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Posts Tagged ‘Relationships’

The Romantic Dynamics of God’s Love

Posted in Ordinary Time, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, Who Am I in God, Who is God, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Readings for January 19th:

  1. Isaiah 62:1–5
  2. Psalm 96:1–2, 2–3, 7–8, 9–10
  3. 1 Corinthians 12:4–11
  4. John 2:1–11

What stands out to me from this week’s readings:

Today’s readings remind me that God’s nature is relationship – not just relationship between the Persons of the Trinity but with creation. God creates because God’s nature is relationship, and a relationship isn’t something that happens to one person. It’s a bond between at least two.

Today’s readings are about an intimate bond, the most intimate bond, the bond between God and God’s people. The readings characterize this bond as a bond between a bride and a groom. They paint an idealized picture of the bond between newlyweds. In the Old Testament reading, God is the groom who “delight[s]” and “rejoice[s]” in his bride (Isa. 62:4-5). Yes, the bride and groom exchange vows him, but the first reading makes it clear that more than vows, expectations, and a legal bond joins the bride and groom. It’s not a bond that’s imposed. It’s a bond that forms and grows. So is the relationship between God and a person who loves God.

The psalm says the royal groom gives the bride cause to sing His praises and get dressed up. Why? Because the groom is a just and heroic leader who escorts His previously captive, deceived, and abused bride to freedom. When I look at this week’s epistle through the lens of a marriage between an individual and God, the passage says to me that the relationship between God and each person is unique. It comes with pleasant experiences, less pleasant ones, challenges, and surprises. Each person’s relationship with God is unique. Each one of these relationships offers distinct gifts to the world.

Fittingly, given the marriage metaphor developed in the first reading, this week’s gospel passage takes place at a wedding. What stood out to me as I revisited the passage this time was the role of surprise in it. Based on what we find in the New Testament, Jesus knows how his earthly ministry will end, but He’s surprised by encounters He has during it. Maybe he doesn’t know everything all at once. The stories about his infancy and childhood suggest this.

And then His mother comes to Him at a wedding and says the host is out of wine. He seems to wonder what this problem has to do with his ministry and mission. Yet I imagine he knows that any good he does can serve that mission. He also knows relationship is the source and goal of the mission. Interaction between two living beings creates that relationship. So his mother’s request plays a key part in his work on this occasion.

He’s not the only person surprised in the passage. The head waiter is surprised, too, by how much better the second batch of wine, the one Jesus changed from water, is than the first.

And why wouldn’t surprise have an important role in the passage? Continuing to be pleasantly surprised keeps a relationship interesting. Furthermore, being able to accept unexpected developments is crucial in a healthy relationship. Responding to these developments in authentically helpful ways is also essential.

I would think having a basis in more than routine and ritual is also important. When I think about this, it seems significant that Jesus uses jars meant for ceremonial washings. He fills them with the water that will become wine. He takes vessels used for ritual and for external purposes and uses them to provide for the needs of the guests.

A lot of water wasn’t safe for drinking for centuries. Water was for spiritual and practical cleansing, in many cases. According to this source, wine mixed with water was for drinking. So not providing guests with enough wine wouldn’t just have been a serious social faux pas. It was likely also health concern.

Therefore, by making sure the host has more wine, Jesus is providing for those present physically and emotionally. He hasn’t made sure they have more wine so they merely survive. As a good spouse cares, He cares about how the guests feel and wants them to thrive. This passage reminds me of when Jesus says, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10) Like the jars for ceremonial washing, he wants the guests “filled to the brim” with what they need. It’s not enough just to keep the jars – us — from being empty.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Claire Erlenborn turns to this week’s readings for help with reflecting on what makes “change for the good” happen.

This week’s prayer:

Jesus, I want to fall in love with You. Help me grow in my relationship with you so our relationship can take part in bringing good change to the world. Amen.

Work cited (but Not Linked to):

The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.

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Gathering Together: Reflections on the Readings for the Fourth Week of Advent

Posted in Advent, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Grant Whitty on Unsplash

Readings for December 22nd:

  1. Micah 5:1–4a
  2. Psalm 80:2–3, 15–16, 18–19
  3. Hebrews 10:5–10
  4. Luke 1:39–45

What stands out to me from this week’s readings:

What stands out to me from this week’s readings is a theme of gathering together.

The first reading describes the Messiah coming from

Bethlehem-Ephrathah,
too small to be among the clans of Judah . . . .

and yet the passage says of "one who is to be ruler in Israel":

". . . the rest of his kindred shall return
    to the children of Israel.
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock . . . 

and they shall remain, for now his greatness
    shall reach to the ends of the earth;
    he shall be peace. (Micah 5:1-4)

The passage strikes me as a movement from the individual to the society, from the seemingly insignificant to the infinite. We read about the Messiah first and the flock second, but the movement of the passage is really in the other direction. The passage predicts the Messiah drawing all people to himself.

