MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.I do not see the road ahead of me.I cannot know for certain where it will
end.Nor do I really know myself, and
the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually
doing so.But I believe that the desire
to please you does in fact please you.And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.I hope I will never do anything apart from
that desire.And I know that if I do
this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about
it.Therefore I will trust you always
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
How would this moment be different if you sensed the eyes of
God upon you?
Our readings this Sunday challenge us not only to realize
that the eyes of the Lord are upon those
who fear him – and that means you, if you are in awe of God – but also to
turn our own faces to God, to meet God’s eyes in faith and confidence.
Psalm 33 sets the stage:See,
the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, upon those who hope for his
kindness, To deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine.Israel has a special relationship with God,
and the people’s awe (fear of the Lord)
indicates a strong awareness of that relationship.God watches out for them, but this must be a
two-way street:God is waiting for us to
make eye contact, too, thereby demonstrating our faith in his promise, a
promise in which we have put our hope,
the salvation of the just presented
in the Book of Wisdom.Do we have the sure knowledge of our fathers? Are we making eye contact with God?
Jesus likewise reiterates God’s promise for all in our
Gospel from Luke, calling upon the whole church to look to the future, so
that we can live a life of faith here, now, in the present, moving forward with
confidence, meeting God’s eyes.Your Father is pleased to give you the
kingdom, he says, in the present tense.That kingdom is ours if we are prepared, if we can detach ourselves from
material goods so that we can contribute to the building of the kingdom
ourselves, as stewards of God’s will, in
faith, as stressed in the Letter to the Hebrews.And from this place of faith, we can move
forward with confidence, investing ourselves entirely in
the God who has given us hope, looking to God, meeting God’s eyes, knowing that
we are secure in God’s loving kindness.
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class. Photo source
In Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer-prize winning novel Gilead, an elderly Iowa preacher
shares his life experiences in a letter to his young son.His greatest lesson is one
of the importance of being open to God’s presence, and the ways in which that
presence can transfigure the world. The preacher writes:
It has seemed to me
sometimes as though the Lord breathes on this poor gray ember of Creation and
it turns to radiance – for a moment or a year or the span of a life.And then it sinks back into itself again, and
to look at it no one would know it had anything to do with fire, or light.
[…]But the Lord is more constant and
far more extravagant than it seems to imply.Wherever you turn your eyes the world can shine like transfiguration.You don’t have to bring a thing to it except
a little willingness to see.Only, who
could have the courage to see it?
When you walk outdoors and turn your
eyes to the dome of the sky, do you ever notice the beauty of birds in flight through it, the
sunlight on your face? Do you find God present in that moment? Such simple things can offer glimpses of God’s glory, less shocking,
maybe, than the dazzlement of the Transfiguration, but still, glorious (and extravagant!) in
their simplicity. Or, you might find Christ’s light in the eyes of someone you love, or even in the shock
of eyes meeting yours in the street.That moment of connection can be a sign of God’s presence through the
Spirit, the flame that we acknowledge at Pentecost, the brilliance of a moment of Transfiguration, made real, concrete, in the
eyes of another...
The truth is, we never really know when God will choose to
reveal a glimpse of God’s divine glory…But if we open our eyes, we might see it – if we dare, if we have the
courage, if we are attentive to the
many manifestations of God’s presencein
our daily life.
On August 6th, Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, where Jesus appeared to three apostles in dazzling glory. We also remember another event, this one similarly blinding by its light, yet devastating in its consequences and human in origin: the bombing of Hiroshima. Let us remember to say a prayer for peace this day, and every day.
Prayer for World Peace
Great God who has told us, "Vengeance is mine,'
save us from ourselves,
save us from the vengeance in our hearts,
and the acid in our souls.
Save us from our desire to hurt as we have been hurt,
to punish as we have been punished,
to terrorize as we have been terrorized.
Give us the strength it takes to listen rather than to judge,
to trust rather than to fear, to try again and again
to make peace even when peace eludes us.
