The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to express thanksgiving as we wrestle with the inescapable truth that nothing is hidden from God.
In the reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul expresses further Thanksgiving.
Psalm 139 praises the Inescapable God.
* [Psalm 139] A hymnic meditation on God’s omnipresence and omniscience. The psalmist is keenly aware of God’s all-knowing gaze (Ps 139:1–6), of God’s presence in every part of the universe (Ps 139:7–12), and of God’s control over the psalmist’s very self (Ps 139:13–16). Summing up Ps 139:1–16, 17–18 express wonder. There is only one place hostile to God’s rule—wicked people. The psalmist prays to be removed from their company (Ps 139:19–24). (Psalms, PSALM 139, n.d.)
The Gospel of Matthew continues the denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees.
* [23:29–36] The final woe is the most serious indictment of all. It portrays the scribes and Pharisees as standing in the same line as their ancestors who murdered the prophets and the righteous.
* [23:29–32] In spite of honoring the slain dead by building their tombs and adorning their memorials, and claiming that they would not have joined in their ancestors’ crimes if they had lived in their days, the scribes and Pharisees are true children of their ancestors and are defiantly ordered by Jesus to fill up what those ancestors measured out. This order reflects the Jewish notion that there was an allotted measure of suffering that had to be completed before God’s final judgment would take place. (Matthew, CHAPTER 23, n.d.)
Thomas Lenz, (from 2021), comments that Psalm 139 seems to be saying that we cannot hide from God, presumably when we have done something bad and are ashamed. What really caught his attention in Psalm 139, however, is the notion that God is everywhere.
The notion that everything is good is pretty hard to swallow when we experience suffering first hand. It’s probably one of the great mysteries of life. But, we know that God is always good and always present. And, if we read the gospel stories carefully, we also know that suffering is part of our life experience. Suffering and love may be the two great constants that we can continue count on and expect to experience throughout our lifetime. And, as we read the teachings of Jesus carefully, we come to understand that allowing ourselves to be transformed by our suffering (rather than suppressing, resisting , or transmitting it to others) leads us to closer relationality with God and to the experience of love. (Lenz, 2023)
Don Schwager quotes “Good deeds done for God,” author unknown, from the 5th century A.D.
"Every good deed that is done for God is universally good for everything and everyone. Deeds that are not seen to benefit everything and everyone, however, are done on account of man, as the present matter itself demonstrates. For example, those who build reliquaries and adorn churches seem to be doing good. If they imitate the justice of God, if the poor benefit from their goods and if they do not acquire their goods through violence against others, it is clear that they are building for the glory of God. If they fail to observe God's justice... and if the poor never benefit from their goods and if they acquire their goods from others by means of violence or fraud, who is so foolish not to understand that they are building for human respect rather than for the glory of God? Those who build reliquaries in a just manner ensure that the poor do not suffer as a result of it. For the martyrs do not rejoice when they are honored by gifts for which the poor paid with their tears. What kind of justice is it to give gifts to the dead and to despoil the living or to drain blood from the poor and offer it to God? To do such things is not to offer sacrifice to God but to attempt to make God an accomplice in violence, since whoever knowingly accepts a gift which was acquired by sinful means participates in the sin." (excerpt from an incomplete Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, HOMILY 45) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Psalm 139:7-12 comments that thinking about God’s all-knowing gaze can make us uneasy. But the truth is, he looks at us with a gaze of love. So let’s join with the psalmist and rejoice that we are fully known and fully loved.
Where can I go from your spirit? (Psalm 139:7). “Thank you, Lord, that your Holy Spirit is always with me even when I can’t feel it. You never leave my side! And yet, Lord, I still avoid you sometimes! I busy myself with distractions and get immersed in my daily tasks. I delight in the world you created but neglect spending time with you, the God who made it. I drift into a haze of doubt and wonder if this life is all there is. Sometimes I even flee to the darkness of anger and despair to escape the suffering of life. But wherever I go, you are already there. ‘Even there your hand shall guide me, and your right hand hold me fast’ (139:10). No matter how deep my darkness, it ‘is not dark’ for you (139:12).”
“I rejoice, Lord, that I am fully known and fully loved. Thank you for always being at my side!” (Meditation on Psalm 139:7-12, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the type of tent maker that Paul was as he laboured and taught in the marketplace. 1 Thessalonians contains three chapters of thanksgiving to God for the conversion of the community. Friar Jude reminds us of Jesus' accusations that the Scribes and Pharisees had a superficial hypocritical faith not based on inner conversion but on keeping rules.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Spiritual teacher and CAC friend Mirabai Starr, who poetically describes the contemplative experience that is stirred through regular lives, whether in nature, through relationships, or our suffering. Starr connects these moments of awe to a renewed commitment to contemplative practice.
And this is why you cultivate contemplative practice. The more you intentionally turn inward, the more available the sacred becomes. When you sit in silence and turn your gaze toward the Holy Mystery you once called God, the Mystery follows you back out into the world. When you walk with a purposeful focus on breath and birdsong, your breathing and the twitter of the chickadee reveal themselves as a miracle….
So you sit down to meditate not only because it helps you to find rest in the arms of the formless Beloved but also because it increases your chances of being stunned by beauty when you get back up. Encounters with the sacred that radiate from the core of the ordinary embolden you to cultivate stillness and simple awareness. In the midst of a world that is begging you to distract yourself, this is no easy practice. Yet you keep showing up. You are indomitable. You are thirsty for wonder. (Starr, 2023)
When we experience awe in the events of our day, the Spirit invites our thanksgiving, gratitude, and affirmation to continue our transformation to full life.
References
Lenz, T. (2023, August 30). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved August 30, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/083023.html
Matthew, CHAPTER 23. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved August 30, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/23?27
Meditation on Psalm 139:7-12. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved August 30, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/08/30/769726/
Psalms, PSALM 139. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved August 30, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/139?7
Schwager, D. (n.d.). True Beauty and Goodness Come from Within. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved August 30, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=aug30
Starr, M. (2023, August 30). Extraordinary Ordinary Moments — Center for Action and Contemplation. CAC Daily Meditations 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/extraordinary-ordinary-moments-2023-08-30/
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