While the Old Testament reading strikes me as being about how the people will move toward God, the psalm strikes me as asking God to move toward the people. It asks God to protect and to save the people.

The epistle says that Christ is the fulfillment of what the Old Testament reading and the psalm foretell and ask for.

In the gospel passage, we read about Mary and Elizabeth being gathered together. God draws Mary to visit Elizabeth, and Elizabeth is drawn to the sound of Mary’s voice, as is John. Why? Because Mary brings Christ to Elizabeth and John.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Sarah Simmons, CSJ, is inspired by the readings for December 22 to reflect on the role of bodies in bringing Christ to the world — Elizabeth’s body, Mary’s body, my body, and your body.

What I’m saying (to the readings and beyond) this week:

For we are a people of the incarnation, we believe that Christ is within all of us, including you.  How do you long to express it?

Sarah Simmons, CSJ

This question is delightfully attention grabbing for me. I would have expected a similar question to ask what I should do, what the Holy Spirit is prompting me to do? But how do I long to express Christ within me? That feels like a different question with a different answer. Longing to express something is a different experience than being expected to express something. Both experiences feel familiar. And how authentic is the expression of something that I’m saying because I’m expected to. Am I expressing what I am only because I think I’m expected to? What is my answer to the question that was actually the end of the reflection?

I long to express the incarnation of Christ within me by helping to create spaces where people feel safe. In these spaces, they can be honest with themselves and each other. This honesty happens because they recognize the many ways their experiences and desires overlap.

I believe the way a space is arranged and decorated can allow experiences of safety and connection. This belief is why many forms of design and decorating interest me. I also believe that how stories —both fictional and nonfictional ones — are told is crucial. They are key vehicles for creating spaces that allow room for growth and connection.

I’m always longing to share my own story more fully and more effectively, and to help others share theirs. It’s my experience that the storytelling journey is never a linear one, and it requires cooperation and vulnerability. It requires wrestling with what to hold on to and what to let go of. It invites a person to ponder when to take advice and when to follow God’s voice within. It involves gathering people together. It also celebrates the uniqueness of every person. Participating in stories is an intimate activity. It takes members of crowds who may start as strangers and builds relationships between them.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, work through us so that we draw each other to You. Help us recognize Your presence within us and in each other. May we recognize the people around us bringing You to us. Thank You, Lord, for our fellow Christ-carriers. Gather us together. Lead us on the path to peace both within and around us. Amen

Work cited (but Not Linked to):

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “4th Sunday of Advent — Sunday 22 December 2024: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.198, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 13 Dec. 2024, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm.

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In Advent’s Third Week, Let God’s Joy Sink in

Posted in Advent, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Photo by KaLisa Veer on Unsplash

Readings for December 8th:

  1. Zephaniah 3:14–18a
  2. Isaiah 12:2–3, 4, 5–6
  3. Philippians 4:4–7
  4. Luke 3:10–18

What stands out to me from this week’s readings:

I generally think of the readings for this season being about God’s people rejoicing because God is with them, drawing them close. I especially think this about the readings for the third week of Advent. Or I did until I actually read the passages.

This week’s first reading says that God rejoices in God’s people. The psalm reflects what I expect to read in this week’s readings. Together, the readings describe the relationship between God and God’s people.

The epistle describes how prayer strengthens that relationship. It’s a relationship that needs trust, openness, and gratitude to thrive. It’s a relationship that when nurtured, calms anxieties and prompts rejoicing. It’s a relationship that spreads its qualities to other relationships. The gospel passage supports this message about the effects of a relationship with God on relationships with others. It also reminds me that my relationships with others, and indeed, with all of creation, affect the strength of my connection with God.

The strength of God’s love never changes. In other words, God never stops rejoicing over us because we are not our sins and shortcomings. We’re God’s children, expressions of God’s love. Imagine the connection between a person and God like the connection between two phones. God is represented by one of the phones, and God never cuts off communication. Rather, it’s the phones of our minds, hearts and souls that often don’t receive the strongest signals.

What I’m saying (to the readings and beyond) this week:

The truth of everything I typed above is just sitting on the surface of my consciousness. Lord, let Your love permeate my being.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

What great wisdom in the Church’s tradition, to put a day for joy in this season of stillness, to remind us that joy comes when we slow down, when we accept silence and waiting and inactivity, and when we remember that everything good is a gift from God. Yes, indeed, Advent is a time for joy.

