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Daily Scripture

+ 7th Week of Easter

“Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

Readings: Acts 20:17-27 Psalm 68:10-11, 20-21 John 17:1-11

I am in the world no longer, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. [John 17:11]

Shakespeare ‘penned’ the phrase quoted above. I didn’t understand it as a student of Shakespeare in high school but I began to understand it when I waved goodbye to my family as I sailed off to Italy on September 21, 1963 for a three-year stretch in Rome. In fact, it has multiple meanings and applications that I appreciate now more than ever before.

There is another phrase that perhaps gives credence to my thoughts so poorly expressed and it’s this: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Ah, that’s it. At times we need to separate from ‘the source’ in order to appreciate how important it is to stay connected.

The farewell speech of St. Paul in Acts and the farewell ‘prayer’ of Jesus in John’s gospel were more likely composed by the authors of these texts along the lines of the farewell speeches of great leaders of their times in order to attract the attention of Jesus’ followers.

The departure of Jesus and later that of Paul created ‘fallow’ time in the hearts of the neophyte believers that was absolutely necessary if they were to grasp the significance of Jesus’ message and the teachings of St. Paul.

We are once again in ‘fallow’ time as we prepare for Pentecost. It’s a time of discernment during which we are invited to ponder the words and deeds of Jesus so that in his absence, we may come to know his presence in the Spirit that remains within us and around us.

As we ponder, it is important to reflect on the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and reverence of the Lord. And the fruits of the Holy Spirit are qualities that are characteristic of a community living in Christ: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty self-control and chastity.

There is much to ponder as we wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Seventh Sunday of Easter 'B'

Saturday May 19, 2012

Living the Mystery at the town square

As I walked recently to the Green in the center of Morristown after my evening meal, I marveled at this small town that despite the harsh recession has returned to life over the past few years. I remarked to my cousins as we strolled along, “There’s no recession in Morristown.” The restaurants are full as are the bars, pizza parlors and yogurt emporiums with yet one more on the way. Of course the Community Theater at the Mayo Performing Arts Center is a major attraction to local residents and out-of-town visitors.

The “Green” is not quite a microcosm of the broader metropolitan area, indeed of the whole country. It’s a joy to see people of every color, ethnic background and walk of life, young and old enjoying this rain forest in the midst of the hub-bub of that circles around the square. And one can’t overlook the statue of the Seeing Eye dog with its trainer ‘heading’ toward the Green at the southwest end. Seeing Eye trainers can be found almost every day throughout the town bringing new life to the blind throughout the world.

But the Green is not so green for some area folks. There are the homeless people—some sitting alone on a park bench while others are huddled together around a bag of food they have just received at the soup kitchen or food pantry. But no one rich or poor is cordoned off at the town green. It is our reality. And then again, perhaps it is a kind of microcosm of the larger world that surrounds it.

Living the ‘mystery’ of Christ dwelling in our midst is not an easy path but the challenges are not greater than the opportunities that accompany them. Notwithstanding the harsh realities that recession brings, there are many people who are not blind to the hardships of others. Some action takers are very prominent, others no less eager work quietly behind the scenes – generosity is not lacking among both.

Despite a brief interruption by the Feast of Ascension, there is certain sameness in the scriptural texts on the Sundays between Easter and Pentecost.

Perhaps it was in the mind of the editors of the lectionary that we transition from Easter to Pentecost gradually so that we might ponder at length and in some depth, the mystery of the resurrection enabling us to experience it in a new way as never before on the feast of Pentecost next weekend.

The word ‘mystery’ is rooted in the Greek word, ‘mysterion.’ It’s a word that conveys a deeper reality or truth that the English word is unable to satisfy but that music and poetry can convey in some way and ritual can choreograph through movement and dance. Of course, nature combines all three in the symphony of creation—so much so that we can even smell the breath of God and catch the rhythm of God at play, especially today.

In reality, the Resurrection, the Ascension and Pentecost are all one mystical event but we can’t grasp it in one celebration. We need to unpack each piece, as it were, not to explain the mystery but to be absorbed into it. This is what it means to live the mystery of God who constantly intervenes in our lives in extraordinary but more often in ordinary ways.

It is impossible to be fully human without being Godly and just as impossible to be Godly and not be fully human. Perhaps this is why so many of us become so frustrated in our search for human fulfillment.

Carl Jung was on to something when he attributed the failure to negotiate the significant passages of life to a disconnect between nature and the spirit at the core of our being. We in the Catholic tradition refer to this core as the ‘soul,’ the principle of life. The great contemporary spiritual master, Richard Rohr, calls our effort to get to know God as “soul work,”—the pursuit of holistic growth in the Spirit. The pursuit of holiness is not to detach ourselves from reality; it is the daily effort to live that reality in harmony with others – in the town square.

In his lecture entitled, “Bearing the Mystery — Knowing and Not Knowing,” Rohr quotes Hienrich Zimmer: “The best things cannot be talked about; the second best things are almost always misunderstood because they point to the first best thing and so we spend our lives talking about the third best things — sports and the weather.” Consequently we ‘put in time’ at liturgy instead of putting quality time into our liturgy so that our lives can become a liturgy of praise.

When we come to worship we are invited into a world of mystery (mysterion) about which we have so little understanding. Preachers not knowing everything there is to know about God, search for the right words to speak but must have the humility to acknowledge our ineptitude in the face of God’s awesome presence. Perhaps he would do better to sing a song, blow a horn or simply call attention to the symphony of creation that surrounds us today.

To live in God is to live fully and is demonstrated by our love for others. Defining God is not possible until we have first experienced God. But experiencing God is impossible without loving one another or at least striving to do so not just in word and song but by our acts of kindness and generosity – in the town square.

I read this quote in a preaching resource several years ago:

“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more—continuing. We know that it does not take ‘everyone on earth’ to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second or hundredth gale.”

“One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. A soul on deck shines like gold in the darkness. The light of the soul throws sparks that can send up flares, build signal fires, and cause proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these is to be fierce and to show mercy toward others. Both are acts of immense bravery and of greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.” [Clarissa Pinkola-Estes, from “Do Not Lose Heart.” published in “Preaching Resources,” Celebration: A Comprehensive Worship Resource, National Catholic Reporter Publishing Co, Kansas City, Mo]