The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to transcend the limits that modern rational thought attempts to place on the role of signs, symbols, and totems in deepening our appreciation of life.
 |
| Lift up our eyes |
The passage from the Book of Numbers relates the healing that God connected to the totem of the Bronze Serpent.
* [21:8] Everyone who has been bitten will look at it and recover: in the Gospel of John this scene is regarded as a type for the crucifixion of Jesus (Jn 3:14–15).1
In Psalm 102 the psalmist recalls God’s venerable promises to save the poor (Ps 102:13–23).
* [Psalm 102] A lament, one of the Penitential Psalms. The psalmist, experiencing psychological and bodily disintegration (Ps 102:4–12), cries out to God (Ps 102:1–3). In the Temple precincts where God has promised to be present, the psalmist recalls God’s venerable promises to save the poor (Ps 102:13–23). The final part (Ps 102:24–28) restates the original complaint and prayer, and emphasizes God’s eternity.2
The Gospel from John declares Jesus, the Father’s Ambassador and “I AM” of Hebrew tradition.
* [8:24, 28] I AM: an expression that late Jewish tradition understood as Yahweh’s own self-designation (Is 43:10); see note on Jn 4:26. Jesus is here placed on a par with Yahweh.3
Tom Shanahan, S.J. comments that the reading in today’s liturgy from the Book of Numbers highlights the fault of whining.
Am I grateful for my life? Am I grateful that I can walk, talk, think, see, feel, and be open to the wonders of the universe that surround me? What is my response to the fears and difficulties of life when they come my way? Like us, the Israelites forgot to be thankful for the way that God was rescuing them. Let’s pray together that we remember in humble gratitude the ups and downs of human living.4
Don Schwager quotes “Aided by Christ's grace,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"God the Father said: 'I sent you One who would seek you out, walk with you, and forgive you. So he had feet to walk with and hands to forgive with. Thus, when he ascended after his resurrection, he showed hands, side, and feet: hands with which he gave pardon to sinners; and side from which flowed the ransom of the redeemed.'" (excerpt from Sermon 16A,10)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 8:21-30 shares that when we gaze at Jesus lifted up on the cross, we see ourselves and Jesus more clearly.
Looking at the cross, we can see ourselves as capable of wounding people by our indifference, our selfishness, and our pride. We see that we can be like Pilate as we wash our hands of responsibility for the needy. We are the soldiers mistreating the people we don’t respect. We are the mob, easily swayed by the fad or feeling of the moment, rejecting anyone who seems out of step. We are the would-be followers running away at the first sign of trouble. We are the faithful friends, helpless and disconsolate, immobilized by fear. We see how our own actions have caused the pain that Jesus is experiencing as he hangs on the cross, suffering for our sins.6
Friar Jude Winkler recalls the totem items in the Hebrew Testament. The hour of glory of Jesus in John’s Gospel is when He is “lifted up” on the Cross. Friar Jude reminds that the Pharisees in the Gospel were thinking in a worldly way and our challenge is to use the eyes of God to see in a spiritual way.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that the human need for physical, embodied practices seems universal. Across Christian history, the “Sacraments,” as Orthodox and Catholics call them, have always been with us… These outer images serve as mirrors of the Absolute, which can often bypass the mind. Anything is a sacrament if it serves as a Shortcut to the Infinite, hidden in something that is very finite.
All these practices have one thing in common: they are acted out, mimed, embodied expressions of spirit. The soul remembers them at an almost preconscious level because they are lodged in our muscle memory and make a visual impact. The later forms of more rational Protestantism had a hard time understanding this.7
The pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness requires that we are open to sensual experiences that connect us, beyond immediate rational understanding, to the fullness of life that releases us from spiritual death.
References
1
|
(n.d.). Numbers, chapter 21 - usccb. Retrieved April 9, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/numbers/21
|
2
| |
3
| |
4
|
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved April 9, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
|
5
|
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 9, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
|
6
|
(2019, April 9). Meditations - The Word Among Us. Retrieved April 9, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/04/09/
|
7
|
(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive: April 2019 - Daily Meditations Archives .... Retrieved April 9, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2019/04
|
No comments:
Post a Comment