We must remember this when we are afraid, and say it as often as we must until we feel peaceful. It is Psalm 86, verse 2: Keep watch over my life for I am faithful, save your servant who puts trust in you.
God says: Fidelity to my way of living (believing in me, hoping for things that others have given up on, interceding with me for the people who harm you) and trusting me in all you do (I know this is really hard because I struggled with this in Gethsemane garden one night) will bring you peace because when you practice fidelity and trust in and to me, you form pathways of your own for receiving peace. You will not have to depend on any other person or any outside force to obtain peace. The next time something frightens you, you will automatically and naturally turn to me, and I will bring you a peace that cannot be shaken or taken away.
Christ’s peace dwells within. This is something we must remember. Especially when we are afraid.
Ezra and Nehemiah, priest and administrator, return from exile to rebuild Jerusalem after its fall and the nations’ exile. In joy tinged with sadness they dig into the ruins of their past to re-discover their covenant with Yahweh and to and re-pledge their fidelity to him. Yet in this bittersweet moment as they return from deportation, they continue to ignore God – even the leaders among them who are to serve as models. We read the long list of their names further along in the chapter and we pause to reflect that we too, are among the guilty.
We remember that although the Old Testament response to their recognition of unfaithful ties with non-Jewish spouses and children was severance and abandonment, our New Testament response is one of openness and an invitation to reconciliation. Today we might look at Ezra’s response to the original act of betrayal: for he was in mourning over the betrayal by the exiles. A leader among them, Shecaniah, during his appeal to Ezra says: Yet even now there remains a hope for Israel . . . have courage and take action! The action they take is to name the culpable, and to expel the innocent women and children from their presence. This story has always troubled me, as does any total severance I encounter in my life. here is something about it which does not match the Gospel story.
We know that there are times when even Jesus recommends that his missionaries shake dust from the feetto move out of hostile territory and on to new places. We also know that only God can soften hearts, and can give the gifts of faith, hope and love of enemy. Only God can unbend stiff necks and open closed eyes, ears and hearts. Only God can send us the graced moments that make our relationships come alive for an eternity. Yet, we also believe that we must always make ourselves available for the miracles God wishes to give us. We must be open to the outrageous possibility that God can grant our hearts’ desires when we ask in Jesus’ name. We must be willing to remain as constant as God has remained with us. And we – the victims of abuse – must be willing to petition intercession and salvation for our abusers while maintaining a prudent, watchful and open stance with our enemies. This must be our response, for it is the Christian response.
Many times in the Gospel we see Jesus defer to the Father and we hear the words and bind them to our minds and to our hearts: Do not be afraid. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Jesus’ response is to rely on the creator and it must be our response. Just as Jesus trusts in God’s wisdom and plan, so must we.
It is easy to assign culpability to the blameless, faceless and nameless women and children in today’s reading who find themselves as destitute as these Jewish people themselves had several times been in their history – slaves in Egypt, exiles in Babylon. Yet they show no compassion. Christ has not yet walked among them to show them The Way.
I like to think that when confronted with difficult decisions like the ones we read about and think about today, that we will choose the Jesus Way, the Jesus Approach to the dilemma. Our response, if we follow Jesus, must be as honest, prudent and open as his. What isthis response? With prudence and with trust in God, let us welcome the guilty, for we are among them. Let us forgive, for we are forgiven.
Tower of David Ruins: JerusalemAt the time that the Jews were returning from their exile, Ezra condemns certain priests who intermarried with the Gentiles strayed from Yahweh. Their solution? To sever relationships with wives and children and make a guilt offering. This is a course of action appropriate for their time but it is not the action that New Testament people will take. If we are People of the Restoration, People of Resurrection and healing, we will build bridges where there is dissent and conflict. We will look for compassionate yet just ways to maintain contact and to heal breaches in relationships.
Let us welcome the guilty, for we are among them.
Let us forgive, for we are forgiven
From the MAGNIFICAT morning intercessions.
You made all human beings in your image: fill us with reverence for one another. Hear your children’s plea!
You restored us in your image through the work of the cross: teach us to work to restore the dignity of all those degraded by the works of evil. Hear your children’s plea!
You raise us to newness of life in Jesus Christ: fill us always with Easter joy. Hear your children’s plea!