Kate Ward

Check out the full reflection on the readings for December 15th that includes this quote.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, help me experience and share Your joy. Amen.

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The Spirit Opens Us to God and One Another

Posted in Disability, Ordinary Time, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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Readings for September 8:

  1. Isaiah 35:4–7a
  2. Psalm 146:7, 8–9, 9–10
  3. James 2:1–5 
  4. Mark 7:31–37

What this week’s readings say to me:

The readings for September 8 give me more to work with in the exploration of what justice means that I began in last week’s post. The passages tell me that doing justice means making sure that everyone has what they need to thrive physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Justice serves what gives life by looking beneath the surface for signs of that life. It doesn’t serve that which is fleeting or artificial—except when what is fleeting or artificial serves what’s good and eternal.

Beyond this week’s readings:

In the previous section, I wrote that justice removes barriers rather than that justice heals, even though the readings for September 8 contain more than one reference to what are often called healings. I wrote to “removes barriers” because I’d like to propose that the references to physical healing in the readings don’t have to be as much about removing this physical impairment or that one – any physical impairment, for that matter — as we may be accustomed to thinking they are. (By the way, these perspectives on physical impairment and their relationship to well-known accounts in Scripture are far from unique to me. Ms. Iozzio, whose reflection is linked in the next section, offers a perspective that relates to my own.)

Healing is involved, but I propose that more is being healed than seems apparent. A man’s physical Deafness is removed, and his difficulties with speech are removed so that he can connect with and contribute to his community in different ways than he has before. The event inspires his faith in Jesus as God incarnate.

I find it revealing that Jesus doesn’t say to the man “hear” and “speak clearly” when he lays hands on the man. Instead, He says, “Be opened!” (Mark 7:34). Granted, I can imagine ancient peoples explaining Deafness as being caused by the ears being closed. But I can also see “Be opened!” meaning, “Be open to faith.” For this man, Jesus is also opening the door to relating to his community in a new way. I invite you to read more about that new way of relating by clicking the link in the next section.

Each of us, regardless of what our limitations are and what causes them, are our most God-like selves when we’re open to faith and community. There are multiple ways to facilitate this openness. Healing impairments is only one of them. We can remove barriers. We can also be open to alternate ways of communicating and seeing. Impairments do no mean that a person reflects God’s image any less clearly than someone who seems to be without impairments. Being a member of the Deaf community or having a disability or illness doesn’t make anyone any less complete than anyone else. This perspective affects everyone because no one on this side of heaven has an invincible body.

New Testament support passages support the perspective that, though we are called to do our best to take care of what we have, and God is present to us to us so that we can share our desire to be well, having certain abilities isn’t the ultimate goal of the spiritual life. Consider that:

  • Jesus tells his apostles that a man’s blindness is not reflection of his own sinfulness or the sinfulness of his parents (John 9:1-3).
  • Saul, who will become Paul, goes blind when Jesus speaks to him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:7).
  • Jesus heals a paralyzed man, telling him to get up and walk so that [onlookers] “may know [He has] the authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:9-12).
  • After healing a woman who’s had a hemorrhage for years, Jesus says to her, “your faith has saved you (Luke 7:50).

The human conditions in the examples above aren’t punishments. Even in Paul’s case, I think it’s the brightness of the light that blinds him, and the blindness helps him rely on God and the people around him (Acts 9:8). Blindness means the loss of physical vision for Paul, but it also means the acquisition of clearer spiritual vision for him.

However, it’s important to note that, in the same way that having an impairment doesn’t make a person less complete, than a person without that impairment, the condition also doesn’t necessarily make a person more spiritually insightful than a person without the same impairment. It’s also important to note that God is at work in different ways in different situations and to be cautious about presuming to understand why circumstances are what they are. Every situation presents its own challenges and its own opportunities for grace.

In each of the examples above, the physical healing isn’t the only or even the primary gift Jesus offers. The miracles treat sick souls, and not just the soul of the person who experiences a physical impact, but also the souls of the people who witness the impact or learn of it more than 2,000 years later.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Mary Jo Iozzio brings contemporary perspectives on Deafness and disability into conversation with the Gospel passage for September 8. She helps us consider that that the passage isn’t about just one person “[b]e[ing] opened,” one person receiving the physical abilities that many his neighbors have.

This week’s prayer:

Lord, help us to be open to You and to one another. Help us to respond to Your invitation to healthy relationships, which are two-way streets that can be built in many ways. Amen.

Work cited (but Not Linked to)

The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.

