The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today touch on the love of parents for their children as an invitation to contemplate the Presence of Christ in the difficult events of our life.
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| Present Care |
In the reading from the Second Book of Samuel David Mourns for Absalom.
“Is young Absalom all right?”1
The psalmist expresses being “poor and oppressed, “devoted, and “your servant” in supplication for help against enemies.
* [Psalm 86] An individual lament. The psalmist, “poor and oppressed” (Ps 86:1), “devoted” (Ps 86:2), “your servant” (Ps 86:2, 4, 16), “rescued from the depths of Sheol” (Ps 86:13), attacked by the ruthless (Ps 86:14), desires only God’s protection (Ps 86:1–7, 11–17).2
A girl is restored to life and a woman healed by Jesus in the Gospel of Mark.
* [5:28] Both in the case of Jairus and his daughter (Mk 5:23) and in the case of the hemorrhage victim, the inner conviction that physical contact (Mk 5:30) accompanied by faith in Jesus’ saving power could effect a cure was rewarded.3
Julie Kalkowski likes to think that King David’s response moved humankind closer to the realization that “A eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” (Mohandas Gandhi).
Next time I want to say, “How can you even think that?”, I will stop and open my hand and mind so I can connect, not condemn. I will try to be better than I am---Instead of making assumptions or writing people off when they voice an opinion so counter to my beliefs, I will stop and listen. I will try to remember King David’s all-encompassing love for his son, even though his son raised an army against him.4
Don Schwager quotes Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 AD) and Peter Chrysologus (400-450 AD), on faith and healing. He concludes with quoting “The long-suffering of parents,” by Peter Chrysologus (400-450 AD).
"Let us, if it is pleasing to you, speak for a moment of the pains and anxieties which parents take upon themselves and endure in patience out of love and affection for their children. Here, surrounded by her family and by the sympathy and affection of her relations, a daughter lies upon her bed of suffering. She is fading in body. Her father's mind and spirit are worn with grief. She is suffering the inward pangs of her sickness. He, unwashed, unkempt, is absorbed wholly in sorrow. He suffers and endures before the eyes of the world. She is sinking into the quiet of death... Alas! why are children indifferent to these things! Why are they not mindful of them? Why are they not eager to make a return to their parents for them? But the love of parents goes on nevertheless; and whatever parents bestow upon their children, God, the parent of us all, will duly repay." (excerpt from SERMON 33.2)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on 2 Samuel 18:9-10, 14, 24-25, 30–19:3 states we have probably all experienced crushing disappointments like David’s. Things don’t always seem to turn out for the best. A terminal illness strikes. A daughter decides to stay with an abusive spouse. A dear friend sinks deeper into addiction. It’s a mystery why such things happen. We try to trust that God will not abandon us, but sometimes we feel alone. Well-meaning friends may try to cheer us up, but sometimes tears are the only possible response.
When we pour out our hearts like that, we are in good company. Jesus himself grieved. When his friend Lazarus died, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Countless saints too suffered losses that caused them grief and agony. But when they poured out their hearts to God, he came into their grief. He might not have taken it away, but he walked through it with them.6
Friar Jude Winkler reveals David’s instruction that Absalom was not to be killed. The humanity of Jesus shows, in Mark’s Gospel, when He does not know who touched Him. Friar Jude connects Jesus to all three types of miracles understood in the ancient world.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that throughout history, the Franciscan School has typically been a minority position inside of the Roman Catholic and larger Christian tradition. While not everyone shares this way of thinking, it has never been condemned or considered heretical—in fact quite the opposite. It has been allowed and affirmed because we simply emphasize different teachings of Jesus, offer new perspectives and behaviors, and focus on the full and final implications of the incarnation of God in Christ.
From the very beginning, Franciscanism was sort of a para-church on the edge of the inside of organized Christianity, similar to others who had occupied that same position: desert fathers and mothers, many early monastics before they become clericalized and domesticated, Celtic Christianity, and even some religious orders down to our own time. Most Catholics are accustomed to such groups living on the side and the edge of the parish church system, but this is also why Francis of Assisi has often been called “the first Protestant.”
But how did Francis do what he did, from the inside and without oppositional energy? Francis’ starting place was human suffering instead of human sinfulness and God’s identification with that suffering in Jesus. That did not put him in conflict with any Catholic dogmas or structures, merely to the side of them. His Christ was universal while also deeply personal, his cathedral was creation itself, he preferred the bottom of society to the top. Francis showed us that practical truth is more likely found at the bottom and the edges than at the top or the center of most groups, institutions, and cultures (another one of the Center’s Core Principles).7
Contemplation from the edge of Christianity reinforces our experience of Christ with us in times of great distress.
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