Written on April 16, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
Juan de Flandes: Christ and the Canaanite Woman“When Jesus goes to the region ofTyreandSidon– two cities with evil reputations (Ezekiel 28) – he meets a Canaanite woman. ‘Canaanite’ adds to the negative connotation of ‘Tyre and Sidon’ . . . The evangelist speaks against the woman, that he may show forth her marvelous act, and celebrate her praise the more . . . The woman addressed Jesus as Lord and Son of David and asks for mercy for her daughter, who suffers from a demon. Jesus’ response is silence – he is ether turning her down or testing her faith. The disciples then want her dismissed. Jesus . . . declares her commitment to Israel [and] . . . he thus promotes a biblical doctrine of election . . . salvation comes to those outside Israel in response to their faith in Jesus”. (Barton and Muddiman 864)
God redeems those who seek him.
In today’s Noontime, we watch Jesus go to non-Jewish territory to interact with a woman who is not a believer in the Mosaic Law. She is a Canaaniteand does not believe that Yahweh is the one true God; yet she understands that God is present in Jesus in a singular way. She believes in miracles.
With God all things are possible.
“A distinctive feature of Matthew’s Gospel is that it frequently portrays Jesus as a recipient of worship . . . For Matthew, this motif is connected to the belief that God is present in Jesus and present in others through him. Matthew does not think it appropriate to worship anyone other than the Lord God (4:10), but God is present in Jesus to such an extent that worshiping Jesus counts as worshiping God”. (Mays 872)
God sent God’s Word to live among God’s people.
In this episode, as with the story of Jesus’ healing the centurion’s servant in Matthew 8, we see Jesus heal from a distance because of faith enacted by one outside of Yahweh’s covenant. What are we to think about this, and in Jesus’ first reply to the woman? It is not right to take the food of children and throw it to the dogs.The woman in today’s reading believes that Jesus can make her daughter whole. She believes that Jesus is God and so says boldly: Even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters. Her persistence pays off and her distant daughter is healed.
Not a hair of your head shall fall that God does not mark it.
This episode is followed by stories of Jesus healing and feeding the many lost sheep who follow him seeking wholeness. We are these sheep. We are the centurion and the Canaanite woman. We have the power to ask and to have our requests fulfilled when we persist, when we worship, when we acknowledge that God is God.
Ask and you will receive. Knock and the door will be opened. By faith you will move mountains.
Today’s Noontimeis a reflection written for the dedication of a dogwood tree in the memory of Sophie Myers who was born and died on September 25, 2011. It springs from the first verse of Hebrews 11.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
I share with you today some thoughts about how the small and beautiful dogwood tree is a symbol of life and faith – a reminder that despite the fact that we cannot see or hear or smell or touch someone, she does, indeed, exist.
The dogwood tree is one of the smallest in the forest but just because it is small does not mean it is any less alive. Older, taller, more substantial trees tower over her but it is the dogwood – even when quite young – that dresses nature with airy pastel blossoms. She brings beauty and lightness and hope to the otherwise darkened forest. Despite her size, the dogwood tree is an integral part of the woods.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
My son Will reminded us on the day of Sophie’s funeral that the shortness of her life does not diminish her significance. That shortness does not mean that we love her any less and in fact, her quick coming and going make her existence all the more powerful. This brevity reminds us to tell and show the people we love that we do, indeed, love them. This brevity calls us forward to live our own lives in the assuranceand in the convictionthat Sophie is here with us today despite the fact that we cannot see or touch her.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
The urn that contains the earth-held remains of Sophia Josephine Myers is decorated with four dogwood flowers. Each of these flowers has four petals that symbolize her family: Gabby, Will, Vivian, and Sophie. On the prayer card created for Sophia’s funeral there is a photograph of one small, green dogwood leaf floating as it moves along the surface of a crystal clear stream. A sunbeam glints off the rippling water. One tiny droplet rides on the leaf and is carried downstream to an unknown destination. We do not see the end; yet, the journey takes place. We do not know the moment of arrival; yet, the arrival happens. Of this we are assured. Of this we are convicted. This we know. This we live. In faith.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Sophie died in her transit to this world and yet, still she lives. We pause to reflect today – in faith – on what that might mean. We pause to reflect today on the beauty and the power and the importance of the Dogwood Tree.