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Easter Week 4: See and Lead with Help from God Within

Posted in Easter, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, Who Am I in God, Who is God, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Taylor Smith on Unsplash

This week’s readings:

  1. Acts 4:8–12
  2. Psalm 118:1, 8–9, 21–23, 26, 28, 29
  3. 1 John 3:1–2 
  4. John 10:11–18

What this week’s readings say to me:

This week, the readings say to me that they’re about the frailty of vision that isn’t God’s vision. They’re also about the human struggle to accept that while we can’t understand everything that happens in our earthly lives, our inability to see and to understand what we see doesn’t mean God isn’t present in all circumstances.

In the first reading, we have people trying to figure out how a man’s physical impairment disappeared. The people aware of this occurrence are apparently trying to figure this out after the apostles healed this man and announced that they were doing so in the name of Jesus Christ when they did it. We also see Peter declaring that [Jesus] “is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone” [the italics are from the source and indicate a reference to an Old Testament passage the hearers would have been familiar with.] (Acts 4:11). The passage is a reminder that Someone condemned to die, especially by the most humiliating, agonizing means possible looks like someone whose leadership should be rejected.

But this Someone is Jesus Christ. He had to suffer and descend into death to bring back to life with Him others who had suffered and died because of sin and still others who would have died had He not opened a door on the other side of death for others to walk through into new life. The name of this same Someone with a carpenter’s training — Jesus Christ — didn’t seem like it ought to be able to heal someone’s impairment. But the passage tells me that the name did just that when it was called upon by men who had faith and experience in and with the power that name has.

The psalm warns:

It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.

Psalm 118:8-9

I hear these verses as reminders:

  • not to rush to trust
  • not to base my trust on criteria that are “passing away” (1John 2:17).
  • to invite the Holy Spirit into my decisions about who to trust
  • To allow time for trust to be built and to be earned
  • to practice discernment about my motives when seeking the trust of others
  • to practice discernment about the motives of others when considering whether to follow or to imitate them
  • to ask the Holy Spirit for help with honoring God in others.
  • It’s God’s spirit and having God’s image that makes authentic success and leadership possible.
  • The fact that something has always been done a certain way, or is popular, or is done by those in power doesn’t necessarily mean the action should be imitated or continued.
  • It’s a blessing to follow those who do lead in the name of the Lord; doing so helps us continue experiencing life in the Lord’s presence.
  • Providing holy leaders is one of the ways God cares for us, and this care is one of the many signs of God’s goodness and reasons to thank God.

The last reminder doesn’t mean that everything everyone in a position of leadership does is holy. How could it be when no one is perfect, and everyone’s vision is limited? Furthermore, can anyone truly be a leader if no one follows him or her? I pose this question as I remember that I have roles to play in who leads me, what I follow, and how I lead others. And no matter the limitations and failings of earthly leaders, the Heavenly Leader never stops guiding with wisdom and love and beckoning me to follow.

The third reading reminds me that we’re not only invited to be followers of God. We are children of God and as such, are called to live lives that reflect the dwelling of God’s spirit within us. The passage says that even when we live in ways that reflect our Divine Parent, we aren’t always treated with the dignity we’ve inherited as God’s children, and sadly, we often don’t treat our siblings in God with the dignity they’ve inherited. When we don’t know God as well as we like to think we do, we don’t treat what belongs to God with the dignity that we would if we had God’s unlimited vision. The third reading — the epistle — tells me that if we surrender our vision again and again to God’s cleansing, we’ll better appreciate the gifts offered by the people and things around us, and the more we seek to see as God sees, the better prepared will be to receive gifts we can’t imagine when we pass into the next life. Yet even if we have the grace to open ourselves to these gifts as much as we can, we have no way of conceiving what an eternal life of full communion and total reciprocity of love will be like.

In the gospel reading, Jesus provides additional imagery to convey the lessons of the psalm about who a true leader is and isn’t and what a true leader does and doesn’t do. The true leader isn’t just doing a job. The true leader isn’t playing a role that he’s kept in and out of for his own convenience and benefit. The true leader doesn’t use, abuse, or manipulate those in his care. Instead, he proves himself worthy of their love by being honest with them, serving them, and inviting them to do is he does. He extends this invitation to all. The true leader treats those in his care as beloved family. He gives of himself to those in his care. Jesus is the ultimate leader, who gave of himself to those in his care to the point of offering his very life.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Sharon M.K. Kugler reflects on this week’s readings by exploring how our beliefs about ourselves, others, and God affect how we behave.

Beyond this week’s readings:

In the first section of last week’s post, I described the second reading as a reminder that being in a healthy relationship means (I paraphrase myself) communicating, cooperating, sharing priorities, and life. God’s commandments and Jesus’ teachings and modeling of how to fulfill them reveal God’s priorities and how to share in God’s life.

