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Posts Tagged ‘fidelity’

2 Chronicles 26: Pride and Fall

Posted in Favorite, Web site included, tagged , , , , , , on February 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »


2 Chronicles 26: Pride and Fall

Sunday, February 5, 2023

Rembrandt: The King Uzziah Stricken with Leprosy

Rembrandt: The King Uzziah Stricken with Leprosy

This chapter in 2 Chronicles tells us a great deal about Uzziah, a promising man who falls when he presumes that he can be God to himself and others in the way he chooses.  He might represent the perennial flaw in humankind.

But after he had become strong, he became proud to his own destruction and broke faith with the Lord, his God.

And how did this happen?

He entered the temple of the Lord to make an offering on the altar of incense.

Why was this incorrect?

But Azariah the priest, and with him eighty other priests of the Lord, courageous men, followed him . . . saying to him: “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests . . . who have been consecrated for this purpose”. 

Today, we each bring our offerings to the Lord.  Christian liturgies often provide a time when we can offer ourselves back to God both collectively and individually. These moments give us the opportunity to be priests ourselves. They bring us the opening to enter fully into relationship with God, in our personal service to God on the manner God shows us. The Old Testament Law asks us to remain in covenant with the Lord and to serve God with burnt offerings and sacrifice. The New Testament Law of Love asks us to live the Beatitudes in an intentional way. Both Testaments bring us a yardstick with which we might measure our adherence to this law, our fulfillment of old statutes, our flowering in Christ. The presence of Christ that we bring to our troubled world.

Today’s readings in MAGNIFICAT are God’s constancy and ours.  Our fidelity to God and to one another. God’s law is not a set of arbitrary rules but the concrete shape given to the lasting covenant that God has made with human beings – broken many times by faithless people, kept from generation to generation by our God.  God’s faithful constancy is an anchor in an ever-shifting world, where love declared today is spurned tomorrow, and all other certainties are blown away by the wind. Even when those who love us are inconstant, we must remain constant in our love of them for in this way we reflect God’s constancy to us.

Pride calls us to our false selves. Constancy in God helps us to remain faithful in God. The story of Uzziah is one in which we may see ourselves or others puffing up in self-importance, blinding our vision to the fall that inevitably follows. God’s Law of fidelity and gratitude never fails; it brings flourishing rather than destruction. God’s laws are the statutes we teach ourselves and our children. They are the laws that open us to possibility, and that bind our hearts forever to God.

On this last Sunday before Lent, let us consider the temptation to  ignore pride in our own lives. And let us determine to remain constant and faithful to God.

Adapted from a reflection written on February 27, 2008.

Cameron, Peter John. “Meditation of the Day.” MAGNIFICAT. 27.2 (2008). Print.

Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzziah

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Judges 5: God’s Yardstick – Deborah

Posted in Favorite, Web site included, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »


Judges 5: God’s Yardstick – Deborah

Canticle of Fidelity

Deborah the Prophetess

Deborah the Prophetess

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

The book of Judges is the part of the Bible saga where we see a fledgling nation forming.  The twelve tribes have survived the rigors of their years of desert wanderings, following the pillar of fire and smoke which protects them.  Joshua has led them into the land promised to them and they have secured a foothold where a kingdom will be established.  A series of judges, or heroes, will rise up to gather the people to remind them that Yahweh has promised land, kingdom and blessing . . . and that they, God’s people, owe their creator fidelity, loyalty and obedience.  This is the covenant they have entered into.

The context for these stories is “Holy War” and close reading of Judges, in which so much war is waged, tells us that we are called to cooperate with God’s plan and providence rather than serve our own small agendas. The whole point of this part of the story is to stay the course, but it must be God’s course and not our own.  The forces of darkness cannot stand up to the perseverance, the innocence and the trust of the faithful.  Deborah does this well.

Artemisia Gentileschi: Jael and Sisera

Artemisia Gentileschi: Jael and Sisera

In the preceding chapter we see this prophetess sitting under her palm tree delivering just decisions to the people.  We also see Jael, wife of Heber, lure the enemy Sisera into her tent to kill him with a tent peg to the temple.  Jael kills this enemy because Yahweh has ordained it as spoken through Deborah; and we find that these tribes fight off the pagan peoples any way they can; always consulting with Yahweh before going into battle.  In these ancient times, the struggle to survive dominated all aspects of life and we see a good deal of brutal interaction.  Yet is our interaction any less brutal today?

