Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, on this feast of Christ the King, we might expect our readings to be filled with triumphal metaphors for God – conquerer, ruler, omnipotent and, yes, distant from us.
Instead, today’s passages offer us images of God as a devoted, simple, and caring shepherd – the tenderest of roles in our natural world.
Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark.
What an unexpected “King” this is! Rather than groveling before his majesty, we are lifted shivering to his warm shoulders. We are rescued from our cloudy shadows and raised into his light.
In Corinthians, Paul instructs us that Christ is King for one reason: he has conquered death. Death is the darkest of shadows from which we long to be rescued – both the small deaths of loss, bereavement, failure, addiction, illness, depression – and the inevitable ending of the life we cherish in ourselves and others. Christ, the kingly shepherd, finds us even when we are lost and confused in fears such as these.
In our Gospel, Jesus says that he will easily find us in our shadows because we are already marked by a certain light – our acts of mercy toward his least ones:
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
For our prayer today, we might just ask the kingly shepherd to lift us close to the Divine Heart, to hum Mercy over us in a healing lullaby, so that we might return it freely to our wounded world.
Prayer: Our beautiful Responsorial Psalm will be our poetry for today.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures I rest. Beside restful waters God leads me; refreshing my soul. guiding me in right paths in the safety of God's Name. You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Maccabees gives us a colorful account of the defeat, dismay, and ultimate death of Antiochus IV, persecutor of the Jews. The account, like most of the Books of Maccabees, is primarily historical, not spiritual or theological. But threaded through the books, of course, is the underlying biblical orientation that God-Yahweh is present and active in all life’s circumstances.
Today’s passage has even pagan Antiochus considering how God/Fate has brought him to judgement- to “payback” time:
But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem, when I carried away all the vessels of gold and silver that were in it, and for no cause gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed. I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me; and now I am dying, in bitter grief, in a foreign land.
1 Maccabees 6:12-13
Our Gospel describes an incident in which some Sadducees question Jesus about marriage laws and the afterlife. Their questioning reminds me of modern songwriter Eric Clapton’s musings in his song:
Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton
Jesus doesn’t sing to the Sadducees, as far as I know. Rather, he answers them this way:
Those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.
Luke 20:35-36
So for us today, the questions and concerns of both Antiochus and the Sadducees might lead us to consider how we feel about the “afterlife”.
Do you ever wonder what heaven will be like? Will we see our beloveds once again? Will we see our “unbeloveds” too and what will that be like!! Do you calculate whether or not you’ll even make the cut through the Pearly Gates?
When I think about heaven these two promises of Jesus sustain, comfort and animate me. Maybe you’ll consider their power too as you pray today.
I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
Eternal life is this, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3
Poetry: Heaven Haven – Gerard Manley Hopkins
In this poem, Hopkins expresses his longing for a heavenly peace similar to that of a contemplative nun.
(A nun takes the veil)
I have desired to go
Where springs not fail,
To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail
And a few lilies blow.
And I have asked to be
Where no storms come,
Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,
And out of the swing of the sea.
Music: That You May Have Life – André Crouch (Lyrics below)
(I come that you might have life more abundantly) (I come that you might have life through eternity) I didn’t come to condemn the world nor to shame you for your wrong no no but I came to mend your broken heart and give your heart a song (I come to give you life more abundantly – more abundantly) Your life without Christ is like a star that will never never shine It’s like a winding road that goes nowhere Woah but Jesus said (I come) I come (to give you life) to give you life (more) (I come) I come (to give you joy) to give you joy (I come to give you life more abundantly ee ee ee ee more abundantly) but Jesus said (I come to give you life more) oh I left my home in glory (I come) I come (to give you joy) just to bring you joy (I come) I love you I love you (to give you life) and I want to give you life (more abundantly) more abundantly Mmmm (ee ee ee ee) more abundantly (more abundantly) People all over the world (all I want to do is give you life) listen to the LORD speaking right now (more abundantly ooh ooh ooh ooh) people all over the world (all I want to do is give you joy more abundantly ooh ooh ooh ooh) (all I want to do is give you life . .
