Sirach 51:11:I will ever praise your name and be constant in my prayers to you.
When we celebrate, let us remember to thank God.
God says: I am happy to help you when you call on me. I love to rush to your side when you are in need. But I especially love to dance and rejoice with you when your news is good. Remember me in joy even as you remember in sorrow. Call on me in happiness even as you call on me in sadness. And love me in your grief even as you love me in your exultation.
God remains ever constant in us . . . let us try to remain ever constant in God.
Psalm 121:5-6:The Lord himself watches over you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand, so that the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
How wonderful it is the sun does not scorch us the moon does not lead us astray.
How marvelous it is that we are watched over and protected from the enemy.
How amazing it is that God wants to spend so much time with us!
God says: You are correct. All of this is true. I love to spend time with you and it does not matter what you are doing. I want to be with you in all you do. I delight in your delight. Watching over you is simple for me because beside you is the only place I want to be. How wonderful you are. How marvelous . . . how amazing!
We ought not shy away from God when he approaches. We must remain open . . . and welcoming. And we must be amazed . . . that we are so well-loved by the Lord himself.
Living in an era that signals change in many of our beliefs, we look for a call that brings us to our senses. Like a small child throwing a temper tantrum, we open eyes swollen from crying to see the reality of our anger, and we come to our senses. Like a partner who walks away from commitments, we witness to the destruction our egocentric actions leave in their wake, and we come to our senses. Like leaders who see their reflection in the unexpected mirror of events spiraling beyond their feeble predictions, we pause, take stock, and with hope . . . we come to our senses. The danger is, of course, that our rampage will take us beyond a place from which we cannot return, a demolition from which we cannot recover. The stories we hear in Luke 15 bring us courage as we come to our senses.
James Tissot: The Lost Drachma
The shepherd goes out in search of the one lost sheep. Christ continues to search for us no matter how deeply we burrow into our self-satisfaction. Rejoice with me for I have found my lost sheep.
The woman finds lost coins after putting aside her daily tasks. The Spirit abides with us despite our thinking that we are alone. Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I have lost.
The loving father forgives the prodigal son. The Creator is more generous than we can imagine. Rejoice with me because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.
Luke recalls Jesus’ stories of loss and return, of deep sorrow and unbounding joy, of profound envy and immeasurable. The pivotal elements in each of these parables are dual: the central figures come to their senses, and the plentiful, compassionate, and generous love of the Creator has no limit.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo: The Return of the Prodigal Son
When we open our eyes and ears each morning to headlines that unsettle and even disturb us, let us come to our senses and turn to our tender God as we go out into the world.
When we pause in our day to orient ourselves in the rush of information and demands, let us come to our senses as we rely on our courageous Christ to show us the way.
When we return to the quiet of our hearts at the end of our day, let us come to our senses and give over all our pains and sorrows to our healing Spirit who binds all wounds and heals all scars.
Rejoice with me because we have drifted with the winds of the time and now we are found; we have been lost and now are found; we have been dead and now are in full and abundant life again.
Herod’s PalaceWhat do my faerie castles look like? How thick are the walls of the fortresses I build to keep the world out? How many rooms do my palaces have? What are the furnishings? Whom do I bring home to my safe havens? How do I spend the precious gifts of time and space that God has given to me? Where, and when, and how and why do I construct my palaces?
Are these spaces and times meant to keep the world out or to invite the world in? Have they become oases on the road of life or have they devolved into chaotic and jarring experiences? Are they God-absent or God-centered? Am I relying on myself, my skills as an architect and designer . . . or am I trusting God completely?
Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? (Matthew 6:26-30).
Why do we worry? Why do we spend so much time building barriers when we ought to be disentangling ourselves from enabling relationships? Ought not we spend more time bringing The Word to one another and building bridges? Imagine a world in which we are free from anxiety and fear, a world in which we trust God completely with our needs. Does he not know them better than anyone else? Ought we not to go to him for our shelter and our shade? Why do we build so many palaces when God has a dwelling place already fashioned for us?
From last evening’s and this morning’s MAGNIFICAT intercessions:
God is our promised shelter and our shade. To him we pray: Protect us from all harm.
In the midst of life’s tribulations, strengthen our hope in your promised kingdom. Protect us from all harm.
