Here again is the image of the shepherd brought to us by the prophet Micah. God gathers his scattered people and guides them to safety. Just as Yahweh sent Moses to shepherd the people from Egypt, through the desert, and eventually to the Promised Land, so too, does Jesus arrive in Bethlehem to shepherd us to our own promise. And this is what Micah predicts. He tells of the one who comes to rebuke nations yet to teach us his ways and paths. Micah warns of the coming persecution, but from that persecution and suffering come redemption and restoration. There will be universal peace.
These are comforting words. These are words we need to hear.
Adapted from a reflection written on April 1, 2007.
As we continue to move through difficult times, we return to a Favorite written on June 16, 2009. Yesterday we considered false prophets and false leaders; today we reflect on who and what and how a true leader is and how her or his leadership impacts the world.
Is this coincidence that here I am on an SSND retreat and for the first time as a Noontime reflection this citation of Micah 6:8 appears? I do not know. These words that stand high on the cafeteria wall above the statue of the Blessed Mother regulate the small detains and the big events of our lives at NDP. They are words that are important to anyone who believes that God is the creator of all good. They are words to live by.
Micah speaks to those who turn their gaze away from social injustice and in this chapter we hear the Lord ask: My people, how have I offended you? I who took you out of Egypt and slavery, I who gave to you as guides Moses, Aaron and Miriam, I who saved you from pagan nations, what have I done that you ignore me?
Today’s Gospel is Matthew 5:43-48 and I am thinking about today’s MAGNIFICAT Meditation by Fr. Alfred Delp, a priest condemned to death in Germany in 1945. He wrote about the path to perfection which Micah foretells and which Jesus describes. The essential requirement is that humanity must wake up to the truth about itself. We must rouse our consciousness to our own worth and dignity, of the divine and human potentialities within ourselves, and at the same time we must master the undisciplined passions and forces which, in our name and by bemusing us with delight in our own ego, have made us what we are . . . Humans want to be happy and it is right that they should. But by thinking only in terms of self we destroy ourselves for it is a limited concept and has no room for anything stronger than the human order. Left entirely to themselves humans are unhappy and intrinsically insincere. We need other people to give us a sense of completeness; we need the community. We need the world and the duty of serving it. We need eternity, or rather, we need the eternal, the infinite.
The people to whom the prophet Micah spoke were not much different from us today in that these were people of means who sought to enjoy the gifts of life. What they forgot – and what we may also forget if we do not remind ourselves – is this: We are made by God, in God’s image to bring our diverse expressions of God together into one body, the body of Christ. When troubles assail us, as they always do and are meant to do, we might smile as we step into them, seeing them as opportunities to serve God rather than as obstacles to pleasure. Life and its turmoil is our playground where we are given the chance to interact justly, wisely and humbly with God guiding and speaking to us constantly, telling us how to go and where to go.
This is the mystery we are offered. It is the mystery we might share for eternity if first we remember to respect good, to love with fidelity, and to obey humbly. We are not asked to be perfect by God for this is an impossibility; but it is true that God asks us to seek perfection in our search of God, and in our desire to be God’s instrument. In this way we dobecome perfect. If this is our path, the humble, loving and wise path described by Micah, then we cannot misstep. It is in this kind of journey that we find true, deep and ever-living happiness through our perfect desire to be with and follow God lovingly, justly, wisely, humbly.
Cameron, Peter John, ed. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 16.6 (20o9). Print.
This Favorite from May 18, 2007 seems appropriate in our present social, spiritual and political times. So many themes in scripture are universal and eternal. Let us enter into conversation with others to look for best ways to come together. Let us enter into conversation with God to look for guidance, connection and peace that is lasting. As we reflect today, we remember Jesus’ words recorded inMatthew 19:23-24 about the ease of fitting a camel through the eye of a needle.
From the NAB footnotes: “Here Micah accuses them [the false prophets] of prophesying for venal motives and determining the prophecy by the price that is paid them; he contrasts his own disinterested preaching of the word of God.” Micah calls us to evaluate our own motives.