Deborah judges the tribes during the period of time which coincides with political unrest following the death of Ramses II in Egypt.  The time of transition proves difficult for these people who struggle not only against the pagan nations that surround  them, but also with conflict among the tribes.  David will unite these people into a true political and spiritual kingdom, and whose son Solomon will erect a Temple which speaks to the fame of this people and their God.

Deborah leads well because she listens well when she speaks with God each day and it is against this voice, this measuring stick that she measures her own life. We will want to follow her example of fidelity as we struggle against the violence that surrounds us.

Images from: https://www.learnreligions.com/deborah-israels-only-female-judge-701157 and https://www.sartle.com/artwork/jael-and-sisera-artemisia-gentileschi

Adapted from a reflection written on November 18, 2007.

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Ruth 1:4: God’s Yardstick – Ruth

Posted in Favorite, tagged , , , , , , on January 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »


Ruth 1:4: God’s Yardstick – Ruth

Discovering Chesed

Friday, January 6, 2023Ruth Naomi Boaz chesed

As we end Christmastide in these opening days of a new year, we look for ways to better see God’s yardstick in our lives, and for ways to leave the world’s yardstick behind.

We visit the story of Ruth and Naomi frequently in our Noontime visits and when we remember what takes place between these two women and Boaz, we understand why. In the U.S. we are moving through a political season when we struggle with a number of yardsticks in an effort to evaluate candidates who ask for our time and money, our fidelity and our vote. This is a good season to remember how Ruth manages to see the world through God’s standard of love rather than the standards of fear, fortune and fame that the world asks us to use.

When we look again at how Ruth embodies the Hebrew concept of chesed, or fidelity rising from commitment, we find once again that through the quiet persistence of a woman considered an object to be owned, God brings us into intimate relationship with our way of measuring, and with God’s own extraordinary yardstick of love.

Enter the word Chesed into the blog search bar and explore. When we spend time with these posts, we begin to better understand this fidelity that not only measures with love, but that overcomes all corruption, death, and violation.

Image from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/455426581039406261/

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Judith 13: God’s Yardstick – Judith

Posted in Comparing Scripture, tagged , , on January 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »


Judith 13: God’s Yardstick – Judith

Fidelity’s Gift

Thursday, January 5, 2023

Caravaggio: Judith Beheading Holofernes (detail)

Caravaggio: Judith Beheading Holofernes (detail)

In these opening days of a new year, we look for ways to better see God’s yardstick in our lives, and for ways to leave the world’s yardstick behind.

When we explore different versions of Judith 13 we find these quiet clues that will lead us to a deeper understanding of these verses.

They were all overcharged with wine. Douay-Rheims 1899

Judith stood by Holofernes’ bed and prayed silently, O Lord, God Almighty, help me with what I am about to do for the glory of Jerusalem. Good News Translation

O Lord, God of all might, in this hour look graciously on the work of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem. Now is the time for aiding your heritage and for carrying out my design to shatter the enemies who have risen against us. New American Bible Revised Edition

Judith was left alone in the tent, with Holofernes stretched out on his bed, for he was dead drunk. New Revised Standard Version

Judith’s victory will represent a contradiction of the gentle, persistent love of Mary, Hannah, Anne and Elizabeth; it is a stark contrast to the New Testament Law of Love that Jesus brings to us. So how do we make sense of Judith’s story? Is the violence we find here the foundational reason that this book is considered by some a parable in which Judith is a metaphor for Israel? Do the anachronisms we find in this story mean that is it an ancient historical novel rather than an inspired text? Has Judith been laid aside by many with a disdain for women figuring as powerful and clever? Read this chapter along with Judith’s victory in Chapter 15 and decide how to best consider Judith. Decide how or if she represents God’s yardstick. What does her fidelity to God through prayer and deed mean for us today?

Caravaggio: Judith beheading Holofernes

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: Judith beheading Holofernes

For more reflections on this woman’s life, enter her name into the blog search bar and explore.