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, both readings are set in the Temple. After the victory of Judas Maccabeus, the Jewish people restore their Temple with exuberant celebration, recognizing it as a symbol of God’s Presence among them. This is the origin of the celebration of Hanukkah, a word that means “dedication”.
For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar and joyfully offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of deliverance and praise. They ornamented the facade of the temple with gold crowns and shields; they repaired the gates and the priests’ chambers and furnished them with doors. There was great joy among the people now that the disgrace of the Gentiles was removed. Then Judas and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary every year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev.
1 Maccabees 4: 56-59
In today’s Gospel. Jesus also “restores” the Temple by driving out the merchants who have diverted the Temple’s purpose as representative of God’s Presence.
Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.”
Luke 19:45-46
Our bodies too are temples of the Holy Spirit. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians tells us:
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Through our Baptism into the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells in us. We are called to be transformed by this Indwelling. As in any relationship, this transformation is accomplished through transparency, communication, listening and acting on behalf of the Beloved.
Poetry: Heart Cave by Geoffrey Brown – a deeply spiritual poet, Brown offers us this imaginative image of waiting for, and welcoming, the transformative Presence of God in our lives:
I must remember to go down to the heart cave And sweep it clean, make it warm, with fire on the hearth And candles in their niches The pictures on the walls glowing with quiet lights
I must remember to go down to the heart cave And make the bed with the quilt from home Strew rushes on the floor And hang lavender and sage from the corners
I must remember to go down to the heart cave And be there when you come.
Music: J. S. Bach – Arioso from Cantata 156 – Susanne Beer on cello
If you have a little extra leisure on this Friday after Thanksgiving, you may enjoy the entire Cantata performed beautifully here by the Choir and Orchestra of the J. S. Bach Foundation
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our two readings are dramatically intense.
Who can read the story of the Maccabean Martyrs without a mix of horror, empathy, and astonishment?
It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law. Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord.
2 Maccabees 7: 1;20
And don’t we all feel a pang of pity for the poor, fearful servant who hid his talent in a handkerchief much to the King’s displeasure?
‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it stored away in a handkerchief, for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man; you take up what you did not lay down and you harvest what you did not plant.’ He said to him, ‘With your own words I shall condemn you, you wicked servant. You knew I was a demanding man, taking up what I did not lay down and harvesting what I did not plant; why did you not put my money in a bank?
Luke 19:20-23
The two stories paint a contrasting picture of courageous faith against fearful subservience. The difference between the actors lies in their capacity, or lack thereof, to look beyond themselves toward eternal life.
The Courage of a Mother – Gustave Doré
Mother Maccabee bolsters her sons with her faith in a life beyond their current circumstances:
… the Creator of the universe who shapes each man’s beginning, as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law.
The poor soul in Jesus’s parable doesn’t have that faith and vision. His perception of God, represented by the King, is one of only harsh judgment. His fear causes him to bury not only his talent, but also his openness to the possibilities of grace and transformed relationship with God.
Jesus told his parable because indeed the Kingdom was at hand. He and his disciples were near Jerusalem where the Passion, Death and Resurrection events would begin.
He wants his followers to realize the challenging gift they have been given in their call to be his disciples. He wants them to see that it is now on them to magnify his message courageously and generously until he returns to perfect the Kingdom.
He wants us to understand that too.
Poetry – John Milton, Sonnet 19
Milton (1608- 1674) is widely considered one of the preeminent writers of the English language. By 1652, Milton had become totally blind and had to dictate his verse. He appears to wonder, in this sonnet, how his God-given talent for writing will be enhanced now that he is “light denied”. He looks to another parable for his answer – the Parable of the Workers. Even those who only stood and waited were rewarded.
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
Music: Be Not Afraid – written by Bob Dufford, SJ, sung here by Cat Jahnke
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings are about living in the big picture of God’s vision for us.
Once again, we meet Zacchaeus who, due to his short stature, was unable to get a glimpse of Jesus walking nearby. He wasn’t getting the whole picture but he wanted to!
Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
Luke 19:4-5
Sometimes we miss Christ in our midst, don’t we? It may be because we’re “short” on time, patience, faith, attention, courage, peace, desire … you name it.
Zacchaeus may have been physically short, but he was tall in will and intention to see Jesus. The trees became his tools, not his obstacles.