I am reflecting on the “flip-flop” tendency of human beings to self-serve. So many of us say and do what results best for us in the short run while neglecting what is best for the greater good in the long run. So many of us close our eyes to the truth, to the obvious. We “strain out gnats and swallow camels” like the false leaders we hear about in Matthew (23:24). We even manage to twist God’s goodness to make it suit our own desires rather than his.
LORD above all, keep us close to you every day, in every way. Steer us away from venal motives. Guide us with your merciful hand. Touch our hearts and our lives. Call us to our greater good, our greater potential. Be the pillar of fire of smoke which both leads and protects. Abide with us. Comfort us. Heal us. Save us. Restore us.
Amen.
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In days when we experience doubt and uncertainty, we return to a Favorite from October 17, 2010.
Teresa of Ávila and Catherine of Siena
I cannot understand what it is that makes people afraid of setting out on the road to perfection. May the Lord, because of who he is, give us understanding of how wretched is the security that lies in such manifest dangers as following the crowd and how true security lies in striving to make progress on the road of God. Let them turn their eyes to him and not fear the setting of this Sun of Justice, nor, if we don’t first abandon him, will he allow us to walk at night and go astray. Teresa of Ávila, MAGNIFICAT Meditation for October 15, 2010.
This past Friday was the feast day of Teresa of Ávila and on that day the readings focused on the fact that we are chosen by God, that God loves us more than we can imagine, and that nothing we think or say or do is secret from him. Today’s readings are about how we are to be persistent in prayer, just as were Teresa of Ávila and Catherine of Siena, two women who have been named Doctors of the Church, two women who did not let their fear of anything earthly keep them from doing as God asked them – even when it involved great risk to themselves and to all they struggled to do in God’s name.
Following is an excerpt from today’s MAGNIFICAT Day by Day reflection taken from one of Catherine of Siena’s letters.You know full well, most holy Father, that when you accepted holy Church as your bride you agreed also to work hard for her. You expected all these contrary winds of pain and difficulty to confront you in battle over her. So confront these dangerous winds like a brave man, with strength and patience and enduring perseverance. Never turn back because of pain or discouragement or slavish fear, but persevere, and rejoice in the storms and struggles. Let your heart rejoice, for in the many contrary things that have happened or will yet happen the deeds of God are surely being done, nor have they ever been done in any other way.
Catherine of Siena
Both of these women remind us that we are called to perfection and that perfection lies in our persistence to do God’s will despite the inconveniences and risks we meet along the way because God will never let God’s work go undone. In today’s Noontime we read that woe befalls those who plot iniquity, those who lie on ivory couches to lay schemes and plots, those who covet what others have and are, those who cheat others out of what they are due.
Today’s readings (Exodus 17:8-13, Psalm 121, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2, and Luke 18:1-8) remind us that Moses and the Israelites, Paul, Timothy, the nameless Persistent Widow, and Jesus himself did not abandon the work given them by God – even in the face of great odds and overwhelming fear. All of this reminds us that when we are doing the work of the Gospel we will encounter unforgiving and dangerous head winds. We will experience great darkness and be tempted to undo our walk of perfection and persistence. All of this reminds us that in the midst of the greatest suffering and distress we do not find agony alone, there also do we find our God, and other who would do God’s will.
We have witnessed the dishonesty of corrupt rulers; we have seen the fidelity of fearful but courageous prophets. If we wonder how or when the faithful might be rewarded, we do not have far to look.
Consolation Foreseen
A Favorite from July 26, 2010.
I will gather the lame, and I will assemble the outcasts, and those whom I have afflicted. I will make of the lame a remnant, and of those driven far off a strong nation; and the Lord shall be king over them on Mount Zion, from now on forever.
We are reminded by the prophet Micah that we are to be restored through the Messiah who will gather up the broken and the broken-hearted. When we become discouraged, when we believe that even God does not listen to our plight, when we become confused and forget that God’s call to perfection in us is about persistence and not about living a life without flaw, then we might turn to Micah who reminds us that the best and only true hope is the Messiah, the Christ. Infinite restoration, abounding rejuvenation, eternal redemption and limitless salvation are the gift he brings us each day. If only we might persist long enough to ask for the strength to rise to this timeless hope.