1 John 2:3–5 says that if we know Jesus Christ, [we] “keep his commandments, and if we don’t “keep his commandments” but say we “know him,” we “are liars and the truth is not in [us]. But whoever keeps his commandments, the love of God is truly perfected in him [or her].”

Elsewhere, the Scriptures tell us we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23). It follows from this understanding that we’re all liars sometimes, in the sense that we say we know God, and yet we don’t act like it, so we don’t know God as well as we like to talk as if we do. I know this is true for me. The love of God isn’t perfected in me, and yet, the Good Shepherd sacrificed His life for hypocrites like me, to help us avoid living double lives and following others who do. I close with the following prayer for all of us:

Lord, I tend to take my relationship with You for granted. Help me not to do this. Set my heart on fire withe love for You so I never give up on reacquainting myself with You as my Good Shepherd. Amen.

Works cited

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “4th Sunday of Easter 21 April 2024: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.187, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 6 March 2024, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm.

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The Easter Journey Continues: The Mind, Body, Soul, and Community Get New Life

Posted in Easter, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , on April 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

This week’s readings:

  1. Acts 3:13–15, 17–19
  2. Psalm 4:2, 4, 7–8, 9
  3. 1 John 2:1–5a
  4. Luke 24:35–48

What this week’s readings say to me:

This week’s readings say to me that they are about what it means for us to love God and what it means for God to love us. The first reading reminds us what can happen if we get caught up in the noise, the fear, and the intimidation of chaotic moments. It shows us what can happen if we let a herd mentality confuse our perceptions of what’s holy and what isn’t. The crucifixion is one event that happened in such a climate, the first reading reminds us. But the same passage also gives us Good News. It tells us we can acknowledge when our vision of what’s holy has been clouded, and we can ask the Holy Spirit to sweep the clouds away and help us to refocus our attention on the True Compass. The psalm promises that God won’t abandon us but will give us clarity and healing if we’re open to receiving these gifts.

The third reading says to me that to love means to give to and to receive from the Beloved. It means cooperating and sharing a common purpose. It says that love must be expressed with actions as well as words. It says love that meets these criteria is love of God.

The gospel reading calls attention to some additional characteristics of God’s love. God understands human nature better than any human, so God knows that pleasant surprises are good for relationships, including our relationship with God. Evidence of this knowledge is demonstrated in the way the newly resurrected Jesus enters into situations in which His first followers don’t expect Him to appear. Granted, these followers are surprised to see him largely because they’ve gathered with people who have seen His crucifixion, death and burial, but they might also be surprised because Jesus doesn’t knock on the door and wait for them to open it. I’m imagining He knows they wouldn’t have opened it if He had. They’re too scared of being arrested and meeting the same fate Jesus did. So He seems to simply appear “in their midst,” going around their fear and surprising them to give them what they need (Luke 24:36) — but not before He shows their intellect and their need for food some love. He appears in their midst after two of them have returned from a journey, and He has discussed with them what refers to Him in the Scriptures and then made himself “known to them in the breaking of bread” (Luke 24:35).

I also see this passage as a reminder that God shows Divine love by demonstrating that He knows we need each other. We have opportunities to be for one another a tangible connection to divine love. In this passage, the reports that two followers provide upon returning from the journey are one example of that connection. The other is what Jesus Himself does when he appears in the midst of the group. He points out to the gathering that he has “flesh and bones” he shows them his crucifixion wounds, and he asks for something to eat (Luke 24:39). Once he gives them a tangible connection to his resurrection, he reminds them of what he told them before his death. He reinforces that the physical and the mental/spiritual realms are intertwined and that both are sacred.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Mary Erika Bolaños offers a reflection that reminds us Christ’s resurrection isn’t just an event that happened in the past.

Beyond this week’s readings:

I feel reminded by the first reading that the narrowness of my perspective, my weaknesses, and my sins won’t keep God’s ultimate plan from being fulfilled, but I still need to own my narrowness, my weaknesses, and my sins and resolve to work with the Divine Plan instead of against it. Being a conduit for this plan is how I can experience renewal now and in the future.

The psalm invites me to return to it again and again, praying with its words, asking God to help me make them my own and to live them.

The third reading reminds me to make sure my actions are consistent with what I’d like to think is important to me and with what I’d like to think my relationship with God is. It also reminds me to ask God for help with making sure that what matters to me is what matters to God.

The gospel reading reminds me that God embraces all of me — mind, body, and spirit.

Lord, help me to accept the gifts of that embrace so that I can live them and share them. Amen.

Work cited

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “3rd Sunday of Easter 14 April 2024: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.187, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 6 March 2024, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm.