In our first reading, Eleazar was a giant in the virtues necessary to “see beyond the trees” of his current circumstances. A more spiritually short-sighted person might have succumbed to the temptation to save himself at the cost of his faith and witness.
But Eleazar’s faith was long, both in years and in depth. He kept the eyes of his heart focused on that faith and was delivered beyond any short-sighted choices.
Eleazar made up his mind in a noble manner, worthy of his years, the dignity of his advanced age, the merited distinction of his gray hair, and of the admirable life he had lived from childhood; and so he declared that above all he would be loyal to the holy laws given by God.
2 Maccabees 6:23
It’s hard sometimes to see the forest beyond the trees – to direct our choices, attitudes, and actions by a vision we glimpse only in the stretch of faith and prayer.
Perhaps these two God-seekers can inspire us today by their courage, steadfastness and faith to always live within God’s long eternal vision for us.
Zaccheus – by Richard Medrington
I hope you enjoy this clever poem as much as I did.
Here’s a man we all despise, Damn his hide and damn his eyes. Pray that God will some day free us, From that loathsome leech Zacchaeus.
See him sitting at his table, Takes as much tax as he’s able, Stashes some away for later, Dirty, double-dealing traitor.
Lord of liars, chief of crooks, Look at how he cooks the books! Renders what is ours to Caesar, Cheating, money-grubbing geezer.
He’s the man we love to hate, Vulgar, vapid reprobate, Lounging in his lavish house, Cringing toady, thieving louse.
Wonder how he got so rich? Greedy, filching, little snitch. We would lynch the poison gnome, Were he not employed by Rome.
Then when Jesus comes to town, See his smile turn to a frown! Though he’s arrogant and proud, He cannot see above the crowd.
How we laugh to see him squirm, Nasty, creeping, crawling worm, But here’s a thing not seen before: A sell-out in a sycamore!
Now he’s shouting from the tree, “Jesus, Jesus look at me!” Hope he falls, the tiresome tyke, Falls and lands upon a spike.
Careful Jesus. Don’t be conned, Just ignore him, don’t respond. Move on quickly, if you linger He will twist you round his finger.
Then a voice rings loud and clear, “Zack mate, get yourself down here! I spy you in that sycamore, And you’re the man I’m looking for.”
Now he’s off to have his dinner With a man who is a sinner And a traitor to our nation! He’s gone down in our estimation.
Fraternising with our foe, Of all the places he could go! Who would think a man like that Would take his meals with such a rat?
I beg your pardon, did you say Zach’s giving half his wealth away? Dispensing money to the poor? This too has not been seen before.
And if he’s asked for too much tax He’s giving fourfold rebates back? Well, that’s amazing! If it’s true, There’s going to be a massive queue.
I’m not that easy to deceive. When I see it, I’ll believe. He’ll fleece us when the Master’s gone, It’s just another taxman’s con.
But Jesus says, “It is no scam, He is a son of Abraham. Salvation landed here today, I seek for those who’ve gone astray,
And even though you think it strange, Occasionally people change, So do not look at him askance But give the man a second chance.”
Of course at first this all seemed grand, The thought of all that cash in hand! But very soon we came to see That nothing in this world is free.
In righteous wrath we had estranged him, Then someone came along and changed him! Thank you, Jesus. Smashing! Great! Now there’s no one left to hate!
Since Zach is generous and kind We’ve nothing left to hide behind. He radiates with joy and thus His kindly light exposes us.
His very presence seems to say, “My life has changed from night to day. Now tell me what is stopping you From changing things in your life too?”
So here’s the source of our complaints: Zacchaeus made us feel like saints, But now we must admit it’s true That we are rotten sinners too.
We pray that God will soon restore Zacchaeus as he was before, Or Jericho shall rue the day That Jesus chose to pass this way.
Music: Zacchaeus – An oldie but goodie from Sister Miriam Therese Winter and the Medical Mission Sisters
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we enter the liturgical year’s final two weeks. Our companions from the Hebrew Scriptures will be the Maccabees and Daniel. Our New Testament companion will continue to be the eloquent Luke.