Fr. Bede Jarrett
Most of the difficulties of life come because man is so prone to lose heart . . . His faltering attempts at perfection disconcert him from any very persistent or long-continued service . . . He has given up hope; he is disheartened; he is too discouraged to go on. He is very human; oh yes, but he is very foolish also: for when hope is gone, all is over. Failure counts for nothing; defeat, disappointment – these matter nothing at all, so long as only hope sits patiently, stirring the embers, watching and tending the fire, coaxing the flame, never despairing and never leaving the wind to work its will. That the clouds should come up over the sky, or that darkness should encircle the earth, brings no real terrors, for we are sure that the dawn will come out again and that the sun will break through with its golden glory.
Father Jarrett – a British Dominican known for his preaching
MAGNIFICAT, July 26, 2010, Meditation of the Day
We are reminded by the prophet Micah that we are to be restored through the Messiah who will gather up the broken and the broken-hearted. If today we have lost courage and strength, let us call on this only One who will restore us . . . so that we might coax the flame of our lives rather than leave our work to the wind.
Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 26.7 (2010). Print.
“Here the death of Ahab is not grounded only in the Naboth’s vineyard incident (1 Kings 21:21-24) but is related to retribution against Jezebel for killing God’s prophets (1 Kings 18:4; 19:10, 14). (Meeks 573-574)
These are very scary stories indeed. Scarier still because this violence is a result of people’s individual and collective actions. Ahab and Jezebel took God’s people in an ugly direction, and today we see their ugly end at the hands of God’s warrior, Jehu. We do not like to have these images before us because they remind us of the darkest part of ourselves, and they demand that we make an accounting of our own actions before God. Many of us use the strategy of denial when we are asked to look in the mirror. We put away what we wish did not exist; but this action has negative results. Many of us wish to re-write reality without making any change in ourselves, but of course this only delays the inevitable. And this is what we see today, the inevitable finally takes place. In the earlier parts of this story, the wicked Ahab and Jezebel have things all their way. Today that ends, and they are fully rewarded for their actions.
We have come through Lent to rejoice in Eastertide with its light and gift of eternal life as God’s promise against the clutches of eternal death. Today we have an invitation to avoid a fate like the one we read here. Rather than hiding and hoping to have our own way, we will want to open ourselves to the healing light of Christ and ask for change. A change in our hearts. A change in our way of being. A change from death to life.
During the time of the prophets, Christ walked among his people through the hands and feet of his prophets as they carried out Yahweh’s promises. The sweet promise of eternal life in Christ is announced even during the dark days when Ahab and Jezebel hunted down those who spoke and healed in God’s name. Through the prophets, Christ dwelt among us even before his birth in the stable, and Christ will continue to dwell among us. When those who worship our modern Baals beset us, let us turn to Christ. Let us ask for God’s guidance and rescue in any darkness or sadness of the present time when the prophets among us are being murdered. Let us turn to Christ who is the only hope of the world, the only antidote to death, the only life that is eternal. And let us make good on our Lenten promise to open ourselves to transformation. Let us receive the healing light that is the Easter promise. Let us receive the healing indwelling of the Spirit.
Today’s Noontimeis a story we need to hear in our present state on local, national, and international turmoil. The story we hear read out to us at least once during the liturgical cycle; it is the story of the people’s relationship with God that takes place during a time when Yahweh’s prophets were being persecuted. It is also a time of high political intrigue when the kingdom brought together under David’s leadership has split in two. Ahab, Jezebel, Obadiah, and Elijah find themselves caught up in the kind of turmoil that guarantees suffering.
Elijah, the only surviving prophet of Yahweh, appeals to the people, and allows God to work through him to remind the split nations that despite their petty squabbles God is in charge. The prophets of Baal bring all of their power and influence to bear and still they cannot best Elijah and Yahweh. This is a good story and it deserves enough reading that we can apply it to our own lives.
What or who might be the Baal prophets in our lives? Who is it we believe more than God who created us and cares for us beyond all human capacity? Who is it we follow more eagerly than Jesus who redeems and saves us daily? And who is it we love more intensely than the Spirit who guides us and counsels us every minute of our day and night?
The humor with which Elijah pits the Baal gods and their prophets against Yahweh makes today’s reading entertaining and authentic. We may want to look for the humor in our own struggle to survive the droughts and famines of our days. And we may want to ask ourselves the same question that Elijah asks his audience: How long will you straddle the issue? If the Lord is God, follow the Lord; if Baal, follow him.
