Pushing back darkness

The psalmist in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today strikes the note of the deep longing we have for God to be present to us particularly when we are in need. The longing for the presence of God is the deep need to be righteous and we long for it in the manner of waiting for dawn to push back darkness in which we are blind and uncertain. Paul works with this movement toward righteousness before God to reveal to his audience in Rome that the Law which many Jews struggled to keep to the letter was condemning them rather than bringing them closer to intimacy with the Divine. Jesus is the evidence that that God is Love. Mercy and forgiveness are the action of this Love. The One God is Love to all, Jews and Gentiles. Friar Jude Winkler underlines that our justification and righteousness comes from the faith which allows us to trust that God loves us to death without condition, regardless of our attentiveness to the Law or our race or religion. The message of unconditional Love which breaks through the darkness to bring us to dawn is difficult for both ancient and modern people who, like the Pharisees, bind up the relationship with God in adherence to detailed laws, customs, traditions, religiosity and literalism. In the Gospel from Luke today Jesus upsets the Pharisees as he extends the history of the Jews killing the Prophets of the Hebrew Testament to the action of the Pharisees and Lawyers of His time who try to stifle the Word which He lives. Even the commentary on this passage from Luke seems to focus more on the literal accuracy of Jesus citing Abel to Zachariah as the sweep of Prophets to whom death at the hands of believers was their fate. Our Tradition, Scripture, Law and Worship are important aspects to help us know about the historical themes and insights of humanity into the experience of God. Love is the experience which pushes back darkness.