Tag: willfulness

• Mark 14:12-16: Preparation of the Dwelling Place

  
  

  Mark 14:12-16: Preparation of the Dwelling Place

  Corpus Christi Sunday, June 19, 2022

  The Feast of Corpus Christi is a celebration of Christ’s presence in the world in a very special way. Today we read and reflect on how Jesus – he who is the son of the living God – prepares for and celebrates a day when God has saved us all.  We might forget this easily unless we remind ourselves often that we need not struggle with the world.  Our only struggle is with our own stubbornness or willfulness when we refuse to hand over our suffering to God.

  Some of us think of our meeting with God as taking place in some foggy future just after we die; there are many stories, novels, plays, films and poetry about how we humans shed our mortal skin and meet with our creator to make an accounting of all that we have done – or not done – on earth.  We forget that God is with us constantly, seeing all that we do, available for a conversation, able to give advice, loving us into goodness.  We ought not hesitate in preparing a chair for God, a bed for Jesus, a meal or conversation to share with the Spirit.

  Everything we have heard about the story of our salvation is good news; yet we hesitate to believe.

  Everything we have seen about the story of our rescue is about our new freedom; yet we hesitate to hope.

  Everything we have known about the living presence of the Christ is immediate and irrefutable; yet we hesitate to join God in this union of love.

  We must prepare a place today in which we can find Christ and spend time with him in an honest, authentic dialog about both our worries and joys. If we have a special place where we find God’s presence readily, let us remain a few moments longer than usual . . . and let us thank Christ for the gift of mystery that keeps us close and questioning. Let us thank God for the gift of life that brings us eternal peace. And let us determine more than ever to live as fully as we might in the Spirit. For all of this, let us prepare ourselves to accept this miracle of Corpus Christi, this mysterious, wonderful, singular dwelling place where for each of us in our own time and in our own way . . . body and spirit are one.

  Tomorrow we continue our reflections on mystery with The Mystery of Resurrection. 

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  Image from: http://stjohnscathedral.ca/?attachment_id=8817

  Adapted from a reflection written on May 10, 2010.

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  June 19, 2022

  Corpus Christi, division and union, mystery, willfulness

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• Psalm 51: Miserere

  
  

  Psalm 51: Miserere

  

  Tuesday, March 15, 2022

  The most famous of the lament psalms, often said during the Lenten season, is also called The Miserere and is frequently set to music.

  This week in an exploration of James, our study group is focusing on Chapter 2 in which James brings home the message that words without action are dead, empty, and barren.  Words with action are life, fullness and fruit bearing. This is the sacrifice our God requires of us. God does not look for our burnt offerings of first and best fruits. Nor does God delight in our willfulness; rather, God rejoices at our acknowledgment of our broken-heartedness and waywardness. And God certainly rejoices in our homecoming, wishing nothing more than to be with us fully and totally. In this relationship therefore, we can set aside no room saved for our own littleness of for tiny pettiness. We are created for bigness, for greatness. This is perhaps why we are always seeking something more than what we have and more than what we are.

  In today’s Gospel (John 3:14-21), Jesus describes to Nicodemus just how much God loves the world. Today we might make the best of this opportunity to turn to God to offer our lament or miserere. Psalm 51 is more than an internal and personal act of contrition; this prayer is a statement of our commitment to change and our willingness to witness to what this change has done for us.

  

  And so we pray . . .  Restore my joy in your salvation; sustain in me a willing spirit.  I will teach the wicked your ways, that sinners might return to you . . . Lord, open my lips; my mouth will proclaim your praise. 

   Lord, sustain us . . . Lord, open our lips . . . that we may show you our contrition . . . that we may sing our intentional and sincere miserere . . . that we may proclaim your praise.  Accept our offering of brokenness . . . and bring us home to you. 

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  Adapted from a reflection written on February 11, 2010.

  For a music link, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA88AS6Wy_4 

  Fra Angelica image from: http://radiomelasudas-beaumarchais.blogspot.com/2010/09/michel-richard-delalande-miserere-mei.html

  Scarlatti image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Francesco_Scarlatti_-_Miserere_mei_Deus._(BL_Add_MS_31608_f._8v).jpg

  Our next Lenten days we will take us on a journey through Psalms.

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  March 15, 2022

  broken-heartedness, John 3:14-21, turn to God, willfulness

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• Nehemiah 13: A Prayer for Willingness

  
  

  Saturday, May 9, 2020

  Nehemiah 13

  A Prayer for Willingness

  True hope differs from waiting in that it expects the impossible to become possible through our petition and in God’s action.  Today we might reflect on a mirror image to hope and conversion that we pondered yesterday: the juxtaposition of willingness and desire.  It is this willingness – rather than our desire – that refines us as faithful.  It is this willingness – and not mere desire – that marks us as God’s disciples.

