The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to meditate on the mystery of our experience of the Love of God.
Remember the Love
The reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah describes the glorious new Creation that the renewed relationship of the exiles from Babylon with God in Jerusalem would establish.
* [65:17–18] The new creation (cf. 66:22) is described with apocalyptic exuberance: long life, material prosperity, and so forth. As the former events in 43:18 are to be forgotten, so also the new creation wipes out memory of the first creation.1
Psalm 30 is a thanksgiving for recovery from grave illness.
* [Psalm 30] An individual thanksgiving in four parts: praise and thanks for deliverance and restoration (Ps 30:2–4); an invitation to others to join in (Ps 30:5–6); a flashback to the time before deliverance (Ps 30:7–11); a return to praise and thanks (Ps 30:12). Two sets of images recur: 1) going down, death, silence; 2) coming up, life, praising. God has delivered the psalmist from one state to the other.2
In the Gospel of John, Jesus returns to Galilee and heals an Official’s Son.
* [4:43–54] Jesus’ arrival in Cana in Galilee; the second sign. This section introduces another theme, that of the life-giving word of Jesus. It is explicitly linked to the first sign (Jn 2:11). The royal official believes (Jn 4:50). The natural life given his son is a sign of eternal life.3
Nancy Shirley acknowledges that perhaps the fatigue of the pandemic is taking hold (or rather continuing to be a constant companion), and perhaps the unrest and vile hatefulness that seems pervasive is winning this battle. Perhaps she is getting jaded about the world and people in general, perhaps forgiveness and trust is old-fashioned and overvalued?
The faith of the official offers hope and redemption . . .He believed . . . how I want to have that faith back and just believe. Forget all this worldly chaos and angst and just BELIEVE! This official was such any unlikely person it would seem to seek out Jesus and ask for this miracle. Yet, the miracle was his reality and fostered in him and his whole household the belief in Jesus. I need to remind myself that this world is just a part of this journey – there is so much more that is far more important than the piles of things to do, papers to grades, people to please. We must remember that beyond what is in front of us every day is the love of Jesus. That we are loved beyond anything that we deserve or have “earned;” that yes, we have our shortcomings and lots of room for improvement, but we are beloved sinners.4
Don Schwager quotes “Christ our physician,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"God sent the human race a physician, a savior, One Who healed without charging a fee. Christ also came to reward those who would be healed by Him. Christ heals the sick, and He makes a gift to those whom He heals. And the gift that He makes is Himself!" (excerpt from Sermon 102,2)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Isaiah 65:17-21 comments that the Israelites were excited about being brought back from exile. However, maybe they were so focused on what was happening in the moment that they missed the immense hope and promise of what God was saying to them. It was as if their idea of the length, height, and depth of God’s love was limited by the length, height, and depth of the Temple.
How often do you settle for a smaller vision for your life or your loved ones than what God promises? We are all susceptible to this pitfall because we don’t see our world and all its possibilities the way God does. But that doesn’t mean that our expectations have to remain small or shrink even more when disappointment comes. Even when we can’t see it, we can trust that God is working in our lives and in the world today. He will bring to fulfillment all of his promises—including, someday, a new heaven and a new earth!6
Friar Jude Winkler speaks about the sincere conversion of heart that restores our vision of the world around us. “Signs” in the Gospel of John may point to the Love behind Jesus' work or they may be a warning about our desire for a relationship with a miracle worker. Friar Jude reminds us that the gift of faith is trust in God.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that Love is a paradox. It often involves making a clear decision; but at its heart, it is not a matter of mind or willpower but a flow of energy willingly allowed and exchanged, without requiring payment in return. Divine love is, of course, the template and model for such human love, and yet human love is the necessary school for any encounter with divine love.
If we’ve never experienced human love—to the point of sacrifice and forgiveness and generosity—it will be very hard for us to access, imagine, or even experience God’s kind of love. Conversely, if we have never let God love us in the deep and subtle ways that God does, we will not know how to love another human in the deepest ways of which we are capable. Love is constantly creating future possibilities for the good of all concerned—even, and especially, when things go wrong. Love allows and accommodates everything in human experience, both the good and the bad, and nothing else can really do this. Nothing.7
Our experiences in life include suffering and joy that bring transformation to open our heart to deeper relationships with Love.
References
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