Modern CorinthWe have before us today the story of who and what we are, what we believe, and how and why we came into being. This story tells us everything we need to know about why we exist. It is the teaching that Paul received from Christ, and it is the teaching that he preaches constantly, both to the people of his time and to us today. Sometimes I need to re-read the story often, especially at the times when the world tests my stamina. Paul teaches. We are called to believe.
For a capsule view of the teaching Paul repeats so often we can go to Acts 17 and 18 when he is in Athens and about to depart for Corinth. He delivers his message as he always does, telling the marvelous story of how we only need to rely on God, how God has come among us to live and suffer and die and rejoice as one of us, and of how we are all brothers and sisters of this God who has risen and who wishes to have us with him in intimate union. This wonderful message is received in three ways: some scoff, some say they like the idea but are too busy at the moment to hear more, others believe. And they join Paul in his mission.
We are offered this same opportunity each day as we rise, as we pray, as we work, as we play. We choose whether we want to poke fun, to be lukewarm, or to become fervent in our dedication to this simple yet amazing story.
From the MAGNIFICAT evening reflection on Acts 16:26 when the disciples are freed from shackles by an earthquake: Just as the disciples were delivered from prison, so were all of us delivered from the prison of sin and death by the resurrection of Christ and the gift of the Spirit. In moments of discouragement, let us remember the hope that lights our way to a goal far more wonderful than we can imagine even now.
The other citations all direct us to reflect on what to do when we are discouraged. Psalm 126, along with Baruch 4:22-23(I have trusted in the Eternal God for your welfare, and joy has come to me from the Holy One . . . With mourning and lament I sent you forth, but God will give you back to me with enduring gladness and joy) and Isaiah 55:11(My word shall not return to me void but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it).
When we become discouraged we only need to remember The Teaching: God has come among us to walk with us, to bring us release and peace and even joy.
They go out, they go out, full of tears, carrying seed for the sowing: they come back, they come back, full of song, carrying their sheaves. (Psalm 126:5-6)
Let us join Christ in the song, let us join Paul in the harvest, and let us join one another in peace and joy.
Amen.
Cameron, Peter John. “Prayer for the Evening.” MAGNIFICAT. 20.5 (2009). Print.
Rembrandt: Ahauserus and Haman at Esther’s FeastWe cannot determine God’s timeline and when we watch how his plans unfold in our space and time we see that God has refined the shepherding of billions of souls to a mysterious art. And it is something that he practices well. Life is complicated. God knows that rewarding one creature stirs envy in another. This is the story of Satan and the fallen angels who succumb to their jealousy. God knows that giving his creatures the choice to opt for darkness or light means that some of them will fall; but God also knows that his loving compassion leaves many opportunities for reform and changes in outlooks, and so he leaves his plans open in order to work with the creations he so loves.
God is fully aware that his show of mercy stirs jealousy in the hearts of others, and so he prepares plans for these contingences. We have seen and we have been told and we have experienced the fact that God will always turn harm to good. The extremity or numbers or layers in any given situation are never too much for God to handle. He is more than up to the challenge for God is the creator of all we see and experience.
Today’s reading – another of my favorites – takes us to the beginning of another story of how a woman saves a nation. It takes us to the place in the narrative where we see how the seed of envy blooms into a fully-blown narcissistic tantrum which in the end brings down the initiator rather than the intended victim. Mordecai, a Jewish man living in the Persian court of King Xerxes(or Ahauserus), and his niece Esther, who is married to this King, have submitted their plea for justice. The King has responded and now we await the sentence he will deliver. As the king struggles with the plots that surround him and the information which has been brought to him, he goes back to a former event – a time when Mordecai saved his life by warning him of an assassination plot. When we read today, we see how the evil plotted against goodness has a way – in God’s plan and in God’s timeline – of returning to visit itself upon the perpetrator. What happens next to Haman is the very consequence he had wished to deliver to Mordecai and Esther – it is a punishment born out of the darkness of envy, and it goes home to exterminate its originator.
If you have time today, read this story through. Different Bibles have different methods of presenting the material that was later inserted to flesh out the story but it is worth the trouble of sorting through all of this. The story of Esther who would rather hide than confront evil with goodness and truth is its own reward. Today’s lesson that we cannot understand how things will unravel around us is a story to carry in our hearts. It both cautions us against entertaining ideas of revenge and it bolsters us in our hope that ultimately the light will overcome the darkness. All is revealed. All accounts are paid. In full. And this is what we have the opportunity to ponder today.
