The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate our way of discerning the Spirit in our decisions and actions.
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| Contemplate trust and love |
The reading from the First Letter of John recommends testing the Spirits for evidence of generating trust and love.
* [3:19–24] Living a life of faith in Jesus and of Christian love assures us of abiding in God no matter what our feelings may at times tell us. Our obedience gives us confidence in prayer and trust in God’s judgment. This obedience includes our belief in Christ and love for one another.1
In Psalm 2, a speaker proclaims the divine decree (in the legal adoption language of the day), making the Israelite king the earthly representative of God.
* [Psalm 2] A royal Psalm. To rebellious kings (Ps 2:1–3) God responds vigorously (Ps 2:4–6). A speaker proclaims the divine decree (in the legal adoption language of the day), making the Israelite king the earthly representative of God (Ps 2:7–9) and warning kings to obey (Ps 2:10–11). The Psalm has a messianic meaning for the Church; the New Testament understands it of Christ (Acts 4:25–27; 13:33; Heb 1:5).2
Jesus begins His ministry in Galilee in the Gospel of Matthew.
* [4:17] At the beginning of his preaching Jesus takes up the words of John the Baptist (Mt 3:2) although with a different meaning; in his ministry the kingdom of heaven has already begun to be present (Mt 12:28).3
Vivian Amu comments that the first reading tells us, we belong to God and we have already conquered the spirit of the antichrist because the Spirit of God resides in us and the Spirit of God is much greater than the spirit of the worldly. So, when that single moment happens in our life, that moment that knocks us off our seat of false comfort, let us not be afraid to go forth into the unknown and trust that God will provide for us exactly what we need to succeed, make a difference, and fulfill our sacred purpose.
How can we know for sure when the prompt is of God? How do I know if the prompt is not false or my ego or my fear or my pride? How can we test? I often take my time to think about every decision I make even the smallest one---except of course the decision on whether to have a piece of chocolate or not---that thought process doesn’t take very long, but when it comes to deeper more spiritual things or life decisions, I spend time hoping I would hear a voice loud and clear telling me what to do, and that I would know right away that it was God giving me the go-ahead. Despite my uncertainty, I usually know when the time is right to get up and start afresh, or let go, or go ahead, mainly because I believe that I truly am a Child of God, and God will not let me down---God will lift me up---God will lift us up.4
Don Schwager quotes “The true light of revelation to the Gentiles,” by Chromatius (died 406 AD).
"The Evangelist commemorated in this passage the prophet's words: 'Beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light' (Matthew 4:15-16) In what darkness? Certainly in the profound error of ignorance. What great light did they see? The light concerning which it is written: 'He was the true light that illumines everyone who comes into this world' (John 1:9) This was the light about which the just man Simeon in the Gospel declared, 'A light of revelation to the Gentiles and a glory for your people Israel' (Luke 2:32). That light had arisen according to what David had announced, saying, 'A light has arisen in the darkness to the upright of heart' (Psalm 112:4)."Also, Isaiah demonstrated that light about to come for the enlightenment of the church when he said, 'Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you' (Isaiah 60:1). Concerning that light also Daniel noted, 'It reveals the profound and hidden things, knowing those things which are in darkness and the light is with it' (Daniel 2:22), that is, the Son with the Father, for even as the Father is light, so too is the Son light. And David also speaks in the psalm: 'In your light shall we see light' (Psalm 36:9), for the Father is seen in the Son, as the Lord tells us in the Gospel: 'Who sees me, sees the Father' (John 14:9) From the true light, indeed, the true light proceeded, and from the invisible the visible. "He is the image of the invisible God," as the apostle notes (Colossians 1:15)." (excerpt from TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 15.1)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25 comments that by Jesus’ time, the Jews in Zebulun and Naphtali had blended in with the various pagan peoples in their midst. In this hodgepodge of humanity, there were few religious experts. Just fishermen and craftsmen keeping the faith as best they could in the midst of challenge and hardship. It was these folks who had the privilege of first hearing Jesus’ proclamation that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. It was the ones who had suffered the most, those who most needed to hear good news—and who least expected it.
This means we shouldn’t just expect to see Jesus while we are at church or doing a service project. He comes to us as we weep over the loss of a friend. He comes to us when we are fuming over a perceived insult or gloating over a hard-fought victory against a competitor. He shares everyday life with us—the traffic frustrations, the joys of family, all the misunderstandings and successes. Yes, Jesus’ kingdom is at hand. It’s right here, right where we are.6
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that regardless how we practice —with stillness, breath, observation, chanting, walking, dancing, calm conversation—contemplation calls the ordinary thinking mind into question. We gradually come to recognize that this thing we call “thinking” does not enable us to love God and love others. We need a different operating system, and it both begins with and leads to silence.
In my book The Naked Now, I call non-silence “dualistic thinking,” where everything is separated into opposites, like good and bad, life and death. In the West, we even believe that is what it means to be educated—to be very good at dualistic thinking. Join the debate club! But both Jesus and Buddha would call that judgmental thinking (Matthew 7:1-5), and they strongly warn us against it.
Dualistic thinking is operative almost all of the time now. It is when we choose or prefer one side and then call the other side of the equation false, wrong, heresy, or untrue. But what we judge as wrong is often something to which we have not yet been exposed or that somehow threatens our ego. The dualistic mind splits the moment and forbids the dark side, the mysterious, the paradoxical. This is the common level of conversation that we experience in much of religion and politics and even every day conversation. It lacks humility and patience—and is the opposite of contemplation.7
The healing gifts in our relationship with Christ may be revealed as we take time to contemplate the intimate Presence that accompanies us on our journey.
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