We ask, O God, for the grace to be our best selves.
We ask for the vision to be builders of the human community,
rather than its destroyers.
We ask for the humility as a people
to understand the fears and hopes of other peoples.
We ask for the love it takes to bequeath to the children of the world to come
more than the failures of our own making.
We ask for the heart it takes to care for all the peoples
of Afghanistan and Iraq, of Palestine and Israel
as well as for ourselves.
Give us the depth of soul, O God, to constrain our might,
to resist the temptations of power, to refuse to attack the attackable,
to understand that vengeance begets violence,
and to bring peace -- not war -- wherever we go.
For You, O God, have been merciful to us.
For You, O God, have been patient with us.
For You, O God, have been gracious to us.
And so may we be merciful and patient and gracious and trusting
with these others whom you also love.
This we ask through Jesus, the one without vengeance in his heart.
This we ask forever and ever. Amen.
(Prayer for World Peace, Sr. Joan Chittister, Benedictine Sisters of Erie)
"The Cyrus Cylinder is among the most revered objects to have survived from the ancient world.
The Cylinder was inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform on the orders of the Persian king Cyrus the Great after he captured Babylon in 539 BCE. It records how Cyrus restored shrines and allowed displaced peoples to return home. Although they are not mentioned in the Cylinder, it is thought to be at this time that the Jews returned to Jerusalem to build the Second Temple, as recorded in the Bible. Because of these enlightened acts the Cylinder has come to be regarded as a special and innovative document.
"The Cylinder marks the foundation of the Persian Empire that reached its greatest size under Darius the Great (522–486 BCE) when it stretched from Egypt to India and from Arabia to the Aral Sea. This was the largest empire the world had seen up until that time, and to administer such a large area effectively it was necessary to introduce new practices and different ways of doing things. There were also technological advances during this time, as well as artistic and architectural developments. From many points of view the Persian period may be described as a new beginning for the region. The objects that accompany the Cylinder have been chosen to reflect this. The exhibition shows that the two centuries of Persian rule were a period of change and progress."
The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is one of only five venues in the Cyrus Cylinder's historic U.S. tour, and the Cylinder will be on view here, beginning next Friday, from August 9-September 22. This is the first time the Cylinder has visited the United States. For more information on viewing the Cyrus Cylinder, click here.
Text quoted from the Asian Art Museum's webpage. Photo source
Our readings this Sunday all challenge us to think carefully
about the choices we make, about the priorities we set, and the way we live our
lives according to those priorities.In
the Gospel from Luke, Jesus is confronted by a man who is more concerned
about worldly goods than about his relationship with his brother; he wants his
inheritance now.But one’s
life does not consist of possessions, Jesus tells the speaker.To focus on material wealth is to focus on
the tangible, and thus perishable; to focus on relationship is to acknowledge
that which is eternal, a bond grounded in love.As with the man in the parable Jesus tells to illustrate this story, we
must strive to be rich in what matters to
God.
So much of life is transitory, ephemeral.Vanity
of vanities, Qoheleth tells us in the first reading from Ecclesiastes, All things are vanity!Do we locate value in what we produce, or
rather, in the simple joy of working every day and taking pleasure in ability
to do so?The latter bespeaks attention
to God’s presence in our lives, a presence manifested in joy.If, in life, nothing is
constant and change is inevitable, then only God is eternally faithful, with us
at every moment, and we are called to embrace that intangible presence daily,
minute by minute.Thus, the psalmist
asks, Teach us to number our days aright,
that we might gain wisdom of heart… And, Fill us at daybreak with your kindness (Psalm 90).Imagine waking each day actively open to being filled with God’s loving kindness.How much more joyful might our days then be,
and how much more easily might we be able to put on a new self in Christ, as Paul suggests to the Colossians, a self undistracted by that which is earthly, a self focused on the
intangible and mysterious action of God’s love in our lives, a self renewed in the image of its Creator?A self, that is, rich in what matters to God!
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class. Photo source
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