Monday, July 20, 2020
![mary-and-elizabeth[1]](https://thenoontimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/mary-and-elizabeth1.jpg?w=300&h=228)
The Encounter
In the first chapter of Luke we witness a series of encounters: the immaculate as she encounters the one who is in the presence of God, two cousins carrying new life, two cousins as yet unborn, and the quiet drama of God’s word coming to live among God’s people. All encounters are holy. Would that we might see them so.
We plan to meet friends for lunch. We arrange our lives to gather for an important occasion. We enter dates on calendars and electronic schedulers. We commit to union with others. All encounters are holy. Would that we might make them so.
We are surprised when we meet a friend from days lived long past. We chance upon a relative we have not seen since a funeral years ago. We find ourselves waiting in queue with a former colleague we have not thought of in the years since we shared a workplace. All encounters are holy. Would that we might make them so.
We bump into strangers in our daily interactions. We exchange currency and salutations with people we barely perceive. We pump gas and load purchases next to people we may never see again. We rent vacation apartments and share cups and plates with hundreds whom we will never meet. We travel in airplanes, trains, buses and taxis and brush against thousands or even millions. All encounters are holy. Would that we might make them so.
We might imagine a life in which we anticipate joy as we meet new people and encounter new ways of thinking. We might picture a life in which conflicts are expressed openly with respect rather than obliquely with silent aggression. We might read Luke 1 and see a girl who steps into danger, fully knowing and fully accepting the challenge that lies before her . . . saying with full and open heart, My soul magnifies the Lord.
All encounters are holy. Would that we might see them so.
Prophet and Redeemer meet before the world is aware of their existence.
Two women clasp one another as they kiss cheeks.
A harbinger arrives, announcing good news that we often choose to disbelieve.
God comes to earth to walk among his people.
Trust in God. Hope with God. Love for God.
Believing that the impossible might be made possible.
All of these encounters are revealed to us today.
All of these options stand before the people we read about today.
All of these possibilities lie beneath the encounters presented to us today.
Let us imagine a life in which each time we look up, we greet the other with warm trust, exuberant hope, and authentic love. Let us picture a world in which we greet and listen to one another with genuine respect. Let us see ourselves stepping forward honestly with hand extended in faithful friendship. Let us imagine the possibilities that lie beneath our encounters, and let us pray . . .
All encounters are holy. Would that we might believe them so.
Image from: http://www.retreatinabag.net/category/retreat-event-planning/ministry-at-the-retreat/
Adapted from a reflection written on January 22, 2009.
The Noontimes 