The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with the Penitential Pilgrimage of Pope Francis in Canada as we contemplate the power of the Spirit to transform our shattered state into vessels that reflect the Love of our Creator.
The reading from the Prophet Jeremiah describes the action of the Potter and the Clay.
* [18:1–12] The lesson of the potter is that God has the power to destroy or restore, changing his plans accordingly as these nations disobey him or fulfill his will. Cf. Jon 3:10. (Jeremiah, CHAPTER 18, n.d.)
Psalm 146 praises God’s Help.
* [Psalm 146] A hymn of someone who has learned there is no other source of strength except the merciful God. Only God, not mortal human beings (Ps 146:3–4), can help vulnerable and oppressed people (Ps 146:5–9). The first of the five hymns that conclude the Psalter. (Psalms, PSALM 146, n.d.)
The Gospel of Matthew describes scribes that reveal treasures both new and old.
* [13:52] Since Matthew tends to identify the disciples and the Twelve (see note on Mt 10:1), this saying about the Christian scribe cannot be taken as applicable to all who accept the message of Jesus. While the Twelve are in many ways representative of all who believe in him, they are also distinguished from them in certain respects. The church of Matthew has leaders among whom are a group designated as “scribes” (Mt 23:34). Like the scribes of Israel, they are teachers. It is the Twelve and these their later counterparts to whom this verse applies. The scribe…instructed in the kingdom of heaven knows both the teaching of Jesus (the new) and the law and prophets (the old) and provides in his own teaching both the new and the old as interpreted and fulfilled by the new. On the translation head of a household (for the same Greek word translated householder in Mt 13:27), see note on Mt 24:45–51. (Matthew, n.d.)
David Crawford finds Jeremiah encouraging. A potter looks at a misshapen lump of clay and envisions a beautiful, useful finished product. God looks at each of us with a potter’s eye and sees potential. Still better, we – sinners all – are imperfect and often damaged goods, but our Potter repairs and uplifts us so we can serve again. Thanks be to God!
We shouldn’t view our usefulness as a one-time event, either. We are all works in progress, with God using and repurposing us as we see fit – and this happens as long as we are on earth. A dear octogenarian friend used to get frustrated by people who would claim that they were too old or had already made their contributions. She would tell them, “If you’re still alive, it’s because God still has a use for you.” (Crawford, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “A scribe who is trained for the kingdom of heaven,” by Cyril of Alexandria (375-444 AD).
"A scribe is one who, through continual reading of the Old and New Testaments, has laid up for himself a storehouse of knowledge. Thus Christ blesses those who have gathered in themselves the education both of the law and of the gospel, so as to 'bring forth from their treasure things both new and old.' And Christ compares such people with a scribe, just as in another place he says, 'I will send you wise men and scribes' (Matthew 23:34) (excerpt from Fragment 172) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Jeremiah 18:1-6 comments that each of us is on a journey of faith, and along the way, we all have numerous opportunities to be changed, molded, and formed by the Lord. Just as the potter shapes the clay into something beautiful, God longs to shape us into vessels that reveal his glory and love. If we let him, he can make up all that is lacking in our lives. He can help us grow in virtue and put away sin. Just like pottery that is hand turned, each of us is a unique creation. Each of us reveals God’s handiwork in a new and different way.
Don’t you find it very encouraging to know that God hasn’t given up on you? Even if it feels as if you’ve taken far too many turns on the potter’s wheel, know this: your heavenly Father is committed to making you into the strongest, the most beautiful, and the most useful vessel possible. Know this as well: it’s hard to see, as you’re spinning around on that wheel, just how beautiful you have already become. You may not see it, but God does. And so do many of the people in your life!
“Father, I am so grateful that you love me so much! Keep shaping and forming me so that I can reflect your glory to the world.” (Meditation on Jeremiah 18:1-6, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the message to Jeremiah that even though God gave birth to Israel, He would choose another people. The separation of good and bad by the fisherman points to a final accounting. Friar Jude notes the contrast between Jewish tendency not to mix new and old and Jesus' challenge to risk something good for the future.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces retreat leader and journalist Judith Valente who writes of the importance of listening in Benedictine spirituality.
Listening cracks open the door to another Benedictine concept from which most of us would rather run,—that of obedience. . . . Obedience comes from the Latin, oboedire, to give ear, to harken, to listen. The Benedictine writer Esther de Waal says that obedience moves us from our “contemporary obsession with the self,” [1] and inclines us toward others. . . . . [St. Benedict] moves beyond the common understanding of the word as solely an authoritarian, top-down dynamic. He stresses instead mutual obedience, a horizontal relationship where careful listening and consideration is due to each member of the community from each member, as brothers and sisters. It is by this way of obedience, he says, that we go to God. [2] (Rohr, n.d.)
Author Esther de Waal describes how in Benedictine spirituality there is an inherent connection between listening and responsive action.
To listen closely, with every fibre of our being, at every moment of the day, is one of the most difficult things in the world, and yet it is essential if we mean to find the God whom we are seeking. If we stop listening to what we find hard to take then, as the Abbot of St. Benoît-sur-Loire puts it in a striking phrase, ‘We’re likely to pass God by without even noticing Him.’ [3] And now it is our obedience which proves that we have been paying close attention. . . . So to obey [in the Benedictine tradition] really means to hear and then act upon what we have heard, or, in other words, to see that the listening achieves its aim. We are not being truly attentive unless we are prepared to act on what we hear. If we hear and do nothing more about it, then the sounds have simply fallen on our ears and it is not apparent that we have actually heard them at all. [4] (Rohr, n.d.)
We express gratitude that Our Father continues to use our experience of the Spirit to reshape our lives to surrender as we listen to echoes of the Will of God.
References
Crawford, D. (n.d.). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/072822.html
Jeremiah, CHAPTER 18. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jeremiah/18?1
Matthew. (n.d.). Chapter 13. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/13?47
Meditation on Jeremiah 18:1-6. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/07/28/450614/
Psalms, PSALM 146. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/146?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). A Listening Heart. Daily Meditations Archive: 2022. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/a-listening-heart-2-22-07-28/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture ... Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=jul28
No comments:
Post a Comment