Support in the ancient forms

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate how our life in a world of specialized labour, isolated from awareness of the cosmos and attuned to living with spontaneity has separated us from simple cycles of awareness of the Presence of God.

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Reflections on the Lord’s Prayer
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In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah the water cycle is used to establish the efficacy of the word of God.

* [55:10–11] The efficacy of the word of God recalls 40:5, 8.

In the Gospel from Matthew, the liturgical form of the Lord’s Prayer is presented.

* [6:14–15] These verses reflect a set pattern called “Principles of Holy Law.” Human action now will be met by a corresponding action of God at the final judgment.

Edward Morse derives the important truth that God our Father sustains us even as he invites us to ask him for sustenance.  He notes that both food and forgiveness are part of that sustaining power.

Sometimes we need time to heal.  But eventually we need to stop waiting and stewing, and get moving!  Fears can keep us from moving, including the reality that more hurt and angst likely awaits us.  Lord, as you promised, please deliver us from those fears that keep us from trusting in your goodness and going on in the journey you are preparing for us.

Don Schwager exhorts us to pardon our brother and sister by quoting Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"Pardon, that you may be pardoned. In doing this, nothing is required of the body. It is the will that acts. You will experience no physical pain - you will have nothing less in your home. Now in truth, my brothers and sisters, you see what an evil it is that those who have been commanded to love even their enemy do not pardon a penitent brother or sister." (quote from Sermon 210,10)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the reassuring verses in Deutero-Isaiah that are set at the end of the Babylonian exile. The Lord’s Prayer is a familiar recalling of our relationship with “Our Father” that includes words of praise, nourishment, forgiveness and strength in trial.

Rod Dreher, author of the Benedict Option, comments on his experience of Catholic Liturgical Prayer.

It is such a blessing to be able to do this. To just let go, and trust that the prayers worked out by Christians in community ages and ages ago will carry you through. That you don’t have to re-invent the wheel. I do pray “free-form,” but there are times when I can’t find the words, or can’t discipline my thoughts. What a gift to realize that I don’t have to be original. There really is freedom in that. At least I have found it there. This is also true of the liturgy. To be free from the burden of spontaneity and originality.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that many of us who grew up in the church don’t realize that we’ve inherited a pretty blurry cosmology. He quotes Beatrice Bruteau (1930-2014), who offers an update of our cosmology to a lens that is more compatible with science and the world around us.

What we now call complexity, and recognize as doing its creative work on the very edge of chaos, is at the heart of this miraculous picture. There may not be an external Designer and a micro-managing Providence from the outside, but neither is the world devoid of divinity. The divinity is so intimately present in the world that the world can be regarded as an incarnate expression of the Trinity, as creative, as expansive, as conscious, as self-realizing and self-sharing.

Pondering the pace of the water cycle and the expanse of the universe open our being to gratitude and we find support in the ancient forms of praising God.

References


(n.d.). Isaiah 55. Retrieved February 20, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/isaiah55.htm

(n.d.). Matthew, chapter 6 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved February 20, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/6

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 20, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(n.d.). The Blessing Of Routine | The American Conservative. Retrieved February 20, 2018, from http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/the-blessing-of-routine/

(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 20, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/