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Daily Scripture

+ 4th Week in Ordinary Time

Everyone needs a bit of ‘pocket time’

Readings: 1 Kings 3:4-13 Psalm 119:9-14 Mark 6:30-34

The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, “You must come away to some lonely place all by ourselves and rest for a while.” [Mark 6:30]

The notion of Sabbath rest is rooted in the third of the Ten Commandments, “Keep holy the Lord’s day.” For Christians, Sunday is our Sabbath because it was the day on which the Lord rose from the dead. Holiness is the state of being whole, i.e., fully integrated, mind, soul and body. It is the acknowledgment of God as the ground of our being.

In truth, God doesn’t need the Sabbath; we do!

However, I am of the mind that we need to build into our daily routine, a mini-Sabbath or two. I call it ‘pocket time’ or time out from the pressure of our daily schedule. Some folks call it down time.

Of course, there are different strokes for different folks. A good power walk also can be a great opportunity for conversation with God. It’s an easy script. God talks and I listen.

All of us, married or single and whatever our call and career need pocket time every day and in that way we learn to live in the present moment. As my cousin frequently reminds me, “Yesterday is a cancelled check; tomorrow may never come; the present is a gift.” How true. I’m still a neophyte.

Good Friday 2009

Thursday April 9, 2009

Just another day on the landscape of humanity?

Readings: Isaiah 52:13—53:12 Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25 Hebrews 4:14-46; 5:7-9 John 18:1-19, 42

Christ became obedient for us even to death on a cross. [Philippians 2:5]

If ‘good comes from the word “God,” then today is “God’s Friday.” For many it is the beginning of the Easter holidays. Some offices and most schools are closed. Packing day. Off to the islands or to Florida for ‘spring break.’ Happy Holidays! Let Good Friday be good!

As with every exaggeration, there is an element of truth to the celebratory nature of the ‘feast.’ As believers, we have a right, indeed, an obligation to be grateful for the sacrifice of Jesus’ life which, we were taught, saved us from our sins and won our redemption.

But there is a deeper reality that I believe we need to ponder. It is the reality of the choice that believers face every day of our lives. It is the choice to ‘listen’ to the voice of God within our deepest selves or to tune it out.

St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians that Jesus was “obedient unto death.” The word obey shares a common root with the Latin word, audire, i.e., to ‘listen.’ Jesus listened to ‘Abba,’ his Father, who told him that he must be faithful to goodness and ‘godness’ though it cost him his life. God did not will the death of his Son. He willed that he live his humanity to the fullest. It was because he was so faithful to the spirit of the ancient law that he was rejected by the proponents of the law.

This is a dayto ponder all that we live for or perhaps to ask, “what do we live for?” What is the driving force that bids us rise each day? To what or to whom are we omitted as Christians in the Catholic tradition? Money? Status? Power? Title? Or truth, integrity and the pursuit of what is right and just for humanity.

Let us go together into the garden and ponder these hidden realities.

“We adore you O Christ and we praise you. Because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.”