
Today’s gospel reading is the story of the tax collector and the Pharisee, which brought to mind this hope-filled reflection by Sr. Ruth Burrows will encourage those of you who find it easier to identify with the Pharisee than the publican:
Perceptive, quick to see the flaws in another, I was prone to criticism, finding a certain satisfaction in seeing another at fault as though this, in some way, raised me up. I knew that no fault would so displease our Lord or stop his grace as this harsh judgment on his children. I realized I had the mentality of a pharisee but, I thought to myself, if a pharisee had turned to our Lord and admitted his hardness of heart, his crabbed, mean spirit and asked for help, our Lord would have helped him. So I did the same. The pharisee became the publican. I came to realize that temptations to pride, the sins of the pharisee, could make one a publican. The stone which the builders rejected could become head of the corner. I tried to use these bad tendencies to grown in humility.
The Scripture reading for today’s Office of Readings comes from Exodus 17. It begins: “From the desert of Sin the whole Israelite community journeyed by stages, as the Lord directed, and encamped at Rephidim. But there was no water for the people to drink.” I’m always intrigued by the desert being called Sin. . .but what really struck me today was the fact that the Lord “directed” them to a place where there was no water to drink. If I was in their shoes, I would be asking Moses to get his GPS out and figure out really where we should be. And that is, in reality, what the Israelites do: they complain to Moses and grumble about where they are. How many of us do the same thing–we hit a speed bump or an even more serious obstacle and question whether the Lord is indeed directing us? This can’t be where He wants me to be.
The Lord directed them to this place of no water for His own purposes. He knew what He was doing. Perhaps it was merely to come face to face with their sin of grumbling and discontent, to recognize it and repent of it by humbling themselves before the Providence of God. God does not make mistakes in where He directs us. Look for Him in whatever unlikely or difficult place you may find yourselves today. He is surely there.
This morning I was meditating on Simeon and Anna. I know it’s Lent and not the Christmas season! That was part of my meditation. Simeon and Anna didn’t know, at the time, that it was the Christmas season. It was just another day of prayer in the Temple. But if Simeon had not been sensitive to the Holy Spirit, he would have missed the Child he had been waiting for all of his life. Thinking about this made me pray that I wouldn’t miss Christ’s coming to me today in whatever guise He takes. Let’s all keep watch for Him today. Maybe we’ll find that it’s really Christmas during Lent. 🙂
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he [Lazarus] was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. (Jn 11.5-6)
I can’t tell you how many times I have read those two lines, and still I am jolted when I get to the “So” at the beginning of the second verse. Your mind kind of goes: “Huh?” Was that word translated correctly? That is, unless you know the “rest of the story.” Unless you remember that Jesus knew the terrible death He was going to undergo and He wanted to prepare His friends for it. That’s how much He loved them. He only allowed them to go through such a hard experience because when He died, He wanted them to remember what He did for their brother and therefore have hope. So I am reminding myself of that today and everyday when I might question why God is allowing certain things to happen. You see, Jesus loved Dorcee . . . So . . .
When Christ was presented in the temple, “there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.” When St. Mary and St. Joseph brought Christ to the temple, Simeon embraced the Child and prayed the Canticle of Simeon: “Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: a light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).
Because of the words of the canticle (“a light to the revelation of the Gentiles”), by the 11th century, the custom had developed in the West of blessing candles on the Feast of the Presentation. The candles were then lit, and a procession took place through the darkened church while the Canticle of Simeon was sung.
What a loss that nowadays we seldom see this procession observed. It would be such a wonderful precursor of the Easter Vigil in this time before Lent.
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From the Office of Readings for today, a marvelous sermon by St. Sophronius about how we, ourselves, can be shining lights.
In honor of the divine mystery that we celebrate today, let us all hasten to meet Christ. Everyone should be eager to join the procession and to carry a light.
Our lighted candles are a sign of the divine splendor of the one who comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of his eternal light. Our candles also show how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ.
The Mother of God, the most pure Virgin, carried the true light in her arms and brought him to those who lay in darkness. We too should carry a light for all to see and reflect the radiance of the true light as we hasten to meet him.
The light has come and has shone upon a world enveloped in shadows;the Dayspring from on high has visited us and given light to those who lived in darkness. This, then, is our feast, and we join in procession with lighted candles to reveal the light that has shone upon us and the glory that is yet to come to us through him. So let us hasten all together to meet our God.
The true light has come, the light that enlightens every man who is born into this world. Let all of us, my brethren, be enlightened and made radiant by this light. Let all of us share in its splendor, and be so filled with it that no one remains in the darkness. Let us be shining ourselves as we go together to meet and to receive with the aged Simeon the light whose brilliance is eternal. Rejoicing with Simeon, let us sing a hymn of thanksgiving to God, the Father of the light, who sent the true light to dispel the darkness and to give us all a share in his splendor.
