But God was not in the Earthquake...Reflection for Readings for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 10, 2014

Do you see God in nature?  Do you see God in cataclysmic events?  I love to watch storms.  They are beautiful and terrifying, and wonderful to watch from the safety of indoors or from far away.  One hopes, sometimes desperately depending on the severity of the storm, that no one is hurt by the storm, and it is saddening to learn that property or homes were damaged.

At the mountain of God, Horeb,
Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter.
Then the LORD said to him,
“Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD;
the LORD will be passing by.”
A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains
and crushing rocks before the LORD—
but the LORD was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake—
but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake there was fire—
but the LORD was not in the fire.
After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.
When he heard this,
Elijah hid his face in his cloak
and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Of course God is present in all places, and in everything, so we know God was in the wind, was in the crushing rocks, and in the fire, but Elijah did not hear or see God in those events.  Elijah heard God in the tiny, whispering sound.  This is how God was speaking to Elijah.  Elijah learned to cut through the "noise" and hear the voice of God, not in the dramatic thundering surrounding the giving out of the commandments, but in the asking us to love one another through obeying his commandments to love one another as he loves us.  In the Gospel, Jesus walks through the noise of the storm, speaks, and through his speaking calms the storm and Peter's fearful spirit.

Aren't we the same way?  When tragedy strikes, when a so termed "Act of God" weather event destroys people's lives or homes, we do not hear God in the violence of those events.  We know that God loves us and wants good for his children, wants good for people of all faith and for people of no faith.   We know that God will come to our assistance, come to our aid in putting lives back together.  We hear God in the whispered healing of the agencies, friends and neighbors who come in to assist people getting back on their feet.   It is easy when one is a victim of a damaging storm or accident to ask God why.  "Why God, why did you let this happen to us?"  It is normal to ask and wonder, and a part of the process of coming to terms with an unwanted and unpleasant shift in one's life, an unfair hand dealt from the hand of life, and it is okay to ask God these questions.  Sometimes there are no good answers, sometimes what is is simply what is, and sometimes the answers come in time, through receiving and accepting the gentle ministrations of others who come along beside you, those who say "we know, we don't understand why either, but we love you and are here for you."   Those that like Jesus in the Gospel reading, reach out their hand to us and say "It is I, do not be afraid."  Sometimes the damage can be prevented in the future, as when we learn more about how to implement safer building codes, or improve our warning systems.

Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.

Our faith life can go through storms, and there is a place of safe retreat.  When we have doubts or fears about God and our relationship with God, we too can improve our warning systems, "hide our face in our cloak", stop looking out at the storms of doubts and learn listen for God's quiet reassuring voice.  We find a quiet place of refuge to meditate on God's goodness in our lives, and draw strength from that "storm shelter".  As we grow and mature as Christians, as people of faith, we learn to be less afraid of the storms.  We learn to accept help from others when we lack faith ourselves.  We can see the warning signs and retreat safely into the arms of God, dodging the worst of the storm.  We can sit with God and watch the storm pass, notice its awesome and terrible beauty, pray that no one will be hurt by it, and stand ready to offer comfort and healing.

When we see others going through the storms of faith, like St. Paul in the passage from Romans, we can have great sorrow and anguish in our hearts for them, learn to empathize, even acknowledge the desire that we could take the storm's "beating" instead of them, and reach out our hands, be the hands of Christ for them as so many have been the hands of Christ for us.  When we turn our selves toward Jesus, turn our spirits inward to the quiet voice saying "this too shall pass, all will be well" and wait, we will find that eventually the storm does pass, and God was with us in the storm all along.

In Christ,
Gazelle

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 13, 2014

Reading I:  Isaiah 55:10-11
Reading II:  Romans 8:18-23
Psalm Response:  65:10,11, 12-13,14
Gospel:  Matthew 13:1-23

If there was ever an agricultural theme for a set of readings, this week's readings certainly fits the bill.  A fitting time to look to the fields, look to the harvest, notice the crops as the summer ripens and autumn draws nearer.

Isaiah writes of the Lord's word, just as precipitation falling from heaven waters the earth and produces food, his word goes forth from his mouth to achieve a harvest of his will, his intended purpose.  

The psalm praises the Lord for the bounty of the harvest, his providence in drenching the fields, using very poetic language.  The fields are garmented with flocks and the valleys blanketed with grain.  What a beautiful word picture.

In Romans the battles and struggles of the Christian life have hope of coming to fruition, as we ourselves are called firstfruits of the Spirit.  Our struggles to grow will not count for naught.  We have been planted by the Lord, our growth is in the Lord, we will be gathered again to the Lord.

