Quiet and controlled

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with our struggle against fear and loss of place in the world.

Quite whisper of peace

The flight of Elijah to Mount Horeb in the First Book of Kings brings an encounter with God in a quiet whisper.

* [19:1–21] The story of Elijah’s journey to Mount Horeb begins as a flight from danger, but takes a surprising turn. The prophet makes his solitary way to the mountain where the Lord had appeared to Moses and the Israelites (“Horeb” is an alternate name for “Sinai”). Like Moses on the holy mountain, Elijah experiences a theophany and receives a commission.

In the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus identifies a path from lust to adultery and offers a strong endorsement of marriage as a permanent covenant.

* [5:31–32] See Dt 24:1–5. The Old Testament commandment that a bill of divorce be given to the woman assumes the legitimacy of divorce itself. It is this that Jesus denies

Eileen Wirth notes that as a society, we tend to freak out about solitude and silence.

So here’s my suggestion for today or tomorrow: Turn off all noisemakers in our houses. Do not check our cell phones for an hour or so and invite the Spirit to speak to us. Try to really listen. We might be amazed at what we learn. Give the Spirit a chance to cut through the clutter of our lives

Don Schwager cites “The fuel of adultery”, by Chromatius (died 406 AD), as his daily quote from the early church fathers.

"Because adultery is a serious sin and in order to uproot it, lest our conscience be defiled, he [Jesus] forbade even lust, which is the fuel of adultery. According to the words of blessed James in his epistle, 'Lust when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death' (James 1:15). The Holy Spirit speaks concerning this to David: 'Happy shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock' (Psalm 137:9). The symbolism here is that the blessed and truly evangelical person roots out the desires and lust of the flesh arising from human weakness. He does this immediately before they grow, at the onset, through faith in Christ who has been described as a rock" (1 Corinthians 10:4) (excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 23.1.6–7)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:27-32 teaches that just a glance is sometimes all it takes to lead us into sin.

Whether it’s lust or greed or anger, we know how our disordered desires can affect us. It can be discouraging to see how easily sinful or unclean thoughts can spring into our minds and then lead us to sin.
Yes, one glance can lead you down the road of temptation. But just as your eyes can get you into trouble, they can also help get you out of it.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs has completed a lecture series on “The Seven Deadly Sins”. Videos of each presentation are available through their website.

Friar Jude Winkler explains how the actions requested by God of Elijah on Mt. Horeb are those of a prophet of God for all people. He offers the practice of being chaste in our mind as the strategy against following temptation. He identifies the challenge we have with divorce in our society.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, presents the ideas of Bryan Stevenson, lawyer and social justice activist, that we have a choice. We can embrace our humanness, which means embracing our broken natures and the compassion that remains our best hope for healing. Or we can deny our brokenness, forswear compassion, and, as a result, deny our own humanity.

Embracing our brokenness creates a need for mercy. . . . I began thinking about what would happen if we all just acknowledged our brokenness, if we owned up to our weaknesses, our deficits, our biases, our fears. Maybe if we did, we wouldn’t want to kill the broken among us who have killed others. Maybe we would look harder for solutions to caring for the disabled, the abused, the neglected, and the traumatized.

We take inspiration from the whispered voice of the Spirit in our struggles and fears that our brokenness is the door through which we will grow in compassion and bring holiness to our fractured lives.

References


(n.d.). 1 Kings, chapter 19 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved June 15, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/1kings19:8

(n.d.). Matthew, chapter 5 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved June 15, 2018, from http://usccb.org/bible/matthew/5

(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved June 15, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 15, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 15, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/