Monday, May 20, 2013

Monday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 341

All wisdom comes from the LORD and with him it remains forever, and is before all time The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain, the days of eternity: who can number these?
Heaven’s height, earth’s breadth, the depths of the abyss: who can explore these?
Before all things else wisdom was created;
and prudent understanding, from eternity.


Though the Easter Cycle will tail off on the coming Sundays, with feasts of the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi, it’s over for the weekday cycle. “We now return you to your regular programming…” taking up where we left off, with Monday of the seventh week in ordinary time.

Where better to re-begin than Ecclesiasticus, known today as “The Wisdom of Sirach,” and his thoughts about eternity? As I understand there was no word for infinity or eternity in ancient Hebrew, Greek or Latin. The old Latin expression was “per saeculum saeculi,” meaning through ages of ages. A cowboy might call it a month of Sundays.

Though mathematicians developed the concepts of eternity and infinity we still have a hard time comprehending them. Can anything be infinite? And yet, if God is absolutely good and infinite is better than limited or confined, God must be infinite. There is no containing the wisdom, authority, goodness or mercy of God. If the rational mind balks at the idea, complaining “I can’t imagine it!” the heart is delighted. Why should the heart worry about the mind’s scruples?

From what I understand, physicists are discovering timelessness in the black holes of space. They really can’t see it there but it makes sense to them. Black holes are dying stars that have spent their energy, collapsed and are continuing to collapse upon themselves. They cannot stop shrinking! But their gravity, growing ever more intense, sucks the space-time continuum into themselves and both distance and time disappear.

Classical philosophers knew that time is founded upon eternity. Saint Augustine was especially fascinated by the idea. Eternity is not just endless or unlimited time; it is presence, the unlimited now of all time.  This is where God lives, in the eternally present. When he appears in time, within our history, he brings the presence of eternity to us, and invites us to live there with him.

This really isn’t very strange. Lovers gaze into one another’s eyes and lose all sense of time. They are content to be there in the present. Romantic songs delight in eternity,

Tonight, tonight, / Won't be just any night, / Tonight there will be no morning star. / Tonight, tonight, / I'll see my love tonight! / And for us, stars will stop where they are. /

Today, the minutes seem like hours, / The hours go so slowly, / And still the sky is light. / Oh moon, grow bright, / And make this endless day endless night!  / Tonight... no morning star. (from West Side Story)

Look who won the PowerBall!
Which of us has not begged time to stop that we might enjoy this endless night or endless summer afternoon?  

Eternity is a promise God makes to lovers. Young lovers discover it in one another’s arms; parents see it in their children; Christians find it in prayer.

Saint Clare urged her disciples to “Gaze on him!” the Crucified Lord, and know that he is always and forever there for you.

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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.

Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.

I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.

You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.