The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite contemplation of the name by which our identity and mission in life is summarized by God.
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| Name our mission |
The reading from Revelation describes the New Jerusalem with the names of the twelve apostles prominently displayed.
* [21:14] Courses of stones,apostles: literally, “twelve foundations”; cf. Eph 2:19–20.1
Psalm 145 declares “works of God” make God present and invite human praise.
* [Psalm 145] A hymn in acrostic form; every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Acrostic poems usually do not develop ideas but consist rather of loosely connected statements. The singer invites all to praise God (Ps 145:1–3, 21). The “works of God” make God present and invite human praise (Ps 145:4–7); they climax in a confession (Ps 145:8–9). God’s mighty acts show forth divine kingship (Ps 145:10–20), a major theme in the literature of early Judaism and in Christianity.2
In the Gospel from John Nathanael is among the First Disciples Jesus identifies with a name from salvation history.
* [1:19–51] The testimony of John the Baptist about the Messiah and Jesus’ self-revelation to the first disciples. This section constitutes the introduction to the gospel proper and is connected with the prose inserts in the prologue. It develops the major theme of testimony in four scenes: John’s negative testimony about himself; his positive testimony about Jesus; the revelation of Jesus to Andrew and Peter; the revelation of Jesus to Philip and Nathanael.3
Eileen Wirth asks who was Nathanael and where was he from? What explained his disdain for Nazareth?
I had to admit Jesus sure knew how to meet Nathanael where he was. I’m as skeptical as anyone but Jesus seemed awfully real. I don’t want to change my life by following some wandering rabbi but I can’t get Jesus out of my mind.4
My research has identified community, Identity, and Mission as key components of the decision to commit ourselves to a cause.
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| Three elements for commitment |
Don Schwager quotes “The Lord of Angels,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).
"Do you see how he [Jesus] leads him [Nathanael] up little by little from the earth and causes him no longer to imagine him as merely a man? For one to whom angels minister and on whom angels ascend and descend, how could he be a man? This is why he said, 'You shall see greater things than these.' And to prove this, he introduces the ministry of angels. What he means is something like this: Does this, O Nathanael, seem to you a great matter, and have you for this confessed me to be King of Israel? What then will you say when you see 'angels ascending and descending on me'? He persuades him by these words to receive him as Lord also of the angels. For on him as on the king's own son, the royal ministers ascended and descended, once at the season of the crucifixion, again at the time of the resurrection and the ascension, and before this also, when they 'came and ministered to him' (Matthew 4:11). They also ascended and descended when they proclaimed the good news of his birth and cried, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace' (Luke 2:14), when they came to Mary and also when they came to Joseph... Our Lord made the present a proof of the future. After the powers he had already shown, Nathanael would readily believe that much more would follow." (excerpt from the Homilies On the Gospel of John 21.1)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 1:45-51 It can be very challenging to look at things through the lens of God’s great wisdom.
Like Nathanael, we too may see only the earthly reality but miss the heavenly one. We might wonder, “What good can come from X situation?” or “What good can come from Y relationship?” But as he did for Nathanael, Jesus wants to open our minds and give us a heavenly perspective. He wants to help us see everything in a new light, the light of his love and his purpose for all of our lives.6
Friar Jude Winkler shares the Revelation description of the heavenly Jerusalem. Jesus links the lack of duplicity in Nathanael to the conversion of Jacob to Israel. Friar Jude reminds us of our mission and our deeper name.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, quotes Kathleen Norris in expressing all the complexities and contradictions of human experience, the psalms act as good psychologists. They defeat our tendency to try to be holy without being human first. [4].
As a contemplative practice, I invite you to write your own psalm. Begin by thinking about the longing in your own heart to create a future reinvented in love. You don’t need to be a writer, just willing to write your heartfelt thoughts as you would in a journal, knowing that the psalmist’s role is simply to express themselves to God.
You might read several psalms before you get started or choose a common theme from the biblical psalms to focus on: Joy (11, 18, 23, 27), Love (33, 62, 99, 103), Thanksgiving (30, 32, 65, 75), Justice (26, 52, 114), Healing (22, 38, 41).
The practice is simple. Write a free-form psalm based on the deep feeling or longing of your heart. Read it aloud when it is complete. Offer your psalm to God.7
In our humanity, God makes our mission known, sometimes through referring to a name that resonates with our personality.
References
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