The Gospel reading is a parable about a sower who goes out to sow, to plant, and has mixed results based on where the seed falls.  The disciples are perplexed by Jesus' use of parables, and Jesus gives them an inside interpretation of the story.  I am so glad that the writer of Matthew included this (psst, come here, I'll put you in the know, the writer whispers), as it enables us to understand the parable ourselves as it was understood by the disciples, and gives us a clue into how other parables we read are meant to be understood.  I kind of wonder if the disciples really understood the parable before Jesus so kindly provided them the interpretation.

It may be perplexing to hear that some are not blessed with understanding, even many prophets and righteous people from the past who longed to know what the disciples learned by being with Jesus.  The early Christians really struggled with that question, and also with not understanding why many of their contemporaries did not accept Jesus' teaching, and that is reflected in this story they chose to record through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.   No eye has seen, no ear has heard, what God has ready for those who love him, or for those who will love him.  I know that there are days that I am not blessed with understanding, and on those days it is best to wait upon the Lord.

A parable, or any portion of Scripture for that matter, at first glance can be seen as a raw and unprocessed product, like a grain of wheat.  A grain of wheat can be processed in so many ways.  It can become bread, cinnamon rolls, pancakes, tortillas, pasta.  It can be roasted or baked or boiled, depending on the creativity and the needs of the cook.  It is prepared to nourish our bodies.  With the word of God, it too can be processed in many ways.  It can become the ingredient for a homily, a teaching device, an essay, an inspirational thought, a convicting jolt, a new story, a poem, a reminder of our past or a hope for the future.  It is prepared to nourish our soul and spirit, and when our souls are nourished, our bodies too benefit.  God's word as food, as harvest.

As we read, it is the Lord himself, the Master of the Harvest, who feeds us.  As we hear the word proclaimed at Mass and through the mouths of those near to us, it is the Lord himself, the Master Gardener, who feeds us, nourishes us, and causes us to grow into more mature Christians.  As we receive Christ in Holy Communion.   Come, all you who are hungry...let us see what the Lord has prepared today.

Blessings In Christ,
Gazelle

Reflection for Readings for Pentecost Sunday 2014

Reading 1:  Acts 2:1-11
Psalm Response:  Psalm 104
Reading II:  1st Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13
Gospel:  John 20:19-23

This will be a reflection of personal application of how the Scriptures for this Sunday moved in my life this week, not Scriptural exegesis.  Pentecost is one of my favorite Christian holy days, right up there with Christmas and Easter.  On Christmas we celebrate receiving God's gift of Jesus coming into the world, and on Pentecost we celebrate receiving the Holy Spirit coming into the church.

In Acts, the disciples were all together in one place, and from the sky came a noise like a strong wind, and it filled the house where they were, and came to rest on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

In the Psalms, God sends his breath to the earth's creatures and they are created.  When he takes away their breath, they return to the dust.

1st Corinthians says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.  To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.

According to the Gospel, Jesus came and stood in the midst of the disciples, while they were locked away, hiding in fear, and said to them, "Peace be with you."  He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."  

Yesterday I was blessed to be able to attend an ordination ceremony for two priests.  One part of the ceremony involved the numerous priests present who were already ordained processing up and one by one, laying their hands upon the priests being ordained.   Each imparted a blessing of the Holy Spirit upon the newly ordained.  Each individual was given a manifestation of the Spirit, and each shared in the one Spirit.  The archbishop specially annointed the hands of the newly ordained in the Holy Spirit with these words:

The Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, guard and preserve you that you may sanctify the Christian people and offer sacrifice to God.

I was especially touched to see the reverence with which some of the priests laid their hands on the new priests, clearly praying for them in holiness and blessing them.  I saw that each priest was an individual with different strengths and different gifts, like all of us.

I remember my own confirmation, when our priest laid his hands on my head and imparted the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit came as a strong driving wind in the account in Acts, and as the very breath of Jesus in the Gospel of John.  It is important to listen to the Holy Spirit in our own lives, and to be joyfully open to the moments when the Spirit does move.

God works in mysterious ways in our lives sometimes.  Christians speak of it often, the movements of the Spirit. The Spirit that gives us right judgement, wisdom, awe of the Lord, understanding.  I was speaking with a co-worker this week while at a funeral.  She asked me if any close relatives of mine had died.  I later returned her question, and she shared a story of a relative who had lived her in a nursing home.  She really was not close to that relative and had not visited them.  However, one day she felt she should go to visit, and did.  She had a wonderful visit.  Later that week the relative died.  She was so glad to have been able to spend some time with that person before they died, that she had gone when she did.  That prompting may have been the Holy Spirit in her, telling her to visit that day.

