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The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today remind us that we have a connection to God during times of severe trial and fear.

fall into emptiness

The Book of Esther describes the terror that moves Esther to prayer after receiving news of planned genocide from Mordecai.

 The Book of Esther tells a story of the deliverance of the Jewish people. We are shown a Persian emperor, Ahasuerus (loosely based on Xerxes, 485–464 B.C.), who makes momentous decisions for trivial reasons, and his wicked minister, Haman, who takes advantage of the king’s compliance to pursue a personal vendetta against the Jews by having a royal decree issued ordering their destruction. The threat is averted by two Jews, Esther and Mordecai. Their influence and intervention allow the Jews to turn the tables on their enemies and rout their attackers. This deliverance is commemorated by the inauguration of the Jewish festival of Purim on the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar (mid-February through mid-March). The book confronts the modern reader with important themes, the evils of genocide and racism.1

The responsorial psalm is a thanksgiving to God, who came to the rescue of the psalmist.

* [Psalm 138] A thanksgiving to God, who came to the rescue of the psalmist. Divine rescue was not the result of the psalmist’s virtues but of God’s loving fidelity (Ps 138:1–3). The act is not a private transaction but a public act that stirs the surrounding nations to praise God’s greatness and care for the people (Ps 138:4–6). The psalmist, having experienced salvation, trusts that God will always be there in moments of danger (Ps 138:7–8).2 

In the Gospel from Matthew Jesus speaks wisdom on the answer to prayer.

* [7:1–12] In Mt 7:1 Matthew returns to the basic traditional material of the sermon (Lk 6:37–38, 41–42). The governing thought is the correspondence between conduct toward one’s fellows and God’s conduct toward the one so acting.3 

Jeanne Schuler recognizes that great fear flattens us.

 We can hardly breathe or move.  Our limbs drop like bricks. Dread engulfs us.  What was solid dissolves. No ground remains to stand upon.  We fall into emptiness. No one is there to catch us. We are abandoned.
With her maids, Esther fell to the ground.  She cried, trembled, and surrendered to God.  Esther pounded and the door was opened. When she first approached the throne, Esther fainted.  But she persisted. Her words touched the mercurial king’s heart. He listened. His orders were revoked and the Jewish people were saved.  Instead, murder was unleashed on their enemies throughout the empire. The bloodbath was redirected, not cancelled.
The Gospel tells us to fear not.  Do not be afraid. That isn’t easy.  Uneasiness and ambiguity creep in. Where is the firm ground to stand on?  When our familiar world dissolves into fear, we plead: God, I need you. I am undone.  We cry from the heart.
This is the season of Purim.  On this holiday, the Jewish people celebrate “deliverance from mortal danger.”  Esther did not practice detachment. She was not resigned to fate. She begged God for help.  This trust was her anchor in the sea of fear. Esther acted because others depended on her. We are in this together.4

Don Schwager quotes “The gift of being good, by Augustine,” Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

 "He who has given us the gift of being gives us also the gift of being good. He gives to those who have turned back to Him. He even sought them out before they were converted and when they were far from his ways!" (Commentary on Psalm 103, 2) 5

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 7:7-12 shares that God cares about everything that matters to us. So ask, seek, and knock. He will always answer.

 Ask! Ask your heavenly Father for the good things that you desire. He knows what will satisfy your heart and soul and what will draw you closer to him... Seek! That’s an action verb. Go after what you want. Make a plan. Talk it over with the Lord as well as with your spouse or a trusted adviser or friend… Knock! If a door seems closed, knock on it. Knock again. Keep on knocking. But as you do, be open to what God wants for you.6

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the chutzpah and surrender in the appeal of Esther to God that connects to the Covenant Promise. God is a loving parent who wants us involved in the decision making process. Friar Jude cites some rabbinic stories as he points out our tendency to do the things that hurt us to others.

Sister Ilia Delio, a Franciscan professor and theologian, offers a vibrant vision for evolution in her book “The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love.” She comments that Christianity is a religion of evolution, a consciousness of divine love-empowered reality. In the past Christianity meant a flight from the world. In an evolutionary universe, however, it is a flight from separateness. Even Albert Einstein, who did not believe in a personal God, saw the intricate relatedness that exists.

 We must widen our vision to a christification of the galaxies, a new unity of all cosmic life. To do so we must fix our eyes on the future, on forging new relationships of love that include the earth, all peoples, all religions, all planets and all galaxies. We need to reimagine ourselves in love, realizing that on the evolutionary time line, Christianity was born this morning and is just waking up to the newness of life. In Jesus divine love bursts forth with hopes and dreams for a new world. This new world is within our reach if we awaken to the power of love within us as the power to create anew.7

The apprehension we experience in times of real stress or even as we imagine the deep suffering of others enduring tragedy needs to be worked through and our trust in our relationship with the Source of Life is our consolation as we seek resolution of the eternal mystery of suffering.

References

1	(n.d.). Esther, Introduction - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Retrieved March 14, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/esther/0
2	(n.d.). Psalms, chapter 138. Retrieved March 14, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/Psalms/138:1
3	(n.d.). Matthew, chapter 7. Retrieved March 14, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/matthew/7:7
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved March 14, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 14, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
6	(n.d.). 1st Week of Lent - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations for .... Retrieved March 14, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/03/14
7	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: March 2019 - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved March 14, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2019/03/