Pastor of the Panhandle
Friday, March 12, 2004
Reflection #6
JMJ
V: Our help is in the name of the Lord. / Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.
R: Who made heaven and earth. / Qui fecit caelum et terram.
Scripture: Exodus 19:1-8
In the third month after their departure from the land of Egypt, on its first day, the Israelites came to the desert of Sinai. After the journey from Rephidim to the desert of Sinai, they pitched camp. While Israel was encamped here in front of the mountain, Moses went up the mountain to God. Then the LORD called to him and said, "Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob; tell the Israelites: You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagle wings and brought you here to myself. Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. That is what you must tell the Israelites." So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people. When he set before them all that the LORD had ordered him to tell them, the people all answered together, "Everything the LORD has said, we will do."
Reflection:
Imagine a desert scene, perhaps as it is typically represented in a movie. There is a distraught man, a towel tucked under his cap to shield the neck, his empty canteen being drug alongside as he crawls desperately toward a mirage of water. But there is no water. He cries out; even screams. As if crazed, he begins talking out loud from the depths of his fear and pain – the depths of his soul. Now transfer the image to Lent. Our wandering in the desert of self-denial and sacrifice should bear fruit in two important aspects of prayer: speaking and listening.
We should speak to God more truthfully about life and where we find ourselves now. As if crazed, we can even speak out loud! Perhaps our cries are from the heights of joy and a sense of blessing; perhaps they are from the depths of sadness, frustration, and despair. If a formulated prayer doesn’t quite match up with how we find life at the moment, putting the prayer book down for a bit and simply speaking is in order – revealing ourselves to God as we are. A fabricated “self” at prayer won’t often find an oasis. Rather, revealing ourselves truthfully to the One Whose self-revelation we desire is the best path to travel.
But the desert is largely a place of silence – something far too lacking in our prayer. So, once we have admitted and revealed our situation to God, we had best be reduced to humble listening – collapsed as it were, head in hands, at the place we thought we saw water. This silent listening must mark our Lenten prayer. Hopefully, it will continue well beyond Lent.
The Scripture, a selection from today’s Office of Readings, once again shows God’s People in the desert. We know from the Scriptures that Israel was not slow to voice its complaints, its worries, and its fears to God through Moses. But they also listened, albeit inconsistently, to God through Moses. Their prayer relationship of speaking and crying out was also marked by listening, such that, when presented with all the ordinances of the Lord, the whole people could say, “Everything the LORD has said, we will do.” And so, really, a third fruit of obedience is found. God has revealed Himself completely in His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Father’s spoken Word. We come to know him and the commands to which we must be faithful through Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the teaching of the Church, which Christ proclaims to be his very teaching voice (cf. Lk. 10:16). Speak from the depths of your soul. Yes. Spend even more time in silent listening. Yes. And do all that Christ commands. Yes. Then don't be surprised to find an oasis of peace no matter what life may bring!
Responsory: Psalm 27:1, 7, 14
V. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Hear, O Lord, the sound of my call; have pity on me, and answer me.
V. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.
V. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Blessing:
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. / Dominus nos benedicat, et ab omni malo defendat, et ad vitam perducat aeternam. Amen.
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Reflection #5
JMJ
V: Our help is in the name of the Lord. / Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.
R: Who made heaven and earth. / Qui fecit caelum et terram.
Scripture: Exodus 13:17-22
Now, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the Philistines' land, though this was the nearest; for he thought, should the people see that they would have to fight, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. Instead, he rerouted them toward the Red Sea by way of the desert road. In battle array the Israelites marched out of Egypt. Moses also took Joseph's bones along, for Joseph had made the Israelites swear solemnly that, when God should come to them, they would carry his bones away with them. Setting out from Succoth, they camped at Etham near the edge of the desert. The LORD preceded them, in the daytime by means of a column of cloud to show them the way, and at night by means of a column of fire to give them light. Thus they could travel both day and night. Neither the column of cloud by day nor the column of fire by night ever left its place in front of the people.
Reflection:
By great signs and wonders, God brought His people Israel out of their slavery in Egypt. But in order to leave their slavery behind and to arrive at the Promised Land, they were led through a place of death, the desert, wandering for forty years. The Scripture selection today shows us God’s mercy. He did not want His people to “see that they would have to fight” (Ex. 13:17) in order to be free, and to live in that land of God’s blessing, flowing with milk and honey. So, lest Israel halt its journey as soon as it had begun, God led them by a less than direct route. And though they would have to fight and battle, God did not leave them, He was always before them.
We, the baptized, are the spiritual descendants of that people Israel. But we would be hard pressed, considering all of God’s revelation in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, to demonstrate ignorance of the need to fight and battle the things that enslave and oppress us. That God became man and battled sin “from the inside out” should indicate this. That God humbled Himself to take on the limitations of a human nature ought to alert us to the importance God places on this battle. That God denied Himself the comforts of this life while in the desert, allowing Himself to be tempted by Satan, is clear indication of the battle at hand. And His unimaginable suffering and death at human hands can speak of nothing less than a battle and the cost of mankind’s salvation!
But, we have a benefit the people of Israel did not have: the fullness of God’s Revelation in His Son, Jesus Christ! Specifically, we know that Jesus Christ both takes up this battle and that he is the Victor, the Triumphant Conqueror. With such knowledge, our weakness is not so much a matter of being unaware of the battle, but of taking for granted that the battle must be fought. In other words, had God’s people Israel known of impending battle, they may have turned back to Egypt; we, the people of the New Covenant, knowing of Christ’s victory, can turn back to Egypt – to sin – out of presumption that there is nothing left to fight. How common this is! Presumption of salvation is rampant in our day. It would seem that with Christ’s victory, every person is simply and automatically bound for heaven. Such a notion is contrary to the entire history of Christianity. Yes, Christ has conquered sin and death and opened Paradise for each human person, but the battle to apply his victory in each life must still be undertaken.
And so, in Lent, we focus anew on the reality of the dynamic battle that must mark every human life destined for salvation. We, too, are in battle array: the sacred seal of Baptism marks us; the armor of prayer surrounds us; the exercise of self-mastery through spiritual disciplines is our Basic Training. Even the prayers of others and the cloak of the saints (relics much like the bones of Joseph with Israel) prepare us to willfully turn from slavery to sin and to live the victory of Christ! Let the sense of battle pervade the Christian life – not just in Lent. We are being led through the Lenten desert. Reviewing the disciplines of our Lent thus far, does it look like a desert? Or does a presumed salvation make our Lent look more like an occasional dry spell in an otherwise lush oasis?
Responsory: Ps. 31:5-6
V. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
Free me from the net they have set for me, for you are my refuge.
V. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
Into your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, Lord, faithful God.
V. Save me, O Lord, in your kindness.
Our Father.
Hail Mary.
Glory be.
Blessing:
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. / Dominus nos benedicat, et ab omni malo defendat, et ad vitam perducat aeternam. Amen.
