Monday, July 30, 2012

Loincloth, seed and yeast


The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today create images about the relationship between God and people. The passage from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah describes a series of actions wherein a loincloth which represents the intimacy between God and the people of Judah and Israel is taken to the Euphrates, the river which is the lifeblood of the foreign conquerors and in the separation from the chosen people, the garment and its symbol of the union with the people is ruined. The psalmist condemns the people who “forgot the God who gave you birth”. The association of God with the creation and maintenance of abundant life is seen in the comparison from the Gospel of Matthew of the Presence of God to seed which brings abundant growth and the yeast which creates much nutrition by transforming flour to bread. The nature of the desire of God to be the immanent and transcendent in human existence is very difficult to understand from the words and concepts of human philosophy. In the images and stories of parables, we can use the great gifts of meditation and imagination to allow our indwelling Spirit to be resonant with the Divine Spirit.

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