Sunday Gospel Reflection, January 26, 2020: Upon those who dwell in the land of gloom, a light has shone...

Upon those who dwell in the land of gloom, a light has shone…

Has the Lord dispelled your darkness?

  In Matthew’s Gospel, the ministry of Jesus begins after the arrest of John the Baptist.  Matthew recognizes that Jesus leaves Nazareth and goes to live by Capernaum by the sea in order to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah had said, that in the region of Zebulum and Naphtali, a new light has arisen, dispelling darkness and gloom.  Jesus’ ministry – teaching, preaching, and healing – will be cause for abundant joy and great rejoicing – so great, indeed, that his call will be impossible to resist!  The first apostles, Simon and Andrew, leave their nets and follow Jesus at his simple request:  Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.  They abandon all that is comfortable, all that they know, to follow him, to follow that light.  It is unimaginable, and yet, it is what we are called to, too.  Like the psalmist in Psalm 27, who realizes that the Lord is his light and his salvation, we must recognize the Lord’s presence to us here and now, see God dwelling with us, here and now, finding refuge in the Lord, our light, a sense of security that he instills within us.  Confidence in the Lord right now is essential to our ability to abandon everything and follow him, united in purpose and in goal.

  The early Church struggled with that kind of unity.  Paul exhorts the Corinthians:  I urge…that there be no divisions among you, that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.  We gather for Eucharist to become of one mind and one heart; our common ground is Jesus Christ himself, as we are baptized in his name, joined as one body, to one unity.  Salvation is to be found in his love for all people, a love grounded in our recognition of the light and of the power of the love of God that it embodies in our lives.  Let us join with Jesus, united in the same mind and the same purpose, prepared to embrace all that Christ represents in our lives, ready to participate in something greater than ourselves as we embrace the cross of Christ, knowing that through it, and only through it, darkness has been dispelled, that we may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and follow him always.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com  

Sunday Gospel Reflection, March 17, 2019: His face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white...

His face changed in appearance 

and his clothing became dazzling white...

Where do you meet God, and what does God look like?

  In the Book of Genesis, Abram is on his journey to the land promised to him by God when God assures Abram that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky.  To solidify his covenant with Abram, God has Abram prepare a sacrifice that turns unsettling, to say the least:  a trance falls upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness envelops him.  God then appears in the form of a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, passing between the animal carcasses on the altar.  God is thus a light in Abram's darkness, remaining mysterious (because of the smoke) but becoming ever clearer as Abram centers himself in God, moving out of himself so as to enter into relationship.  God is Abram's light and his salvation, as Psalm 27 puts it; in God's presence, Abram has no one to fear.

  At the moment of the Transfiguration, in Luke's Gospel, darkness also comes in the form of a cloud, frightening Peter, John and James, obscuring their vision.  But that darkness, coming as it does after they witness the splendor of Jesus' glory and dazzling white garments, is the place from which God speaks to them:  This is my chosen Son; listen to him.  The disciples will not completely understand the Transfiguration at first, and they certainly are not yet ready to accept his passion (and death on a cross), both of which Jesus has already predicted to them, but they are on their way, on that journey, entering as best they can into relationship with the Lord within their limited human understanding. The Philippians will be similarly challenged, hesitating to accept the necessity of the cross, tempted to imitate enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is their destruction.  But Paul reminds them that their citizenship is in heaven; they can only enter fully into relationship with the Lord if they embrace not only his resurrection but also his death.  They must encounter the Lord where he is, not where they want to find him.

  We all live, to some extent, in a cloud; no one fully grasps the Lord in all his ineffable glory.  But the Transfiguration is a promise of the glory to come, the divine light that will shine upon us all.  Every day is a new opportunity to meet God in a way we have not met God previously -- in each other, in the events of our lives, in every thought we have, in every deed we accomplish.  Though we may not understand, we are called to trust, with the faith that we too will one day conform with Christ's glorified body, the ultimate fulfillment of the promise of relationship made with Abram so long, long ago. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.

Image source: www.wordclouds.com  

Sunday Gospel Reflection, January 22, 2017: The Lord is my light and my salvation...

 The Lord is my light and my salvation… 

Is Jesus the light in your darkness? 

   In Biblical times, darkness often represented danger or evil.  Speaking of a time when Israel will be delivered from the Assyrians who have degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the prophet Isaiah tells of God’s promise of a savior:  Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness… The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.  It is no surprise, then, that when, in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus goes to live in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, he is fulfilling the promise of Isaiah, embodying the very light of which Isaiah had spoken.  Jesus is our light in the darkness, and when his future disciples see him, they immediately abandon all they are familiar with – their boats, their livelihood – to follow this light.  He represents their opportunity to do as Psalm 27 suggests, to gaze on the loveliness of the Lord, and to dwell in his house forever.  How beautiful would it be if we could always put ourselves in that place, recognizing God with us always, responding always from a place of love, God’s love, rather than from a place of the fear that all too often governs our lives.

   It is because of the light of Christ, and in that light, that Paul can enjoin the Corinthians to seek unity, urging them to agree in what they say, with no divisions among them.  The Corinthians have seen the light, by the grace of baptism, and need to focus on the good news, the truth of the passion, death, and rising of Jesus, the beacon of light who brings abundant joy and great rejoicing, and who dwells within them still.  They, too, must recognize that the Lord is their light and their salvation, and act accordingly, living in the same mind and in the same purpose, ever attentive to the Lord revealed in their midst, responding with love rather than fear, that Jesus might continue to be the light in their darkness, as he is in our own.

The Lord is my light and my salvation…

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle

Sunday Gospel Reflection, February 21, 2016: Stand firm in the Lord...

  Stand firm in the Lord…  

  From what posture might we best encounter God?  

   In Genesis, the Lord takes Abram outside and invites him to look to the stars as a measure of the number of descendents he will bear, descendents who will take possession of a land alien to Abram at some future time.  Abram has no evidence that what God promises will come to pass, yet he puts his trust in the Lord, accepting the new covenant offered by God in spite of the deep darkness that first enfolds him. Abram thus enters into right relationship with God, and will henceforth live from God's promise; his posture is one of absolute faith in the Lord.  Psalm 27 likewise tells of an encounter of complete trust:  the psalmist sees God as his goal, the purpose of his life; his heart tells him that God is what he needs.  Like Abram and the psalmist, our hearts drive us to encounter God from a posture of trust, knowing that God will illumine our existence:  The Lord is my light and my salvation.

   In Luke's version of the Transfiguration, Peter's posture is not as well grounded as that of Abram or the psalmist.  Confronted with the presence of Moses and Elijah on the mountain with Jesus, Peter wants to hold on to old traditions, building tents for the prophets as his ancestors would have done.  Instead, God intervenes, pointing him to a new posture:  Listen to him, God tells Peter.  In other words, stay open, stay firm, and trust.  Only after Jesus' death and rising will Peter come to a full understanding of this experience on the mountain; only then will he come to understand the cross of Christ of which Paul speaks to the Philippians; only once he embraces that cross will Peter know, as we might one day know, the transformation of our lowly body into one glorified like that of Christ.

   To stand firm in the Lord is to encounter Jesus from a posture of openness and trust, with faith in God's promise of salvation.  It is, in short, a posture of love, calling us to absolute faith in God's power, a power grounded in God's love for humanity and his willingness to send his Son to die for us on the cross, arms open, embracing the world.

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle