Peace in Adversity

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to examine our experience of adversity and our relationship to God in those times.

Peace on the Journey

The reading from the Second Book of Samuel relates how David flees from Jerusalem as Shimei curses David.

* [16:8] Blood shed…Saul: probably refers to the episode recounted in 21:1–141

 

Psalm 3 urges trust in God under adversity.

* [Psalm 3] An individual lament complaining of enemies who deny that God will come to the rescue (Ps 3:2–3). Despite such taunts the psalmist hopes for God’s protection even in sleep (Ps 3:4–7). The Psalm prays for an end to the enemies’ power to speak maliciously (Ps 3:8) and closes peacefully with an expression of trust (Ps 3:9).2

 

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus heals the Gerasene demoniac.

* [5:19] Go home: Jesus did not accept the man’s request to remain with him as a disciple (Mk 5:18), yet invited him to announce to his own people what the Lord had done for him, i.e., proclaim the gospel message to his pagan family; cf. Mk 1:14, 39; 3:14; 13:10.3

 

Eileen Wirth comments that the action in the Gospel account is so gripping that it’s hard to focus on the passage’s message: that Jesus can free us from our OWN demons. We all have them and they take many forms. No one is exempt from depression, anxiety, addiction or being unable to overcome our favorite vices. We may not be publicly possessed like the man in Mark’s gospel, but our demons can deny us “the peace that passes all understanding.”

Jesus isn’t going to drive my own difficulty forgiving and forgetting into any beast wandering my neighborhood, so I need to start by identifying my issue as a demon, admitting my need for help and praying for it. The Jesuit Examen seems like it would work especially well for this exercise but the important thing is to seek  the help we need, however we do it. Then we have to trust that Jesus will respond. If he could drive a legion of demons from a violently troubled man like the one in today’s gospel, he can help us combat our own legions of garden-variety neurotic behaviors, favorite vices, hurts and grudges.4

 

Don Schwager quotes “The God-Man beheld,” by Gregory of Nazianzus (330 - 390 AD).

"Yes, he is recognized by demons (Luke 4:33-34, Mark 1:23-24), drives out demons (Matthew 8:16, Mark 1:34), drowns deep a legion of spirits (Matthew 8:32; Mark 5:9,13; Luke 8:30,33) and sees the prince of demons falling like lightning (Luke 10:18). He is stoned, yet not hit (John 8:59; 10:31,39); he prays yet he hears prayer (Matthew 8:13; Mark 1:35). He weeps (John 11:35), yet he puts an end to weeping (Luke 7:13; 8:522; 23:28). He asks where Lazarus is (John 11:34) - he was man; yet he raises Lazarus (John 11:43-44) - he was God." (excerpt from ORATION 29, ON THE SON 20)5

 

The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 5:1-20 suggests Jesus may have delivered us from a demon, or harassment or the lies of the evil one? Healing in our body or in our heart? Transformation in our mindset or in our marriage? Has Jesus given us his peace in place of anxiety? Forgiveness of our sins? If so, then we are the perfect candidates for sharing that good news with others! We may not know quite what to say, but simply living out and sharing what Jesus has done in our life can give someone hope that he is still at work in the world today.

Jesus longs to give you greater freedom. Just as the people in today’s Gospel were amazed when the delivered man told them what Jesus had done for him, so too let the people around you know what Jesus has done for you. May they too be amazed and filled with hope! “Jesus, thank you for all that you have done for me and for making me a witness to your deliverance.”6

 

Friar Jude Winkler shares the backstory of the resentment of the tribe of Benjamin towards David. Jesus overcomes the traditional Jewish avoidance of graveyards to free the possessed pagan. Friar Jude notes Jesus' concern that the man had been separated from his family for too long.

 

A post on Franciscan Media comments that Saint John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. He combined catechetical training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life with one’s work, study and play.

John Bosco educated the whole person—body and soul united. He believed that Christ’s love and our faith in that love should pervade everything we do—work, study, play. For John Bosco, being a Christian was a full-time effort, not a once-a-week, Mass-on-Sunday experience. It is searching and finding God and Jesus in everything we do, letting their love lead us. Yet, because John realized the importance of job-training and the self-worth and pride that come with talent and ability, he trained his students in the trade crafts, too.7

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that right relationship is the central theme of most biblical stories. One way to read the entire Bible is to note the gradual unveiling of our faces, the gradual creating of “persons” capable of relationship with God and all others. We grow from infants totally receiving love, to teenage love, to infatuation, to adult communion. Biblical spirituality has the potential of creating persons who can both receive and give out of love, and love that is perfectly free. We all fear and avoid intimacy, it seems. It is too powerful and demands that we also “have faces,” that is, self-confidence, identity, dignity, and a certain courage to accept our own unique face. Then we have a greater challenge—once we have discovered our own face, we must be willing to give it away to another.

In the philosophical traditions in which Western Christians have been educated up to now, truth is formed and found by the private mind and its collections of agreed-upon ideas. Identity can be achieved autonomously, with a certain kind of self-sufficiency. Thus, we speak of the “self-made person” and familiar cultural truth. Jesus instead defines truth itself as relational rather than conceptual. He says “I am the truth” (John 14:6) and then immediately describes himself as one who is in absolute relationship with his “Father” (14:7, 9–10) and the Spirit who is in relationship to both (14:16–18). This rearranges the world of religion from arguments over ideas and concepts into a world of encounter, relationship, and presence to the face of the other. That changes everything.8

 

The struggles of our life have required us to “face up” to our gratitude to the love of others and the Spirit for the strength to continue on our journey.

 

References

1	(n.d.). 2 Samuel, CHAPTER 16 | USCCB. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2samuel/16
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 3 | USCCB. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/3
3	(n.d.). Mark, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/5
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online Ministries. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/013122.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=jan31
6	(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/01/31/303317/
7	(n.d.). Saint John Bosco | Franciscan Media. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-john-bosco
8	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://cac.org/a-deepening-intimacy-2022-01-31/

 

Truth for Love and Faith

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate the essential role of truth as a foundation for our faith and love.

As in a mirror dimly

  

The reading from the Prophet Jeremiah describes Jeremiah’s call and commission.

* [1:5] Jeremiah was destined to become a prophet before his birth; cf. Is 49:1, 5; Lk 1:15; Gal 1:15–16. I knew you: I loved you and chose you. I dedicated you: I set you apart to be a prophet. The nations: the neighbors of Judah, along with Assyria, Babylonia, and Egypt. * [1:6] I am too young: like Moses (Ex 3:11, 13; 4:10), Jeremiah at first resists God’s call. This narrative is perhaps patterned after the story of Moses’ call in order to identify Jeremiah as the prophet “like me” in Dt 18:15.1 

Psalm 71 is a prayer for lifelong protection and help.

* [Psalm 71] A lament of an old person (Ps 71:9, 18) whose afflictions are interpreted by enemies as a divine judgment (Ps 71:11). The first part of the Psalm pleads for help (Ps 71:1–4) on the basis of a hope learned from a lifetime’s experience of God; the second part describes the menace (Ps 71:9–13) yet remains buoyant (Ps 71:14–16); the third develops the theme of hope and praise.2 

The reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians celebrates the Gift of Love.

* [13:1–13] This chapter involves a shift of perspective and a new point. All or part of the material may once have been an independent piece in the style of Hellenistic eulogies of virtues, but it is now integrated, by editing, into the context of 1 Cor 12–14 (cf. the reference to tongues and prophecy) and into the letter as a whole (cf. the references to knowledge and to behavior). The function of 1 Cor 13 within the discussion of spiritual gifts is to relativize all the charisms by contrasting them with the more basic, pervasive, and enduring value that gives them their purpose and their effectiveness. The rhetoric of this chapter is striking.3

 

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus testifies to the truth about Himself in the synagogue at Nazareth.

* [4:25–26] The references to Elijah and Elisha serve several purposes in this episode: they emphasize Luke’s portrait of Jesus as a prophet like Elijah and Elisha; they help to explain why the initial admiration of the people turns to rejection; and they provide the scriptural justification for the future Christian mission to the Gentiles.4 

Eileen Burke-Sullivan comments that in a world riddled with false claims, distortions of real situations, self-serving propaganda, perjury, in short with lying, we hear that love rejoices with the truth.  Why is this?  Because Truth is Love and Love is Truth, and both are names of the God we worship.