Reward often carries with it the fact that some human beings will covet the good fortune of others. Some human beings will wish destruction for those who receive gifts from the king. It remains with us to wait patiently for the ultimate outcome which the just king always delivers. Those who plot in the darkness are done in by the very mechanism they set into motion. This is divine justice at its best. It is for the follower of Christ to discern his or her place in God’s plan, to be patient as events unfold, and to pray for the redemption of those who delight in the darkness.
Infidelity, prostitution and alcoholism. It is easy to brush these three nouns aside to say that they have nothing to do with us; but we might want to ask ourselves: Do we remain constant to principles that flow from the Gospel, are we willing to sell ourselves for something we know has little value, do we numb our senses in an attempt to live a life of denial rather than reality.
These words represent not only private or individual separations from God; they are transgressions against the whole, the entire Mystical Body. We have reflected on this concept before during our Noontimes that we fool ourselves if we believe the often repeated sentence: I’m not hurting anybody but myself – so leave me alone and stop judging.
It is true that we ought not judge one another, for judging is left to God alone. But it is also true that as members of Christ’s Body we are called to speak and to listen to one another. We are called to rebuke. We are called to show mercy. We are called to forgive and to be forgiven. We are called to unite in the hope that all will be whole, that all will be one.
Where do we find pleasure? Where do we find joy? In a conversation with a friend over the week end, this topic held us for fifteen minutes or so. Pleasure is temporary, sense-numbing thrill-seeking. Joy is eternal, magnifying, uniting with goodness. St. Paul reminds us in Romans 14:17-19 from the morning prayer in MAGNIFICAT: The kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the holy Spirit; whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by others. Let us then pursue what leads to peace and to building up one another.
In today’s Gospel from John 17 we hear Jesus say in prayer to the Father: Father, the hour has come . . . I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything they gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them.
Paul speaks to us, and the Corinthians, and then he poses a question (1 Corinthians 6:12-20): The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body . . . Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? . . . 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.
We are not our own. When we hurt one, even ourselves, we hurt all. We have been purchased at great sacrifice. We are greatly loved. When we hide in the shadows and seek temporal pleasure, we throw away a gift of great value, the gift of eternal life. So let us call ourselves and let us call one another to joyful union that satisfies for an eternity. Let us forgo pleasure and seek joy. Let us give up that which satisfies today for that which will fill us for eternity.
Cameron, Peter John. “Prayer for the Morning.” MAGNIFICAT. 5.26 (2009). Print.
The surest way to fend off the forces of darkness is to pardon one another. This is how the world, God, and we ourselves will know that we truly love.
From La Biblia de América:Apostles must be compassionate and know how to pardon. This is not discipline for the sake of discipline itself, nor is it a punishment leveled by the church, the community. Nor is it acceptable to allow permissiveness or anarchy. There are even tines when the church – we – must make decisions which may be painful for us. But the last word will always be love, reunion and pardon.
We have said this before in our Noontime reflections: Permissiveness leads to a further lack of obedience before God. A community of Christians is called to rebuke one another in mercy, first alone and if not heard, then with another member of the community and again if not heard, and finally, before the assembly. This kind of discipline is what brings unity out of diversity.
Albrecht Dürer: Praying Hands
This is the time of year when we have recently celebrated the Feast of the Ascension and remember that Christ – when he rises to God – carries our humanity with himself. He opens the door to the possibility that we too, may unite with God in the most intimate of ways.
This intimacy is what we all seek. It is what we yearn for, what we crave. It is what we feel lacking in our lives. And it is a thirst that will only be quenched if we first find it within ourselves to seek pardon and to pardon to love and be loved, to unite with all that is, even if it is different from what we know. We are people who long for reunion. Let us open the door of forgiveness and enter into love.
LA BIBLIA DE LA AMÉRICA. 8th. Madrid: La Casa de la Biblia, 1994. Print.
We must remember this when we are afraid, and say it as often as we must until we feel peaceful. It is Psalm 86, verse 2: Keep watch over my life for I am faithful, save your servant who puts trust in you. 
The Noontimes 