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But I have to confess I wrote an excellent reflection on today's gospel passage earlier this year, on Mardi Gras:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/101611.cfm
So I turn to today's second reading from the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians for inspiration:
...grace to you and peace.
As I resume my reflections I will greet my readers with Paul's own invocation: grace to you and peace. We have all looked for and expected peace in this world at one time or another. We've found it, or thought we found it, in certain places and certain moments. They are often places where we vacation or worship. I think of idyllic places where I have enjoyed myself -- Ireland and Italy -- and remember that neither country has enjoyed much peace or prosperity. I think of edenic moments I have enjoyed -- Christmases and Easters and retreats -- and realize they were lovely but far too brief.
Peace is the promise of Jesus to all of us. If we enjoy a moment of peace in a place of peace that can only be a down payment or a promissory note from the Lord who holds peace in his hand. I think of Gerard Manley Hopkins exquisite poem:
When will you ever, Peace, wild wooddove, shy wings shut,
Your round me roaming end, and under be my boughs?
When, when, Peace, will you, Peace? I’ll not play hypocrite
To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but
That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace allows
Alarms of wars, the daunting wars, the death of it?
O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu
Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite,
That plumes to Peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house
He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo,
He comes to brood and sit.
Your round me roaming end, and under be my boughs?
When, when, Peace, will you, Peace? I’ll not play hypocrite
To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but
That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace allows
Alarms of wars, the daunting wars, the death of it?
O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu
Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite,
That plumes to Peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house
He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo,
He comes to brood and sit.
As we hear Jesus discussing the authority of God and the authority of Caesar, we remember that our God is the Lord of History. The faithful Jew never doubted that. As my Baptist preacher/friend in Louisiana often said,"God is still in charge."
Peace will come in its time, as the poet knew, and we will wait and watch with God's own patience.
St Paul's prayer is for the gift of patience. If we have God's own patience abiding in our hearts we can endure the "alarms of wars, the daunting wars" that roil continually around us. And more, we can work for that day with our brooding prayers that sit upon the nest egg of Hope.
For our gospel did not come to you in word alone,
but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.
but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.
The power of which Saint Paul speaks, I think, is hidden within our presence. We're here; we're not going away. We will practice peace, forgiveness, mercy, compassion and patience even in apparently hopeless situations.
Our first reading today, from the prophet Isaiah, describes his vision of God's peace. He taught his contemporaries that the Emperor who seemed to rule the entire "known world" was only a tool of God. He could say without irony:
I have called you by your name,
giving you a title, though you knew me not.
I am the LORD and there is no other,
there is no God besides me.
It is I who arm you, though you know me not,
so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun
people may know that there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, there is no other.
giving you a title, though you knew me not.
I am the LORD and there is no other,
there is no God besides me.
It is I who arm you, though you know me not,
so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun
people may know that there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, there is no other.
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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.