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Esther 3 (and B): Preamble – Part I

Posted in Christmas, Favorite, tagged , , , , , , on December 23, 2022| 1 Comment »


Esther 3 (and B): Preamble – Part I

Friday, December 23, 2022queen-esther

We have visited the story of Esther frequently in our Noontime journey and this Christmas as pause to spend some time in Chapter 3. Because of various redactions, different Bibles have divided this story with both numbered and lettered parts but today we are looking at both Chapter 3 and B, the story about the letter of King Ahasuerus that decrees death to the Jewish people on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar. When we read the entire account, we know how the king finds out that Queen Esther is Jewish. We know how Esther and her uncle Mordecai intercede with God and king for the preservation of the Jewish people. And we know what becomes of the envious Haman and his family. This may be an unusual story to consider in the last week of Advent, but when we pause we see a connection with the Christmas Story: signs of God’s grace coming to a nation through people who are easily overlooked in a world that focuses on the supremacy and authority of powerful men. Today’s stories are about the surprising influence of the most vulnerable among us: a baby, and a woman.

While we are not in any way suggesting that Esther is the equivalent of the Christ child, we may want to consider the parallel these stories offer as analogous to our own feelings of defenselessness. And we may want to take direction from both Esther and Jesus as we watch them obey the Father who created them. These stories show us that the human life is best lived in search of and in preparation for our divinity. They show us that fidelity, simplicity, honesty and courage are essential to one who seeks to arrive at the potential God breathed into each of us at our creation.

Spend time with Esther 3 (B) today and consider it as preamble to a new coming.

Tomorrow, God’s sign is simplicity.

Image from: http://growing4life.net/lessons-from-esther/queen-esther/

Adapted from a reflection written on December 25, 2010.

 

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Hosea 10: False Heart, True Heart

Posted in Advent, Favorite, Web site included, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »


Hosea 10: False Heart, True Heart

Wednesday, December 21, 2022heart leaf on stone

A favorite from December 22, 2010.

False oaths, fake alliances, evil intrigues, any means to achieve an end: this is what Hosea sees in his community. The kingdom of David has been divided in two. Elijah, Elisha, and Amos have warned the people; Isaiah and Micah will add their prophetic words of warning. Hosea finds himself seeing clearly the devastation that awaits this false-hearted people, but he is ignored.

Yet Hosea persists, telling us that we are people meant to worship God, we are meant to take the yoke upon fair neck, to thresh, to be harnessed by the plow of the true God with a true heart. We are created to be workers in the vineyard, to sow justice and reap piety, we are meant to break new fields so that the rain of God’s justice might bring forth fruit.

Hosea warns that those who have sowed discord and wickedness will reap perversity and eat of the fruit of falsehood. Turmoil will break out among those who have trusted their warriors and chariots rather than trusting God. The fortresses carefully built against the needs of the world will be tumbled and ravaged; the false hearts who take advantage of the poor will be lost in the utter destruction. Hosea does not surrender to the pressures around him, he endures.

Like Hosea, we might want God’s justice to be clearly visible in the present; we may want all of Hosea’s predictions about false hearts to materialize in an instant. Those who seek a settling of scores may wish God’s integrity to rain down on those who sit on comfortable couches to contrive wicked plots. They will want to see a world of integrity replace the world of falsehood they experience. Yet this is the message of Advent: the one of true heart and true words, the one of promises kept and miracles revealed has come to live among us. Advent tells us that the possibility of living a genuine life is here – now – this day. We need only open our eyes to see.

CrossHeartLogo11-300x289If we are dissatisfied with the speed of God’s coming, or if we doubt that God is even here among us, we must look first to ourselves to begin kingdom-building. We must examine our own hearts to see if we remain in truth no matter the social consequence. We must cease the gossip, cease the controlling, cease the lusting after outcomes, fame, possessions, power and people. We must amend our ability – and our willingness – to ignore reality. We must change our hearts so that we do not succumb to the social pressure to acquire goods or supremacy. We must nurture our desire to share, our yearning to heal, and our aspiration for peace. We must ask God to transform the falsehood in our own hearts so that we might receive the goodness from his. We must be open to the reality of Advent.

In this way – with endurance, with fidelity, and with honesty – the prophecy of Hosea will arrive fully. And in this way the false hearts of the world will become the true heart of Christ.

Images from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/33649935@N00/galleries/72157626753383441/

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Judges 17: As We Are – Part II

Posted in Advent, Favorite, tagged , , , , on December 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »


Judges 17: As We Are – Part II

Saturday, December 17, 2022intimacy-with-god1

In this time of Advent, as we expect the coming of light and truth, we reflect on our relationship with Gad and the intimacy we give and receive.  

