[img]http://www.catholica.com.au/sunday/images/Y-not_an_640x166.gif[/img]
February 26, 2017
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 Is 49:14-15
Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me;
my LORD has forgotten me."
Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 62:2-3, 6-7, 8-9
R. (6a) Rest in God alone, my soul.
Only in God is my soul at rest;
from him comes my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my stronghold; I shall not be disturbed at all.
R. Rest in God alone, my soul.
Only in God be at rest, my soul,
for from him comes my hope.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my stronghold; I shall not be disturbed.
R. Rest in God alone, my soul.
With God is my safety and my glory,
he is the rock of my strength; my refuge is in God.
Trust in him at all times, O my people!
Pour out your hearts before him.
R. Rest in God alone, my soul.
Reading 2 1 Cor 4:1-5
Brothers and sisters:
Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Now it is of course required of stewards
that they be found trustworthy.
It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes,
for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
and will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and then everyone will receive praise from God.
Gospel Mt 6:24-34
Jesus said to his disciples:
"No one can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky;
they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.
They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field,
which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,
will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?'
or 'What are we to drink?'or 'What are we to wear?'
All these things the pagans seek.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil."
"Don't worry. Trust me."
At times I get fed up with Catholica, with wordy contributions going nowhere, but I still try to catch up on threads once they've settled down and perhaps expired. That's the case just now with a thread that started off about conspiracy theories, of all things, but ended up with some of the best affirmations of belief and penetrating insight that I've read.
Readers might like to check on these posts: 195382 and the following four or five.
Another cause of despondency is the Royal Commission's hearings from church people which have been unexpectedly unpalatable. The Commission looks for causes and solutions in its rational and secular way, as it must, and panels of experts try to explain what they're doing without reference to the necessary point of view, the light which is faith. There's a light that Christians see by. What shows to rational thinking without that light is cold skeletal at best. There was a short exchange one day on our forum in this vein: 'We seem to have lost something since it all went professional' - I think they meant by comparison with the old days when women and men of faith went forth and did what they could for love of God, and the results were surprisingly great.
What to say, then, about a gospel that says: "Don't worry. Trust me", and a reading from Paul that says: '"It is of course required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.'"
TRUST - the passive and the active side of it. Imagine you're in an orange life-raft on a very stormy sea and a figure comes down from the hovering chopper, takes hold of you, and shouts: Don't worry. Trust me. You know you must relax and let her do her job. The very worst is to panic, tense up, try to do it for her. Trust at this moment means surrender. Let it be.
Whether it's your worn-out heart or your partner's long expected meeting with severe emphysema or a bush fire cresting the hills to windward, it's all much the same. Don't worry. Trust me.
But how? I can only suggest today that each one take time out to sit still and be there in the anxious fear. Yes, today I propose an exercise of quiet reflection. Be still for five or ten.
There's perspective to be gained in seeing how all things are passing and there's nowt we can do to stop them slipping away. Our atoms are destined to be recycled in some other wonderful expression of life's abundance, just like the grass that's burned and goes back to the earth as ash. Regeneration after devastating fires is wonderful to see. But our self - call it spirit, call it elohim, call it conscious awareness - it is destined to an awakening. John the disciple in one letter writes: We shall see him as he is, face to face.
Fear is the universal enemy. Fear is paralysing. Fear is depressing. Fear gives birth to panic which makes us curl up in a bundle blindly or take to our heels in flight. I fled him down the nights and down the days... [The Hound of Heaven, Francis Thompson]
Jeshua is remarkable for the challenge he makes to fear. He exhorts his disciples to be not afraid, and in himself he confronts it. "Fear not those who can destroy the body..." I wonder was he trying to convince himself! Trust is another side of hope: there is to be an outcome that will show up my fear for the fake it really is. This I hope. 'Every tear will be wiped away.' This I look forward to, though goodness only knows what form this new creation is to take.
The need to love must be greater than the need to fear. (Sue Thornton)
The active side of trust is being trustworthy, and here we meet our heartache. Why have so many stewards not been trustworthy? Well, no doubt for the same reason so many committed spouses fail to keep their pledge, and so many people in business fail to keep their promise and when things go wrong they fudge a result and hope you won't notice, and in general we all adulterate our conscience in choosing what suits us for a short term advantage, and break our trust. Trouble is when one is a steward of the mysteries of God and trust is broken, the fall-out is really dreadful.
Trust is at its greatest stretch in the matter of forgiveness. Can we trust you not to do it again? Can I trust you to forgive the wrong I've done you? Either way, it's bloody near impossible. But God manages. Paul knows what hard work trusting is:
I am not conscious of anything against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
And further down this same letter he will write:
I am [...] unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not in vain. [1 Cor 15:9-10]
As a priest once, I confess I abused the trust placed in me and hurt some people badly. Shame would make us curl up and die, but is that a choice we have? Would that not make God's grace to us be in vain? We christians are in the business of repairs and restoration, not of crushing and demolition the way they crush old cars or demolish ruined buildings. So now we identify with the victims because we know their pain more intimately that one who is entirely innocent might, and we work for healing. Apologies and compensation humanly can only skim the surface, and this is a necessary start, but then:
Restoration to life comes from the author of life.
It is being given, though wounds take years to heal and we are naturally impatient.
Maybe:
A man slipped off the edge of a cliff. As he fell he managed to grab hold of a tree branch, but could not hoist himself up again. He shouted for help again and again. As his arms grew tired he became desperate.
"God! If there's a god out there, help me! If you're real, save me! Make someone hear my calls!"
And a voice came: "I can save you if you can believe."
"Oh Lord," he screamed. "I believe! I do believe!"
Gently the voice asked: "You believe I can save you?"
"Yes, I do. I do!" he blubbered.
And softly the voice said: "All right then. Now - let go."
Faith is a matter of trusting surrender, entrusting myself to another, morethan an intellectual exercise.