The singular virtue proclaimed through the Books of Maccabees and Daniel is this: FAITHFUL ENDURANCE. As we approach the “end times” of our Liturgical Year, the Church is reminding us to pursue and value this virtue in our own lives.
Anthiochos – Michel Francois DandrE Bardon (Anthiochos IV Epiphanes Orders the Massacre of the Maccabees)
In today’s passage from Maccabees, we read about King Antiochus Epiphanes’s sacrilegious enculturation of the Israelites in an attempt to gain civil appeasement and material prosperity. Antiochus was a mean and bad guy. Likely because he felt his power threatened by them, he tried – in the vilest of ways – to suppress the Jews and their religious culture. The Book of Maccabees is the story of Jews who stood up to the suppression.
In our Gospel, Jesus meets a blind person who pleads with him, “Lord, please let me see!”. Jesus restores the person’s vision with the assurance that faith has wrought the miracle. In other words, the blind person already “saw” in a deeper way because of faith. That faith offered the insight to engage Jesus’s Divine Power for complete healing.
Because of their profound faith, the Maccabees could see through the king’s faithless campaign. They could endure ruthless persecution to remain faithful to the God they believed in.
Few of us will meet the kind of physical persecution for the faith endured by the Maccabees. But throughout our lives, our fidelity will be ruthlessly tested by our culture. We will continually be tempted to compromise our faithful practice for the sake of convenience, appeasement, material prosperity, or advantage over others.
And so often we are blind to these enculturations. We become insensitive or indifferent to the injustices and fallacies of our culture and how they might be affecting our attitudes, choices, and behavior.
As we journey with the Maccabees, Daniel, and Luke over these two weeks, let’s pray for clear vision and courageous action around the profound sacrileges of our times: war, violence, irreverence for life, exaltation of gun culture, economic domination, immigration injustice, and the many systemic “isms” by which we marginalize our sisters and brothers.
Prayer: Our Responsorial Psalm today offers a powerful plea to be delivered from the culture of death so predominant in our world:
R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands. Indignation seizes me because of the wicked who forsake your law. R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands. Though the snares of the wicked are twined about me, your law I have not forgotten. R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands. Redeem me from the oppression about me, that I may keep your precepts. R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands. I am attacked by malicious persecutors who are far from your law. R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands. Far from sinners is salvation, because they seek not your statutes. R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands. I beheld the apostates with loathing, because they kept not to your promise. R. Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we have reached the next-to-last Sunday of Liturgical Year 2023. It’s a time when the Church asks us to step back from our lives and take a good look at them – much in the way we would look at a painting or building project we have almost finished.
When a couple of us moved into a new apartment over thirty years ago, I was still pretty nimble and handy with home improvement projects. I decided to fit out an old closet space with new shelving. The project went really well until near the end when I stepped back and realized that the top shelf was too high for anybody to reach but six-foot me. The “aha moment” called for a lot of reassessment and redesign.
With today’s readings, we are encouraged to step back and take a look at our lives from the perspective of the end times. Have we done our best to make the pieces of our lives fit with God’s design? Are there elements we need to remove or re-order to come into alignment with God’s hope for us?
Kudos to the “worthy wife” from Proverbs! She seems to have gotten it right. Her “worthiness” is rooted in these virtues: goodness, hard work, care for those who are poor, natural sincerity, and reverence for God.
Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her a reward for her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates.
Proverbs 31:30-31
Paul’s Thessalonian community seems in good shape too. Paul says that they already are awake and well aware of the coming end times:
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.
1 Thessalonians 5:4-6
Jesus tells the story of a few stewards, some who used their talents well and some who didn’t. He’s alerting us that we too have been given immeasurable gifts against which we will be measured at the end of our earthly lives.
This next-to-last Sunday poses some questions for us:
Did we bury our talents in selfishness looking to advantage only ourselves?
Or did we “reach out” like the worthy wife?
Did we live in light like the Thessalonians?
Like the good servant, did we double our graces by using them generously among our sisters and brothers?
Prose: from C.S. Lewis – The Weight of Glory – I will leave the bulk of your time today to this wonderful passage from Lewis, taken from a sermon preached originally in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, on June 8, 1942.
