Tuesday of the 25th Week of Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092512.cfm

Like a stream is the king's heart in the hand of the LORD; wherever it pleases him, he directs it.

Elsie and her Buddy

As a kid idling while I was supposed to be washing dishes, I sometimes watched how a thin stream of water cut a track through powdered soap in bottom of the basin. It meandered, though I didn't know that word which was coined after the Meander River in Turkey. If you click on that link you might see an aerial photo of the Meander River, which still wanders through the Turkish plain. My not-so-long-suffering mother could not appreciate the beauty of these meditations but they come back to me a half-century later. 

The Hebrew Proverbialist could never imagine that things happened randomly. He or she supposed that God directed all streams and rivers as well as human affairs. He was especially sure that God directed the heart of his Anointed King. Of course many of those kings in Judah and Israel were not nearly so compliant as this ideal king, but that's beside the point. 

The proverb presents a model for our compliance to the Holy Spirit. Catholics readily suppose that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, enjoyed that grace. She is the Daughter of God, Bride of the Spirit and Mother of Jesus; and especially in her role as Spouse she trusted in God. 

Likewise, God trusts her; so when we ask Mary to pray for us we know that Mary wants what God wants and God wants what Mary wants. There is no difference of opinion between them. 

Saint Augustine, contemplating the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, also taught something similar. He said, "Love God and do what you want." That's a breath-takingly radical teaching and we should approach it in fear and trembling. Only a fool would suppose that he knows the mind of God, or a deeply convicted prophet/saint. 

But there are times when, after habitual prayer and serious reflection, we know what we have to do and we do it. The good parent has to believe she knows the right thing to do when she disciplines -- that is, makes a disciple of -- her child. The child may not express immediate gratitude for her insistence but she stands firmly upon her God-given authority. If she did not exercise authority there would be little point to her being a parent. 

Leaders in the church -- both clerical and lay must occasionally stand upon the same assurance. They might say, "A decision must be made; we have asked God to guide our deliberations and this is the decision we make, given the wisdom we have at this time." 

Later events might raise doubts about the wisdom of that choice. That's a risk we always take, but life doesn't allow us perfect insight, foresight and hindsight. And if those later events raise doubts about the decision, still later events might reconfirm them! Who knows? 

We might find our decisions were tainted by short-sightedness, fear or greed. So we do penance, confess our sins, and move on -- always trusting in the God who is Merciful. 

We worship a God who abides with us in the here and now, who is also the Lord of History. God alone knows where we're going and reveals The Plan only in small doses of comprehensible insight. 

I talked with a fellow recently who had to make the choice to withdraw life support from his father. Clearly the old man had suffered irreversible brain damage and would never wake up. The younger man suffered much anguish as he discussed the decision with his grandmother, his sisters, and his children. Only after the funeral, which included a liturgy of divine mysteries, was he assured that he been led like the meandering stream in the Hand of the Lord.