A spiritual director once told me that if anyone wants to tell you a truth about yourself, realize that it cannot be the truth if the person speaking does not love you.  To speak truth, to walk in truth, to hold to the truth in the face of lies, to companion others only with truth – that is with genuine love – is a practical answer to the call to be with and for Jesus.5

 

Don Schwager quotes “Could anyone refuse to love our God?,” by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"These words having been read to the assembled people, all eyes focused on Jesus, wondering perhaps how he could read without having been taught. The Israelites used to say that the prophecies concerning Christ were fulfilled, either in the persons of some of their more glorious kings or at least in the holy prophets. They did not correctly understand what was written about him, so they missed the true direction and traveled down another path. He carefully guards against error by saying, 'This day is this prophecy fulfilled in your ears,' that they might not again misinterpret the present prophecy. He expressly set himself before them in these words, as the person spoken of in the prophecy. It was he who preached the kingdom of heaven to the heathen. They were poor, having nothing - not God, not law, not prophets. Rather, he preached it to all who were without spiritual riches. He set the captives free; having overthrown the apostate tyrant Satan, he shed the divine and spiritual light on those whose heart was darkened. This is why he said, 'I come as a light in this world ' (John 12:46).' It was he who took the chains of sin off of those whose heart was crushed by them. He clearly showed that there is a life to come, and sinners denounced in just judgment. Finally, it was he who preached the acceptable year of the Lord, the year in which the Savior's proclamation was made. By the acceptable year I think is meant his first coming, and by the day of restitution the day of judgment. (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 12)6 

The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Corinthians 12:31–13:13 comments that like Paul, we see indistinctly, dimly, as in a mirror or a darkened room. Only God knows fully.

But God knows you fully, better than you know yourself! Even more, in his wisdom, he knows the plan for your life. He knows what you will face in the future, and he is pouring out grace to prepare you even now. Life is a mystery. Some things you will only understand in heaven—and that is where faith comes in. Faith in the loving God who knows everything. And one day, he will reveal it all. “Thank you, Lord, that I am fully known and fully loved.”7

 

Friar Jude Winkler comments that Jeremiah’s call to be a prophet to the nations is taken up by Paul in Galatians. The hymn of 1 Corinthians 13 on Love is a great examination of conscience. Friar Jude urges us to be Christians who not only hear the Word but also the message.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that right relationship is the central theme of most biblical stories.

The biblical tradition says that truth is found not in abstract concepts, but in an encounter with otherness. As in the Trinity, trust is a relationship of love with what we gaze upon. Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas (1906–1995) said the only thing that really converts people is “the face of the other.” [1] The face of YHWH for Moses, the face of a lover for Jacob, the face of an accuser for David, the face of the enemy for Judith, these change people’s “truth.” It is relationship, “the face of the other,” that transforms us, converts us, and gives us our deepest identity. Not book knowledge! In the philosophical traditions in which Western Christians have been educated up to now, truth is formed and found by the private mind and its collections of agreed-upon ideas. Identity can be achieved autonomously, with a certain kind of self-sufficiency. Thus, we speak of the “self-made person” and familiar cultural truth. Jesus instead defines truth itself as relational rather than conceptual. He says “I am the truth” (John 14:6) and then immediately describes himself as one who is in absolute relationship with his “Father” (14:7, 9–10) and the Spirit who is in relationship to both (14:16–18). This rearranges the world of religion from arguments over ideas and concepts into a world of encounter, relationship, and presence to the face of the other. That changes everything.8 

Our transformation in love is a process of maturing and building relationships with God and others based on seeking truth.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Jeremiah, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jeremiah/1
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 71 | USCCB. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/71
3	(n.d.). 1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 13 | USCCB. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/13
4	(n.d.). Luke, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/4
5	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online Ministries. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/013022.html
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=jan30
7	(n.d.). Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations for January 30, 2022. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/01/30/302672/
8	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archive - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://cac.org/a-school-of-relationship-2022-01-30/