Monday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
September 18, 2023
Today’s Readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091823.cfm
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings describe where two worlds meet and contend with each other – the world of the “divine understory” and the world of appearances.
What I mean by “understory” is this: every reality is more than it seems. There is a depth to everything, a depth that gives it meaning. As we achieve deeper relationship – learn the understory – of a person or a situation, we ourselves deepen in wisdom and move closer to encountering our ever-present God.
Paul gives us an example in our first reading:
First of all, I ask that supplications, prayers,
1 Timothy 2:1-2
petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone,
for kings and for all in authority,
that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life
in all devotion and dignity.
It may appear that Paul is simply encouraging his followers to respect civil authorities and to pray for them. But in the next verses, it becomes clear that Paul is also reminding civil leaders that they are not gods and that Christians will not worship them as such.
This is good and pleasing to God our savior,
1 Timothy 2:3-6
who wills everyone to be saved
and to come to knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God.
There is also one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself as ransom for all.
After his assassination in 27 BCE, Julius Caesar was soon proclaimed divine and accepted among the gods of the state, officially allowing for the initiation of his worship. Later in the first century CE, this type of Emperor Cult gradually developed in the whole Roman Empire as a unifying and politically stabilizing force. However, it gave rise to the custom of praying to the divinized Caesars.
In this kind of imperial milieu, the request in 1 Timothy 2:2 to pray “for kings” instead of “to the kings” takes on new meaning. It implies most ostensibly that rulers, like everybody else, depend on the guidance and mercy of God. Furthermore, it indirectly implies that they are not divine but mortal humans.
Dr. Christian A. Eberhart is Professor of Religious Studies, University of Houston.
Civil power is a power of appearances. God’s power is the “understory” of all human relationships. The more we all understand this truth, the more likely we are to achieve the equanimity Paul prays for:
.. that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life
in all devotion and dignity.
This is good and pleasing to God our Savior,
who wills everyone to be saved
and to come to knowledge of the truth.
The centurion in our Gospel harbored such a deep understanding. He realizes that there is a divine authority profoundly superseding any apparent power he possesses – to the extent that he feels unworthy even to be in its presence:
Lord, do not trouble yourself,
Luke 7:6-8
for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.
Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you;
but say the word and let my servant be healed.
For I too am a person subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, Go, and he goes;
and to another, Come here, and he comes;
and to my slave, Do this, and he does it.”
Like the early Christians trying to live a Gospel life in the Roman Empire, we will encounter contradictions, challenges, and crosses. Paul’s advice and the centurion’s example may help us in our daily choices.
Luke tells us that Jesus was amazed at the profound faith motivating the centurion’s actions. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our grace-filled choices could be that amazing too!
When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him
Luke 7:9
and, turning, said to the crowd following him,
“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”
Poetry: The Way Under the Way by Mark Nepo
For all that has been written,
for all that has been read, we
are led to this instant where one
of us will speak and one of us will
listen, as if no one has ever placed
an oar into that water.
It doesn’t matter how we come
to this. We may jump to it or be
worn to it. Because of great pain.
Or a sudden raw feeling that this
is all very real. It may happen in a
parking lot when we break the eggs
in the rain. Or watching each other
in our grief.
But here we will come. With very
little left in the way.
When we meet like this, I may not
have the words, so let me say it now:
Nothing compares to the sensation
of being alive in the company of
another. It is God breathing on
the embers of our soul.
Stripped of causes and plans
and things to strive for,
I have discovered everything
I could need or ask for
is right here—
in flawed abundance.
We cannot eliminate hunger,
but we can feed each other.
We cannot eliminate loneliness,
but we can hold each other.
We cannot eliminate pain,
but we can live a life
of compassion.
Ultimately,
we are small living things
awakened in the stream,
not gods who carve out rivers.
Like human fish,
we are asked to experience
meaning in the life that moves
through the gill of our heart.
There is nothing to do
and nowhere to go.
Accepting this,
we can do everything
and go anywhere.
Music: O Lord, I Am Not Worthy – This is a Victorian era Communion hymn. It was originally published as four stanzas, without “O Sacrament Most Holy” which appears to have been later added to it as a chorus and/or an extra verse. The author and composer are unknown.
Although some of the hymn’s concepts are now theologically outdated, I remember it fondly as an inspirational part of my very young spirituality. Learning it at the time of my First Communion, the hymn helped me grow in intimacy with Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
O Lord, I am not worthy
That Thou should’st come to me,
But speak the words of comfort,
My spirit healed shall be.
And humbly I receive Thee,
The bridegroom of my soul,
No more my sin to grieve Thee,
Nor fly Thy sweet control.
O Eternal Holy Spirit,
Unworthy tho’ I be,
Prepare me to receive Him,
And trust the Word to me.
Increase my faith, dear Jesus,
In Thy Real Presence here;
And make me feel most deeply
That Thou to me art near.
O Sacrament most holy,
O Sacrament divine!
All praise and all thanksgiving
Be ev’ry moment Thine.
Lavish Mercy 
I am trying to comment on Lavish Mercy not Word Press
LikeLike
This is so very beautiful!
LikeLike