When I began to look into this matter I was shocked to find such different Christians as Milton, Johnson and Thomas Aquinas taking heavenly glory quite frankly in the sense of fame or good report. But not fame conferred by our fellow creatures—fame with God, approval or (I might say) “appreciation’ by God. And then, when I had thought it over, I saw that this view was scriptural; nothing can eliminate from the parable the divine accolade, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
With that, a good deal of what I had been thinking all my life fell down like a house of cards. I suddenly remembered that no one can enter heaven except as a child; and nothing is so obvious in a child—not in a conceited child, but in a good child—as its great and undisguised pleasure in being praised. Not only in a child, either, but even in a dog or a horse.
Apparently what I had mistaken for humility had, all these years. prevented me from understanding what is in fact the humblest, the most childlike, the most creaturely of pleasures— nay, the specific pleasure of the inferior: the pleasure a beast before men, a child before its father, a pupil before his teacher, a creature before its Creator.
I am not forgetting how horribly this most innocent desire is parodied in our human ambitions, or how very quickly, in my own experience, the lawful pleasure of praise from those whom it was my duty to please turns into the deadly poison of self-admiration. But I thought I could detect a moment—a very, very short moment—before this happened, during which the satisfaction of having pleased those whom I rightly loved and rightly feared was pure.
And that is enough to raise our thoughts to what may happen when the redeemed soul, beyond all hope and nearly beyond belief, learns at last that she has pleased Him whom she was created to please. There will be no room for vanity then. She will be free from the miserable illusion that it is her doing. With no taint of what we should now call self-approval she will most innocently rejoice in the thing that God has made her to be, and the moment which heals her old inferiority complex for ever will also drown her pride deeper than Prospero’s book. Perfect humility dispenses with modesty. If God is satisfied with the work, the work may be satisfied with itself; “it is not for her to bandy compliments with her Sovereign.”
I can imagine someone saying that he dislikes my idea of heaven as a place where we are patted on the back. But proud misunderstanding is behind that dislike. In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or with the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we are blessed with some of the most beautiful passages in scripture.
Psalm 105 invites us to sing praise as we confidently seek God in our lives, and to always remember God’s merciful goodness to us:
Sing to God, sing praise, proclaim all God’s wondrous deeds. Glory in the holy name; rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD! Remember the marvels the Lord has done!
Psalm 105: 2-3
Our first reading from Wisdom gives us one of the most gloriously imaginative images in Scripture.
Although the passage is a poetic recounting of the Exodus experience, it always makes me think of Christmas.
Midnight on a starry night
Peaceful stillness over the earth
The all-powerful Word transformed
Appearing among us like a comet in our darkness
Hope renewed for an otherwise doomed land
Praying with the passage this morning, I realize that my “Christmas lens” on the reading is right on target.
The Christmas event begins our Exodus story, a story completed in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ.
Just as the God of Moses reached into ancient Israel’s life to free them, transform them and make them God’s People, so God reaches into our lives. God does this not only on Christmas, but in every moment of our experience.
As our media and consumer culture bombards us, all too early, with all the secularized images of Christmas, let today’s verses bring us back to the true startling grace of our own Christ/Exodus stories:
We are not alone in the midnights of our lives. Listen underneath all the distractions to the, at first, softly emerging sound of Love humming under all things. Watch for the small lights of heaven longing to break into our human darkness. Give yourself to their Light.
No matter where we are in our lives right now, no matter the joy or pain of our present circumstances, God wants to use these realities to be with us and to teach us Love. Let us invite God into our willingness to learn that Love, to become that Love.
Music: Winter Cold Night – John Foley, SJ
Yes, it is an Advent/ Christmas song. But it fits so perfectly. Please forgive me if I am rushing the season too. 😉
Oh, the depth of the riches of God And the breadth of the wisdom and knowledge of God For who has known the mind of God To Him be glory forever
A virgin will carry a child and give birth And His name shall be called Emmanuel For who has known the mind of God To Him be glory forever
The people in darkness have seen a great light For a child has been born, His dominion is wide For who has known the mind of God To Him be glory forever
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our two readings remind us that the journey into God is an ever-deepening passage to which we must continually open our hearts.