We have reflected on Ahab and Jezebel and their fall into corruption caused by their envy of Naboth’s vineyard. Today we see what happens to the seventy princes, their legacy. There is no plan, no ally, no fortification that can withstand truth, light and life.
It is unsettling to read about the terrible events that take place as retribution for evil or of the clearing away of what follows upon the heels of deception. Today we read about the end of an evil reign and if we celebrate love as Jesus teaches, there is no joy at the downfall of former foes. He shows by example how to ask intercession for those who both love him and jeer at him. Jesus is willing to speak to the wise among us who hear his words, believe, and act. Jesus also speaks to the foolish among us who hear his words and continue to ignore his call.
Ahab and Jezebel lived a life governed by self; their end and the end of their children is certainly a lesson in how our best laid plans go awry when God is not a part of them. We might look at two verses in particular:[They] have the chariots, the horses, a fortified city, and the weapons . . . The seventy princes were in the care of prominent men of the city, who were rearing them. Ahab and Jezebel laid every possible plan, made every conceivable provision. They “hard-wired” their legacy; yet all disappears because the walls of their city were an illusion and their strategies futile. They thought of themselves, their whims and their comfort first and only. They believed that they had built their legacy on thinking and behavior that was everlasting. Today we see that their plans were finite; they and their children came to an ugly end. We might also remember two verses from Psalm 20: Some rely on chariots, others on horses, but we on the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we stand strong and firm. (Psalm 20:8-9)
To be wise, to be foolish: the choice always lies before us. To build on a firm foundation, to build on sand: the work is always before us. To act out of self-interest, to act out of love for others: the action is always before us. We may choose the path of Ahab and Jezebel and see our princes slaughtered. Or we may act like Christ to be open and vulnerable to suffering, to be open to eternal joy and hope.
Adapted from a favorite written on December 4, 2008.
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Oh what tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to deceive!
My mother’s quoting of Walter Scott’s words peppered our growing-up years. Her use of Scott’s poetic words was her method of teaching the lesson of Ahab and his temper tantrum.
Ahab wants something which someone else cherishes and does not wish to give up. Ahab goes home, puts his face to the wall and refuses to eat. His unfortunate wife, Jezebel, colludes with him to get the coveted vineyard from their neighbor, and if we read the entire story, we see what kind of an end these two come to. They both pay a heavy price for their egregious crimes of trumping up false charges, conniving, lying, stealing, inciting a crowd to stone to death an innocent man. Naboth’s mistake or error is merely the cherishing of something that someone elsewants.
We hear Yahweh’s words through the prophet Elijah in verse 20: You have given up yourself to do evil in the Lord’s sight.
Frederick Leighton: Jezebel and Ahab met by Elijah
Since my childhood, and because of the wisdom of my mother, my family has not worried about belonging to a particular group. When my family opens our home to a party, all are welcome. Universal hospitality, bridges building to fringe groups, invitations to include all at the table have grown out of my mother’s teaching about Naboth, Ahab and Jezebel.
In this time when U.S. presidential politics are again fully before us, we must become aware of the many Naboths, Ahabs and Jezebels in the public eye. As we take in the daily news, we recall more words Mother and Dad recited from scripture: The measure that you measure with is measured out to you. Ostracizing others says more about you than it does about the others. There is really nothing that can be kept secret. The truth always comes out in the end. I hope you can stand it when it hits you in the face.
What a wonderful gift we are given in the friends and neighbors God sends to us. What a wonderful treasure is the vocation of building community to which we are called. What a blessing to work, play and live beside people with whom we hold things in common, and people with whom we hold little in common. We learn more from our enemies than we do from the people with whom we feel most comfortable. We are all God’s creatures, made in God’s image. What do our daily actions say about the relationship we have with our Creator? Do we turn away in anger when we covet something someone else has? When we open our hearts and homes, are all welcome? Do we extend invitations with ulterior motives? Do we interact with only a select few and bully others to bow to our wants? And when God asks us to invite the faithful to the table, whom are we willing to invite?
The Noontimes 