I remember a man who told me once that whenever he was in a difficult moment, he prayed to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit came into the situation immediately.  That witness of his moved me, and I have found it to be true in my own life.  I can ask the Holy Spirit to come and bring me the peace of Christ, and the Lord is kind to always share his presence.  In another sense his presence is with us always, abiding with us forever as Jesus promised, and sometimes the asking is what helps us to recall who we are and to accept the reality of that Holy Presence.

Holy Spirit still and sweet
Good and right and You
You surprise me with your peace
When You come I have to stop and rest
Could rest forever in the moment
Of calm and enveloping You
The One so sweetly still and true

The Gift of the Holy Spirit is indeed the greatest gift, as it is the very presence of God our creator, who gave us breath and life itself.

Happy Pentecost to all of you!

Gazelle

Reflection on the Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 30, 2014 Sight and Blindness

I went to the 5:00 Mass last night, and when the deacon was reading the Gospel, I thought it would never end.  It was a long one!  I couldn't help but think, as I listened to the many posturings and objections and projections assumptions and presumptions about the man's guilt for being blind, or his parents' guilt, or lack thereof, of Matthew 11:17 or Luke 7:30.

What comparison can I find for this generation?  It is like children shouting to each other as they sit in the market place:  We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance;  we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn. (Matt)  We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance;  we sang a dirge, and you did not cry. (Luke)

Within the religious community of that time, some believed that physical maladies were the result of sin, and so felt justified in condemning the people suffering from physical ailments, making themselves spiritual judges of the infirm.  It is a normal initial human reaction of the spiritually-minded to attempt to reconcile the presence of things of which we are afraid or don't understand with our religious beliefs, and these pharisees and their followers were trying to make sense of the imperfections in the world through a religious lens which was colored by a firm belief that someone had to be blamed for the man's blindness.  So no matter what anyone said, they were focused on finding someone to call a sinner.  How much better it would have been to be involved in helping that man in his predicament to live well in his circumstances.  It is admirable to see those in the world today who are given the gift of giving sight to the blind through medical means, or assistance such as guide dogs and other aids.

When I see something wrong in the world, do I feel that someone has to be blamed and deserves consequences?  Or do I look for solutions that will be good for everybody involved?  Jesus healed the man's blindness in a miraculous way.  When I open my eyes to solutions instead of driving down the road and getting stuck in the ditch of blaming sin for everything that happens in my life or in other people's lives, I too might find my eyes opened to the healing presence of Jesus.  Yes, sin does cause problems, talk about stating the obvious, but staring at sin all the time can be bad for our spiritual eyes.  It is said that you gaze most upon that which you love.  Gaze at Jesus and let him heal our sight.

Blessings In Christ,
Gazelle

Food for the Journey: Reflection on the Readings for the Second Sunday of Lent 2014

1st Reading: Genesis 12:1-4a

The LORD said to Abram:
“Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk
and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.

“I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you
and curse those who curse you.
All the communities of the earth
shall find blessing in you.”

Abram went as the LORD directed him.




Food for Thought:

All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.
Words for a wanderer, the beginning of a pilgrimage.
What do those words mean to you?
What communities of the earth do you belong to?
How do you bless your communities?
How do your communities bless you?
Which communities have you "gone forth" from?
Do you remember to honor those communities?
Which communities are you a part of that have lost members that "went forth" from you?
How are those who have left still a part of you, even though not present any longer?
How are you still a part of those who have left?
What members are coming into your community and "into a land that God has shown them?"
How are the newcomers in your communities blessings to you?
How are you a blessing to the newcomers in your communities?

Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

2nd Reading II Timothy 1:8b-10

Beloved:
Bear your share of hardship for the gospel
with the strength that comes from God.

He saved us and called us to a holy life,
not according to our works
but according to his own design
and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began,
but now made manifest
through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus,
who destroyed death and brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel.

Bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.
This is Lent, the season of remembering the passion of Christ.
This is Lent, He saved us and called us to a holy life.
Christ brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Life and immortality.


The Gospel Reading is a transfiguration reading.
Jesus took his friends up to a high mountain
and he was transfigured, his face became like the sun
and his clothes shone like light.
They saw prophets from of old.
He showed them life and immortality, in the person of himself.
And He told them not to tell anyone
until he had risen from the dead.

He showed them a land, from the high mountain
This is the land he showed them
He showed them a land
Where Jesus, the Law and the Prophets
converse with one another
where the law and the prophets melt away
into the person of Jesus Christ.

But don't build a tent there.
We're not there yet.
Treasure those moments of transfiguration in your life.
They are food for the journey.





Peace in Christ,

Gazelle