In the midst of physical ailments, grant us trust in your healing power. Protect us from all harm.
In the midst of worry and distress, send us peace of heart. Protect us from all harm.
With trust in the love our heavenly Father has for us, we pray: You are our life, O Lord!
You care for the works of your hands: teach us to help and not to hinder your loving providence. You are our life, O Lord!
You feed and clothe all of your children: forgive us the greediness that seeks to deprive others for your own benefit. You are our life, O Lord!
You provide for all the earth: grant us the wisdom to see and to serve your purposes. You are our life, O Lord!
What need of we of palaces . . . when our God provides us all?
We have visited with this book several times during our Noontime reflections and we know that it, along with the book of Ezra, describes the restoration time of the Jewish nation. We know that Nehemiahwas the administrator who is credited with the rebuilding of the temple and walls while his friend Ezra, the priest, rebuilt the religious traditions of the Jewish people. Together these men led their community to recovery through work, prayer and a close connection with their God.
The survivors of the captivity there in the province are in great distress and under reproach.
We constantly bump into people who are in great distress and under reproach.There are times when we ourselves are the victim of abuse of one kind or another, times when we too, suffer greatly in that we are separated from some one, some thing or some tradition which used to comfort us and bring us peace. When we find ourselves in exile . . . and we yearn for reconciliation . . . the best remedy for this affliction is to do as Nehemiah did: I prayed: O Lord, God of heaven, great and awesome God, you who preserve your covenant of mercy towards those who love you and keep your commandments, may your ear be attentive, may your eyes be open, to heed the prayer which I, your servant, now offer in your presence day and night for your servants the Israelites, confessing the sins which we of Israel have committed against you, I and my father’s house included.
This was Nehemiah’s vocation, that he call together a buffeted and distracted people to bring them home to Yahweh where they might be healed and restored. It is our vocation as well, for as Christians we too are called to help in the gathering, fishing and harvesting work of God’s kingdom. To this we are called. For this we are made. Let us pray with Nehemiah . . .
O Lord, may your ear be attentive to my prayer and that of your willing servants who revere your name. Grant success to your servant this day . . . and all days.
Our vocation is to build and rebuild, to restore, to bring unity out of chaos, to bring light into the darkness, to bring hope to the desperate. And we are never alone in this work. We are constantly accompanied by the one who is the light, the hope, the joy of the world. We ask this in Jesus’, name. Amen.
Written on September 12, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
In this brief but important prophecy we hear a vital message; Haggai exhorts us to look to our behaviors to see what we value. And the prophet asks us to re-build the fallen Jerusalem of our hearts. From the CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE (1157): “At this critical moment, when defeatism and a certain lethargy had overtaken his repatriated countrymen, Haggai came forward with the exhortations to them to complete their great task . . . The call to rebuild the temple. The economic distress so apparent in Judah is due to the Jews’ neglect of the Lord while they provide for their own needs”.
And we pause to reflect on this verse 1:9:You expected much, but it came to little; and what you brought home, I blew away. For what cause? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while each of you hurries to your own house.
This is not a petulant or childish God who sweeps away all that we have gathered around us in retaliation for some slight we may have delivered. No. This is the call of a God who loves his creatures and who wishes them to rise to the potential gifted to them at their inception. This is not an angry and selfish God who destroys all that does not please him. No. This is a God who knows that we have become enamored of that which drains us rather than saves us. These are not the words of a fickle and deceitful lover. No. They are words that encourage, words that animate, words that ask us to focus on what is truly important.
Those who had been deported have returned home to ruins and they know they must come together to rebuild that which has been lost through their own folly. God calls them to himself and asks them to evaluate what they hurry toward and what they hurry away from.
Do we bustle home each evening to get on with our own agenda without including God in our plans?
Do we scurry out each morning to complete our own list of chores without taking God along?
Do we work harder on our own dreams without considering the common good and the call from God?
We seem to always be in a hurry . . . toward what . . . away from whom . . . in answer to what call?
Wisdom’s Seven PillarsProverbs 9:1-6:Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes she has spread her table. She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: “Let whoever is simple turn in here!” To the one who lacks understanding, she says, “Come, eat my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding”.