Through Simeon’s eyes we too have seen the salvation of God which he prepared for all the nations and revealed as the glory of the new Israel, which is ourselves. As Simeon was released from the bonds of this life when he had seen Christ, so we too were at once freed from our old state of sinfulness.
By faith we too embraced Christ, the salvation of God the Father, as he came to us from Bethlehem. Gentiles before, we have now become the people of God. Our eyes have seen God incarnate, and because we have seen him present among us and have mentally received him into our arms, we are called the new Israel. Never shall we forget this presence; every year we keep a feast in his honor.
Last Saturday’s gospel was the very familiar passage about Jesus sleeping in the boat. St. Augustine has a fine commentary on it:
When you are insulted, that is the wind. When you are angry, that is the waves. So when the winds blow and the waves surge, the boat is in danger, your heart is in jeopardy, your heart is tossed to and fro. On being insulted, you long to retaliate. But revenge brings another kind of misfortune–shipwreck. Why? Because Christ is asleep in you. What do I mean? I mean you have forgotten Christ. Rouse him, then; remember Christ, let Christ awake within you, give heed to him . . . . “Who is this, that even the winds and sea obey him?”
Every other month we host an Evening of Reflection for young single women. We have a simple dinner, a speaker, and time for adoration. This past week, we were graced with a talk by Dr. Mary Healy (Professor of Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary). I thought you would enjoy hearing her reflections on Mark 14, the story of the woman breaking the alabaster jar. You can listen to it here: Woman breaking the alabaster jar (Mk 14)
Have you ever really pondered that repetitive verse from Genesis 1: “And God saw that it was good”? The Hebrew word used there for “good” also means “beautiful.” Paul Evdokimov writes in his book, The Art of the Icon, a Theology of Beauty: “The Creator, like a divine poet, in bringing the world into being out of nothingness, composed his ‘Symphony in Six Days”, the Hexameron. After each of his creative acts, he ‘saw that it was beautiful.’ The Greek text of the biblical story uses the word kalón—beautiful and not agathon—good; the Hebrew word carries both meanings at the same time.”
That quote came to mind last week as I was reading an article about rocks of all things. Apparently, during the early days of the universe, after some stars blew up and died in intense heat, “we get the first 12 or so minerals: atoms forged by starbursts. Carbon, nitrogen, silicon, iron all come from stars.” But the really cool thing I read is that “the universe’s original minerals include diamonds . . . teeny bits of diamond dust floating in deep space.” That strikes me so much as just what God would do in His creative work: scatter “teeny bits of diamond dust” out into deep space. “And God saw that it was very good” and very beautiful.
And, unbeknownst to me–the next few days are the best for viewing the Leonid Meteor Shower–“Avid meteor gazers graced with clear skies may see between 15 and 20 meteors per hour.” Read more about it here.
You know, most of the time–as I freely admit in the sidebar–I am writing these posts mainly for myself. This is a post I actually wrote quite awhile ago, but somehow never posted. Again, we hear from Amy Carmichael. This seems to be taken from a letter she wrote in response to someone else’s, someone who was experiencing dryness in prayer, and someone who had sent her some dried myrtle.
You are sitting on the well-side with your Lord who once was weary and sat thus on the well. You don’t see Him, but He is there. You are His honoured one: “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.”
bog myrtle
The bog myrtle you gave me is in my Daily Light, and every day its sweetness is a special little joy to me. It knows nothing of that. It only knows it is dried up, a withered thing. I wonder if in its freshest days it was sweeter than it is now.
Times of dryness are times when we are meant to live in the middle line of Zephaniah 3.17 RV margin: “He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will be silent in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.” Our dear Lord does not misunderstand silence. Offer Him your silence and accept His, “I will be silent in My love.” Songs are not far away. They are on either side of the Silence. It is folded up in song.
Now be at rest. he is not looking at your with dis-pleased eyes. Oh now, I can all but see just the opposite.
Perceptive, quick to see the flaws in another, I was prone to criticism, finding a certain satisfaction in seeing another at fault as though this, in some way, raised me up. I knew that no fault would so displease our Lord or stop his grace as this harsh judgment on his children. I realized I had the mentality of a pharisee but, I thought to myself, if a pharisee had turned to our Lord and admitted his hardness of heart, his crabbed, mean spirit and asked for help, our Lord would have helped him. So I did the same. The pharisee became the publican. I came to realize that temptations to pride, the sins of the pharisee, could make one a publican. The stone which the builders rejected could become head of the corner. I tried to use these bad tendencies to grown in humility.
And, unbeknownst to me–the next few days are the best for viewing the Leonid Meteor Shower–“Avid meteor gazers graced with clear skies may see between 15 and 20 meteors per hour.” Read more about it here.You are sitting on the well-side with your Lord who once was weary and sat thus on the well. You don’t see Him, but He is there. You are His honoured one: “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.”
Witnesses to Hope 