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Wisdom Shakes Up Routines — Sometimes

Posted in Lent, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , on March 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina 🇺🇦 on Unsplash

This week’s readings:

  1. Exodus 20:1–17
  2. Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11
  3. 1 Corinthians 1:22–25
  4. John 2:13–25

What this week’s readings say to me:

This week’s readings give specific examples of what wisdom looks like. In general, the readings tell me that wisdom appreciates healthy boundaries and relationships. The Ten Commandments, which are listed in the first reading, help us maintain healthy boundaries and relationships. The psalm celebrates the wisdom God offers us. The third reading acknowledges that humans often don’t recognize God’s wisdom, even though the psalm praises it. The third reading points out that God’s wisdom asks us to do more than accept a set of ideas, aspire to a set of ideals, or simply beg for God to act and then wait for the action.

The Gospel shows Jesus exemplifying that having faith is more than an intellectual activity, and it isn’t a passive activity. either. This week’s fourth reading also exemplifies that living a life of faith means seeking a healthy relationship with God. And a healthy relationship with God is more than a transactional relationship. It means more than going to a specific place and/or performing. Living a life of faith requires the cooperation of the whole person — body and spirit — and the offering of everything he or she has to God.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Vickey McBride reminds me of the importance of being sensitive to the difficulties in the lives of people I come into contact with. She reminds me to be attentive when others share their difficulties. She also acknowledges how challenging attentiveness can be in these circumstances and relates Jesus’ actions in the Gospel passage to the challenge of this part of the human experience. Click here to find out how.

Beyond this week’s readings:

It’s important that I begin this section by revisiting my response to last week’s readings. I learned from my pastor’s homily about last week’s Old Testament reading that the story of the almost-sacrifice occurs at a place in the timeline when Isaac isn’t a child. My pastor said that in the passage, Isaac is a grown man who knows what’s expected of a man in his culture. As a man in his prime, he also could overpower his much, much older father, but he doesn’t. He trusts in the promises God made to his father, so he does what the situation seems to require of him and waits to see how God will work within the situation. He chooses to trust that God is good, even if the circumstances in which he finds himself make it tempting to think otherwise. Another homily about the same reading, this homily from Fr. Mike Schmidt, goes so far as to specify that Isaac would be around the same age Jesus was when he died. (Free podcast episodes of Fr. Mike’s Sunday homilies are also available from your favorite podcast player and Ascension Media.) So there are stronger parallels between Isaac’s almost-sacrifice and Jesus’ sacrifice than I had previously realized.

Feeling called to pursue other projects has led me to focus less of my preparation for these posts on research and more of time on what the readings are saying to me and on how I feel when I read them. It turns out this approach removes some richness from reflecting on the readings because the amount of knowledge I have about the context in which a passage appears affects my response to it.

At the same time, I don’t want to make this blog another place to find commentaries from Scripture scholars. As I’ve written before, I’m not a Scripture scholar. And commentaries are insightful but accessible in many ways. You don’t need my blog to find them. In many cases, you can find them in the introductions to Bible books and in the footnotes within those books, to name just a couple study aids. Rather than seeing this blog a place to find those introductions and footnotes, I’ve always envisioned it primarily as a spiritual journal. Nevertheless, I’d like to do a better job from here on out of putting the readings into their cultural and chronological context as I pray about them by writing here.

With this intention in mind, I’ll start with my gut reactions and my experience with the Gospel passage, and once I’ve laid these out, I’ll bring in some context from someone with a lot more expertise on the topic than I have. I guess my main experience with and response to this passage is to have questions:

  • How often would Jesus have cause to act similarly as He does in the passage if He walked into churches today?
  • If someone were to walk into a place of worship today and behave similarly to how Jesus does in the passage, would we be willing to consider that the person whom many would call a vandal has a point? It’s easy when we recognize the instigator as Jesus to look for righteousness behind the actions. Could we do the same if we weren’t told the instigator was Jesus?
  • How comfortable are we, really, with the reality that Christianity is about worshiping by imitating a person? Believing that God has a body also means that our bodies and spirits are places of worship. We are the church. If the Spirit of God — love — isn’t obviously at work in our actions, the places we worship might be little more than marketplaces — or perhaps worse — they might be just buildings, idols to human achievement or aspirations, vessels that might hold a healing balm but don’t.
  • How well do we think we know God and God’s will? How will we respond if what we think we know or what we’re used to gets challenged?

Like the writer of this post, I’ve heard this week’s Gospel passage explained in terms of the money changers taking advantage of poor worshipers for profit. But according to the perspective on the passage offered by the blog, the money changers may not have been behaving unethically. Jesus’ actions may be less about who the money changers are and more about who He is and who we can become through relationship with Him.

