Monday of the Third Week of Lent

My father,” they said,
“if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.”


Around the VA I hear the military is second only to the church for its elaborate ceremonies. There are inspections, parades, and award ceremonies. There are uniforms, berets, epaulettes and medallions. So I suppose Naaman the Syrian general was looking for some grand gestures when he visited Israel in search of a cure. He expected Elisha to invoke some mighty deity as the skies rumbled and the earth trembled. He was rather disappointed to be told to bathe in the muddy Jordan River. It was below his dignity and, as ceremonies go, underwhelming.


Perhaps our sacraments seem like that to some people. Our great and glorious feast is conducted around a small wafer of bread and the tiniest sip of wine. Where the scriptures speak of aromatic oil flowing luxuriously down upon the head and beard and even to the edge of one’s garment, we dab the slightest smudge of oil. Baptism often requires only a tablespoon of water. In recent years priests have been slightly less parsimonious with our symbols but we are far from excessive.


It is precisely in these tiny gestures we see the glory of God. Pompous efforts to display their magnificent depth only look ridiculous. It is better to approach our prayers quietly and to conduct them in simplicity. Somehow they leave a deeper impression that way.


I once provided a ride to a contemplative sister and accompanied her to a bishop’s ordination. We spoke of it later that evening, on the return trip, but I was thrown into the helter-skelter of business as soon as I got home. When I saw the sister a month later she was still speaking with awe of the ordination. I had never given it a second thought.


To see God’s hand in our world we must slow down, stop, rest a while, take time, and notice the small things. The eyes of faith require imagination. An Indiana Jones movie has been created by imaginative writers who do all the work for their audience, which needs no imagination at all. It should only suspend its instinct for plausibility. The movie must make up in excitement what it lacks in meaning. But a religious ceremony, especially a sacrament, requires a deep entering into the moment, and a willingness to be drawn into a slow eddy of meditation.


With our practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving during Lent and Holy Week, we prepare to see the resurrection of Jesus. It is there for those who have eyes.