As a community, the ancient Hebrews in their relationship with Yahweh were continually looking for something to excite or interest them while at the same time walking away from a profound intimacy with a God who loves them more than they can imagine. As believers today, we are in relationship with God and frequently we look for something we already have, the presence within that keeps us from harm and that draws us continually to our own divine origin. For some reason, we humans struggle with relationships that bring us to the truth of ourselves, relationships that ask us to grow, relationships that fulfill through their constancy.

There is no lack of stories – either about famous celebrities or the people in our own circles of friends and families – of men and women who cannot maintain fidelity. What is it we fear? Seeing ourselves in the mirror of the beloved’s eyes? Finding that we prefer the instant, superficial image that others have of us rather than the enduring truth of who we are?

We need not succumb to the fear of who we might be. We need not do as we think best but rather, let us do as God thinks best and as God asks of us as we hear in today’s first reading at Mass from Isaiah 30: Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: O people . . . no more will you weep; he will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears you he will answer you. The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst. No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, while from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: “This is the way; walk it in”, when you would turn to the right or to the left.

We have an interior guide who is ever faithful to us. Let us put aside our fears of who we think we might be to open our eyes and ears to who we really are. And let us return this gift of self to the God who made us. For in this one small action we find a self that is waiting to be revealed. In this one small way we remain truly faithful to the one who knows and loves us . . . precisely as we are.

Tomorrow, the gift of life and love.

Image from: https://blogwithmalaika.wordpress.com/

A favorite from December 5, 2009.

 

 

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Luke 21:12-19: Giving Testimony

Posted in Prayer, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »


Luke 21:12-19: Giving Testimonytestimony

Friday, December 2, 2022

They will seize and persecute you . . .

Not one of us asks for loss of freedom.

They will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons . . .

None of us wants public scandal or shame.

They will lead you before kings and governors in my name . . .

We do not like to think that politics or social pressure might suborn our thinking.

It wtestimony1ill lead to your testimony . . .

So when we suffer in Christ’s name we must respond in fidelity.

Remember . . . you are not to prepare your defense beforehand . . .

There is no defense against the world’s corruption and power.

I myself will give you wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute . . .

There is only one true wisdom that preserves and protects.

You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends . . .

we are the testimonyThere is only one powerful truth that guides and transforms.

They will put some of you to death . . .

There is only one life that is eternal.

You will be hated because of my name . . .

There is only one Spirit that brings life and light and love that are everlasting.

But not a hair on your head will be destroyed . . .

There is only one Christ Jesus who returns from death to heal, redeem and renew.

By your perseverance you will secure your lives . . .

There is only one God who is and was and will always be. Let us give our faithful testimony today. Amen.

TESTIMONY (1)

Images from: http://www.fansshare.com/celebrities/testimony/ and https://livelyscribes14.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/the-testimony-of-jesus-the-life-of-testimony/ and https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/jesus-changed-everything-women/

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Matthew 14:22-33: Stepping Out of the Boat

Posted in Advent, Favorite, Prayer, tagged , , , , , on November 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »


Matthew 14:22-33: Stepping out of the Boat

Wednesday, November 30, 2022jesus_walks_on_water3

Yesterday we spent time with John 6:16-21 in which the Beloved Apostle describes the appearance of Jesus on the water; we focused on how our lives pull us into so much activity that we easily forget to ponder the mystery through and by which we live. At that time we spent some moments meditating on a painting by Henry Tanner and with the words: It is I, do not be afraid. We thought again about how time is not truly linear, about how we miss so much by not being open to possibility, by thinking that all the work that lies before must be done quickly and well. And we also thought about the fear through which we operate rather than love: fear that work may not be accomplished, children may not be fed, laundry and lunches will go undone, papers will not be tended to. God not tended to. Today we reflect on the surprise Jesus invites us to enjoy, just when we least expect it. And we reflect on how we spend our time: time in kindness offering hospitality, time in joy believing in hope, time with self and others pondering the goodness of God, time in thanksgiving for gifts already given and yet to give.

Advent is a time of waiting, hoping, renewing. Let us gather in Advent hope.

Advent is a time to put aside our cares in order to tend to the truly important. Let us gather in Advent love.

Advent is a time to have the courage to step out of the predictable order of our lives. Let us gather in Advent fidelity and prepare for Christ’s Advent of surprise.

Tomorrow, stepping into surprise . . . 

Adapted from a reflection written on December 6, 2008.

Image from: https://www.christianity.com/wiki/jesus-christ/meaning-and-significance-of-jesus-walking-on-water.html

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