Lord, help me recognize Your presence in my life, even when You’re present in ways I don’t expect You to be and don’t seem present in ways I do expect. Help me magnify Your presence. Help me also to recognize Your presence in those around me, especially when others don’t do what I expect or what I think is best. Amen.

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With Whom Do I Belong?

Posted in Ordinary Time, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , on January 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

This week’s readings:

  1. 1 Samuel 3:3b–10, 19
  2. Psalm 40:2, 4, 7–8, 8–9, 10
  3. 1 Corinthians 6:13c–15a, 17–20
  4. John 1:35–42

What this week’s readings say to me:

Becoming the person I’m meant to be means continually re-examining who and what I need to let go of and who and what I need to take hold of. It’s a continuous journey of discerning what to do when and when to let go of doing so I don’t get in the way of the Holy Spirit’s movement. The psalm says that God calls me to these cycles of surrender and action.

The third reading reminds me that I’m made for relationship — with nature, with others, and with God. It reminds me that to be in relationship means to give and to receive with commitment. A relationship isn’t fleeting, and it takes effort and maintenance. It takes openness.

God demonstrated that I’m made for relationship by living a human life. The relationship between the created and the creator is perfect in Jesus, and the Spirit that joins me to Jesus when I’m open to him can patch the imperfections in my relationship with God.

Because Jesus has a human body and consciousness, the body is just as much a part of God as the spirit. So treating my body and the bodies of others as if I believe this is true is vital. Doing so nurtures relationships between people and God. Treating bodies as and spirits if they are meant for eternal relationship — relationship between body and spirit, between one body and spirit and another, and between those sacred persons made of body and spirit and God — makes them open to eternal relationship.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body,” the third reading says (1 Cor. 6:19-20). I don’t know about you, but thinking of myself as a possession bought by God makes my stomach churn. I’m not comfortable with the idea of a parent buying his or her children. But I guess if a child sold him or herself on the promise of receiving a reward that didn’t pan out, and the only way to get the child back was for the parent to buy him or her, I feel a little better about the analogy.

Nonetheless, I find the analogy of being part of God’s body more helpful. A head and an arm have different functions, but, of course, both are part of the whole that is the body. It makes sense to try to reattach an arm that has become separated from that body. To use another analogy that doesn’t come from Scripture (and, granted, doesn’t quite square with what I understand of Christian theology, but I’m going to use it anyway) the cards in a deck or the pieces in another type of game don’t own each other, they don’t control each other, but they belong to each other. If one piece of the set or one card from the deck is missing, the set or deck is incomplete and the game can’t be played as intended. Unlike a deck of cards or a chess set of which I might be a part, God doesn’t need me to be complete, yet God has a vision in mind, and that vision includes a place and a purpose for each of us.

The Gospel passage reinforces that God calls us to relationship, a place, and a purpose in the Divine plan. In this passage, Jesus doesn’t call his disciples in an obvious way. Rather, he walks by, and John announces who he is (John 1:36). Two disciples respond to the announcement by following Jesus and by asking where he’s staying (John 1:37-38). They aren’t seeking knowledge alone from Jesus. They want relationship with him, to know him, and to be known by him, to go where he goes, do what he does, and stay where he stays. They want to be a part of his group, his set, you might say.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Laura Boysen-Aragon reflects on the (anxiety inducing for me) challenges and the opportunities of recognizing and responding to God’s voice reminding us with whom we belong.

Beyond this week’s readings:

Lord, help me to practice listening, to persevere in the practice, and help me also to know what work is — and isn’t – mind to do. Amen.

Works cited

The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.

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A Colorful Glass Shard That Needs Polishing

Posted in Advent, Reflections from Other Writers and Speakers, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , on December 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Photo by KaLisa Veer on Unsplash
Photo by Daniela Paola Alchapar on Unsplash

This week’s readings:

  1. Isaiah 61:1–2a, 10–11
  2. Luke 1:46–48, 49–50, 53–54
  3. 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24 
  4. John 1:6–8, 19–28

What this week’s readings say to me:

This week’s readings remind me that we’re all called to be a mirror for the Holy Spirit, and like Jesus, to share the mind, the heart, and the eyes of God. We are called to use this mind, this heart, these eyes, and the rest of our bodies to do God’s work rather than to be a boulder the Holy Spirit has to go around. While each of our callings has what I just mentioned in common, none of us can know all that God knows, I see all that God sees, or can have compassion on all that God has compassion on. Unlike God, we’re limited — not omnipotent. We can’t be everywhere, do everything, and know everything all at once.

