Self off centre

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today make us aware that we live in a tension which pulls us toward placing ourselves at the centre of our lives and consciousness. Father Larry Gillick SJ reflects on how easy it is for our attention to be taken to how we are and our imagination and vision of the events of our day. The passage from the Prophet Zechariah is described by Friar Jude Winkler as a foreshadowing of the Passion of Jesus. Some historical interpretation of this passage points to the mourning of Israel over the loss of the last good king, Josiah. This loss in death is compared to the loss of the hope for a Messiah. Our attention is diverted from self, thankfully, in the face of loss. We are able to be empathetic and compassionate with others. Our self can become unimportant when we are presented with our need to love others. The desolation of the prayer of the psalmist expresses our deep desire for love in relationship with God. Paul proclaims the primacy of our relationship with Jesus which makes our other human characteristics like ethnicity, gender, career and social status of much less and secondary importance. We continue to be internally interrupted by messages which drag us to that self centre where our status, success, pleasure and pride are given time and space to bring us mourning and grief as described in the first reading. We also can be called to the Life which is associated by the proclamation of Peter who vocalizes his understanding that he is living in the company of the Messiah. Our incarnation of Jesus through the Spirit puts us with Peter in the Presence which will give all and take all. We trust the Love of carrying the cross to be the Way to transformation of self love to Love of all.