Most of us have made preparations for loved ones who visit us as our guests. We plan and anticipate eagerly the coming of those we have invited. We bring in food and drink. We tidy up. We prepare a sleeping place if our guest is to stay through the night. In all of these ways we look forward with pleasure to sharing time and space with one who is loved. Just so does God prepare for us. Just so does God long to spend time with us and lavish his attention on us. Let us take up God’s invitation.
God says: I have given you the opportunity to learn from my Wisdom. Take advantage of it! I have sent you the Spirit who calls out to you. Follow this voice! I have prepared a feast of wisdom for you. Come, abide with me and partake of it! You are my well-loved guest.
Wisdom has much to teach us. Let us sit by her side, let us listen, and let us learn.
A re-post from August 21, 2012.
To reflect more on the opening Chapters of Proverbs and God’s Wisdom who longs to teach us, enter the word Wisdomin the blog search box.
Isaiah 42:16 – I will lead the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These things I do for them, and I will not forsake them.
God says: I remind you constantly that you are precious to me. I tell you daily that I turn all harm to good. I place my hope in you continually. Why do you think I might abandon you? There is nothing you can do – or not do – that will cause me to disown or desert you. I abide with you endlessly. You are my life.
We doubt God because we doubt ourselves. We become anxious when we stumble into unknown places; we panic when we cannot see around the next corner in our life journey. We look for straight ways and find crooked paths. Yet despite all our fear, throughout our stumbling, we are well-loved. If only we might rise to God’s best hope for us. Let us act as though we believe that we are not forsaken.
A re-post from August 20, 2012.
To reflect more on overcoming our fear of the unknown, visit The Jesus Bridgereflection on this blog; or spend some time taking a Journey of Transformation to discover your own blind journey.
Adrienne von SpeyrPerhaps the reason that we humans cannot maintain fidelity is as Adrienne von Speyrwrites: With us, the call is always in danger of being relegated to the past. We rest in it instead of growing in it . . . we should attach much more importance to the call and its duration.
This is what the prophet Jeremiah sees in Israel. It is what we humans too often find in one another. We try to restin a relationship without growing in it. We find someone we think will allow us to be comfortable, who will in fact work at keeping everything at the status quo of first flush, who will not ask the question we do not want to answer, who will turn aside as we continue to worship our idol gods. We work hard at not suffering, not going to the limit, not growing. We work hard at keeping things static.
Von Speyr continues: In instructing his disciples, the Lord said many things to them that have much relevance for us and can become rules of conduct for us. He does not spare them; on each occasion he gives them the whole burden with which they must come to terms. “This is a hard saying”. “Let him understand it who can”. We see from this that the Lord accommodates his teaching as little as possible to mankind, so that those who follow him will not have the impression that they are equal to it.
No Christian – certainly no apostle – can ever be equal to the Lord’s teaching. All they could do was leave everything to him and follow him as well they were able, accepting the whole burden of his words in the certainty that even what was difficult, incomprehensible, or alienating in them was rightfully there, since it came from the Lord.
This is what Yahweh expected from Israel. It is what Jesus expected from his apostles. It is what the Lord expects from us: our fidelity to the call, our remaining with our call, our growing with that call . . . not our resting in it. No wonder so many relationships are broken rather than enduring. No wonder there is so much unhappiness rather than serenity. No wonder there is no peace, for we can only find true peace by answering . . . remaining . . . following . . . and growing. There is no other Way.
Speyr family photograph: Adrienne standing behind her parentsToday’s evening intercessions in MAGNIFICAT reflect the ideas reflected in today’s MEDITATION. Let us pray to the Lord Jesus Christ who is our peace: Grant us patience, Lord, grant us peace.
To the angry and to the envious: Grant us patience, Lord, grant us peace.
To the bitter and the persecuted: Grant us patience, Lord, grant us peace.
To the kind who find no kindness in others: Grant us patience, Lord, grant us peace.
To the compassionate who meet no compassion in others: Grant us patience, Lord, grant us peace.
To the forgiven who are not forgiven by others: Grant us patience, Lord, grant us peace.
May we remain with God as God remains with us. And may we grow in this remaining.
Written on August 5, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
Cameron, Peter John, Rev., ed. “Meditation for the Day,” and “Evening Prayer”.MAGNIFICAT. 5 August 2008. Print.
Sirach 51:11: I will ever praise your name and be constant in my prayers to you.
The Noontimes 