But this isn’t bad news. Rather, it points to the Good News. One way aspect of this Good News is that the limitations mean we need each other and God. Another aspect of this Good News is that, as Richard Rohr said, God’s nature is relationship, and as we are made in God’s image, we are made for relationships — with God and one another. We were made to depend on God and one another and, by being open to the movement of the Holy Spirit within us, to be dependable for God and each other. We are dependable for each other and God when we reflect the unique combination of God’s qualities that each of us is able to.

This week’s readings show how four different people will read with God so they can reflect Divine qualities in different ways. Perhaps the first reading demonstrates how two people do this. Through a prophet, this passage foretells what life will be like when God takes on a human existence and when God reigns over the “. . . new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” that we were promised in the third reading last week (2 Peter 3:13). In the second reading, Mary proclaims that despite her apparent insignificance in her culture, God has blessed her. God’s ways are not like human ways, and so she rejoices in who God is and what God and will do. In the fourth reading, John the Baptist reflects who God is by demonstrating humility, honesty, and an unflinching dedication to the mission God has given him. The readings themselves illustrate better than I can by just pointing to specific verses how Isaiah, Mary, John the Baptist and Jesus each invited the Holy Spirit to work through them in ways that are unique to who they are in the situations in which they find themselves.

Yes, I’ve skipped the third passage so forth because it doesn’t show us how a famous biblical figure invited God to work through him or her (except that the passage comes from a letter a letter attributed to Paul who is letting God work through him and reflecting God in a way that only he can by composing the letter). Instead, it instructs us in how to invite the Holy Spirit to work through us. It urges us to become a link in the chain of love, some other links of which we’ve met in the rest of this week’s readings.

No link in this chain is a copy of the others around it. It’s not a dull, rough restraint that rubs skin raw. I propose it’s more like a bracelet on which each charm or jewel is unique, each reflecting the light in a different way and reflecting a different, significant moment.

What someone else is sharing about this week’s readings:

Bridget McDermott Flood reflects on a theme given to the third Sunday of Advent every year — joy — and how to experience it.

Beyond this week’s readings:

This reflection from Jeff Cavins was released in response to last week’s readings. However, I heard it right before I looked into this week’s readings as I prepared to draft this post, and I heard influenced how I read this week’s passages. You’ll need to login to listen to the reflection, and even after you login, this particular session may not be available on the free version of the Hallow app. In case you are unable to listen to it without subscribing to the paid version of the app, the gist of Mr. Cavins’ message is that each of us is called to “Prepare the way of the Lord,” even though each of us may not be called to do so in the same way as the person next to us (Isa. 40:3).

When I hear “prepare,” I think of doing something, but I’m realizing how often changing my habits would involve not doing something. Yes, I say hurtful things, and a version of me in perfect union with God wouldn’t. But as I reflect on this blaming, these barbs, I realize that even they come from my wanting to make the pieces around me fit where I want them to, instead of accepting that I can’t make them fit.

Maybe I and the people around me aren’t connected like precious charms on a bracelet, but more like pieces of broken, yet beautiful differently colored pieces of glass that God brings together to form a beautiful picture. A few days ago, I saw a Christmas movie whose title I’ll only link to here so that anyone who wants to can avoid having me spoil its plot. For these readers, I just want to acknowledge that the plot of that movie inspired my colored-glass metaphor. In my life and in any life, the pieces are the shapes and colors they are. All I can do is accept the pieces as they are, let God polish the piece that is me, and seek where I fit best.

It’s difficult enough to seek where I belong in the mosaic and to let God polish me. I didn’t come up with the concept for the overall picture the picture or any of its elements, nor do I know what the whole picture looks like, so its components usually don’t connect the way I’d like them to, I feel frustrated and embarrassed that I can’t complete the picture as I would like because I can’t see the whole picture. I respond to these feelings by lashing out and making edges on the multicolored, reflective shards sharper and the gaps between them wider. I scatter the pieces, accomplish the opposite of what I want by trying to force what I want to happen, to make it take place when and how I want it to. What would do the most good is surrendering instead. In addition to the prayers I linked to last week, this prayer is one I find myself turning to for help with surrendering:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
My memory, my understanding
And my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace.
That is enough for me.
Amen.

Prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Lord, help me experience Your love and grace as enough for me. Help me to mean the words of the above prayer, trusting that when I offer the gifts You’ve given me back to You, You’ll remove any distortion caused by sin from them and they’ll do the good you intend them to do. Amen.

Work cited (but not linked to)

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “3rd Sunday of Advent, Sunday 17 December 2023: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.183, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 31 Oct. 2023, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm.

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