Monday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Ouch!

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/091911.cfm


"Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia:
'All the kingdoms of the earth
the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me,
and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem,
which is in Judah.
Therefore, whoever among you belongs to any part of his people,
let him go up, and may his God be with him!


Biblical authors cannot imagine a world in which God does not direct everything -- from the flow of the winds and tides to the movements of people. The Lord is especially the Lord of History, and his will is for Salvation.


Often on Friday night, several friars here at Mount Saint Francis like to settle into the evening with a pack of twenty-four cards to play euchre. As we've come to recognize the unconscious preferences and signals of each player, and as our skills have improved over these many months, the winners and losers are chosen by the luck of the draw. We might joke about the winner having said his prayers, but we don't suppose God favors any one of us. It's neither skill nor divine favor, it's only luck. If we were pagans we might speak of "Lady Luck." 
The ancient Jews knew nothing of luck or fate or karma; they played no games. I find none in the Bible until Saint Paul's reference to Greek foot races. David's contest with Goliath might resemble a game but God directed David's sling and pebble; despite all appearances Goliath never had a chance. Everything that happens, happens because God wills it so. 


So when the Emperor Cyrus decreed that the Jews should return to their homeland and rebuild their temple, that was clearly God's acting on their behalf. It was a free and generous act of God, regardless of Cyrus's religious or political motives. 


In this 21st century, the secular mindset teaches that God has lost interest in human affairs. He directs neither our euchre game nor the Arab Spring. He does not care which party controls Congress or whether snail darters go extinct. If Texas suffers a drought and New Jersey is flooded, those are human problems; matters for which man, not God, is responsible. 


But the faithful Christian, the Muslim and the Jew still watch for God's mercy in human and natural events. I see God's mercy in the hope of sick and suffering Veterans; I see God's majesty in the morning sky; I see God's presence in the Blessed Sacrament. The secularist will speculate that even my sense of awe can be explained by evolution; but I will see God's hand in evolution. As Saint Paul said: 

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.  Romans 8:28-30