The Wisdom writer addresses those who sincerely seek God, but who cannot see beyond God’s handiwork. So they are satisfied to make gods of these created wonders:
All persons were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God, and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing him who is, and from studying the works did not discern the artisan; But either fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circuit of the stars, or the mighty water, or the luminaries of heaven, the governors of the world, they considered gods. Now if out of joy in their beauty they thought them gods, let them know how far more excellent is the Lord than these; for the original source of beauty fashioned them.
Wisdom 13:1-3
The writer seems astounded that these seekers get lost on their way to full knowledge of God:
For they search busily among his works, but are distracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair. But again, not even these are pardonable. For if they so far succeeded in knowledge that they could speculate about the world, how did they not more quickly find its Lord?
Wisdom 13: 7-9
I don’t find it so astounding. The invisible God we love and worship can be elusive, and the world through which we seek that God can be deeply distracting. I think it’s pretty easy to get stuck worshipping signs of God (which we can see) rather than God (Whom we cannot see). I think that’s what Jesus might have meant when he said, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.”
Our Gospel reading gives us a hint about truly seeking God. It’s a reading I have always found a little bit scary. As a child, I envisioned myself, or the dear person next to me, getting swooped up in some unexpected divine tornado. It wasn’t a comfortable image.
I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left.” They said to him in reply, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.”
Luke 17: 34-37
I mean, really, this is nobody’s favorite scripture passage! But what can it teach us? Maybe this: just like the unfulfilled worshippers in our Wisdom passage, the folks Jesus describes were distracted by the necessities and frivolities of life. In their spiritual journeys, they had not fully opened their hearts to the holy expectation of God. When God comes in a swoop of Infinite Grace, they’re just not ready for the swooping!
In our readings today, both the Wisdom writer and Jesus are encouraging us to meet every life experience as an opportunity to move deeper into the mystery of God.
The Wise One tells us to look beyond the beautiful distractions of our lives into the One Who ordains them:
Now if out of joy in their beauty they thought them gods, let them know how far more excellent is the Lord than these; for the original source of beauty fashioned them.
Wisdom 13:3
And Jesus very bluntly tells us that our visible experiences hold a deeper meaning that we will never know unless we yield our life fully to God’s transforming grace:
Whoever seeks to preserve their life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.
Luke 17:33
Poetry: If only there were stillness, full, complete – Rainer Maria Rilke
If only there were stillness, full, complete. If all the random and approximate were muted, with neighbors’ laughter, for your sake, and if the clamor that my senses make did not confound the vigil I would keep —
Then in a thousandfold thought I could think you out, even to your utmost brink, and (while a smile endures) possess you, giving you away, as though I were but giving thanks, to all the living.
Music: Jessye Norman – Sanctus from Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile in G major, by Charles Gounod
I never hear this piece without being awestruck by Ms. Norman’s magnificent voice. I had the great joy of meeting her and working with her briefly on a project over thirty years ago. She was majestic in every way. May she rest in Peace.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we have two beautiful readings. Like rich fruit from a fructuous tree, each word and phrase can be savored long and separately.
Our first reading offers the consummate description of Wisdom, the Spirit Who is of and with God. If you can, take time to mentally finger the words in the first reading, the way you would your rosary beads. Let the power of each syllable sink into your heart as you imagine the Unimaginable Beauty who is God:
In Wisdom is a spirit:
And then listen to Jesus as he speaks to the Pharisees (and to us) in our Gospel.
Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.”
Luke 17:20-21
Jesus tells us that this Incomprehensible Divinity, this Reign of Wisdom, is already among us in the Person of Jesus Christ made flesh among us. We are to look clearly and deeply into our lives to find the Face of God.
Prose: from Evolutionary Faith by Diarmuid O’Murchu
“It is time to outgrow . . .
our rational anthropocentric need to impose order, structure, and closure on every sphere of experience. Our fear of wild eroticism, of creative chaos, and of the radically new possibilities often condemns us to the imprisonment of our fretful imaginations, which then drive us to impulsive action and an irrational desire to dominate and control.
“It is time to embrace . . .
horizons that stretch our minds and hearts to their very limits, trusting that the creative Spirit, who breaks down all rigid boundaries and barriers, will spearhead a new relationality in which we and every other organism will rediscover its true cosmic and planetary identity.”
Lavish Mercy 