  But what might we gain, we ask ourselves, from being willing rather than willful?

  Perhaps it is our willingness that God nurtures patiently, waiting for our readiness to participate fully in God through Christ.  Perhaps it is this measure of willingness that indicates our full and ready understanding of who God is and why we are created in God’s image.   Perhaps is it our willingness to withstand any difficulty, our determination to be disciples of Christ that signals our preparedness to believe that God can truly make all things possible.  Do we desire to be with God but try to avoid all obstacles in our journey?  Or are we willing to travel the road, despite its roadblocks, in full willingness?

  As we read about Nehemiah warning against stepping into alien and pagan territory and relationships, we might remember the Good Samaritan parable told by Jesus.  A man from Samaria, considered to be an outcast by the Jewish community, helps an injured traveler on the road to Jerusalem while the Levite, one who has special status in the Jewish community, keeps himself separate and pure.  As we mature from our Old Testament self who seeks to merely understand God and enter into our New Testament self to seek union with God we leave our desire behind . . . and we enter into willingness. 

  We fully experience God’s presence when we give over our human desire of wishing for the end result through expedient or easy means, when we surrender our willfulness in order to become willing.  But for this we need courage.

  We genuinely live as God’s disciples when we cease asking for the easy route that has no brambles or pitfalls, when we take on the divine mantle of succumbing to the arduous journey of true willingness.   But for this we need strength.

  And so we pray . . .

  Dear and gracious God,

  We hope to rest constantly in you; grant us your readiness.

  We desire to follow faithfully the way of Christ; grant us your eagerness.

  We expect to hurdle all obstacles that would keep us from you; grant us your strength.

  We hope to respond willingly to your call no matter how difficult the journey; grant us your courage.

  We ask that you hold us close to you. 

  We ask that you keep us forever with you. 

  We ask that you grace us with your willingness.

  We ask this in Christ’s name, in unity with the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

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  Image from: https://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/news/2020/04/supporting-vulnerable-residents-easter-weekend

  Adapted from a reflection written on July 21, 2009. 

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  May 9, 2020

  desire, discipleship, hope, prayer, The Good Samaritan, willfulness, willingness

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• Numbers 21: Worn Out

  
  

  Numbers 21: Worn Out

  Monday, February 25, 2019

  Several years ago we focused on verses 4 through 9 of this chapter in a Noontime reflection about The Bronze Serpent and at that time we noted that this story is often read during the Lenten season when we are called to repent and make reparations.  We reflected on the thought that God in great wisdom and mystery sends a cure to the people that is similar to their disease; and we saw the Hebrews succumb to the temptation to complain when their patience is worn out by the journey.  Just as we travel toward Easter during Lent, and move Advent waiting for the light.  When we have so much invested in our waiting it is easy to give in to the kind of impatience we see today; and we know the feeling of despair that replaces hope when the expected outcome is so long in coming.  We zero in on our disappointment and forget to look at the many victories in our lives.

  The episode of the bronze serpent is sandwiched between stories of victory over Arad, Moab, Sihon and Og.  God has accompanied the Hebrews and seen to their welfare; yet the travail of the journey has worn their patience thin and they turn against God.  Although they experience a series of triumphs, they complain about their food and drink.  They want to control the smallest details of their lives and rather than rest in the triumphs they have lived they obsess about the minutiae.  This is a story in which we can place ourselves.

  Whether we find ourselves in Advent or Lent, or find ourselves in an ordinary time of extraordinary waiting, we can look at the Hebrews to see ourselves in their impatience; and we can make our own journey through the lands of Arad, Moab, Sihon and Og.   We can examine what motivates us, what leads us, what stops us.  And we can pray . . .

  Do I too often steer clear from something when the cure lies in my willingness to enter God’s plan?

  Am I too stiff-necked or too impatient?

  Do I fear too much and trust too little?

  Am I too controlling or too impatient?

  Do I complain too much and give thanks too little?

  Am I too unwilling or too impatient?

  Do I take the victories for granted and throw temper tantrums when my own plans come up short?

  Am I focused on self and not on God?

  In the hardship of the journey it is easy to concentrate on our fears and wishes; it is difficult to keep our eyes on the prize.  So when we feel this impatience welling up, let us look to God for strength; let us ask God for the stamina we need to see the journey through.  Let us look at the many victories that line the pathways of our lives; and let us remember that when we rely on God rather than self . . . our patience will never wear through.

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  A re-post from December 3, 2011.

  For more reflections on traveling the road of life, see the Journeys of Transformation page on this blog.

  Images from: http://jewlistic.com/2010/06/ive-had-it-with-these-snakes-in-this-portion/ and http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx303.htm

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  February 25, 2019

  Arad, Moab, Og, patience, Sihon, stamina, the journey of life, willfulness

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