He has made everything appropriate to its time,
and has put the timeless into their hearts,
without man’s ever discovering,
from beginning to end, the work which God has done.
Time weighs heavily, and sometimes treads heavily upon us as we witness its inevitable, irreversible passage. There are moments, blessedly rare but precious nonetheless, when we wish time would stop for a while. "Please, just stop! And let's stay here for a while, and not go anywhere, and not do anything but be here and breathe and let it be."
I think of that moment when Jesus said to the woman at the well, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you." There should have been a moment, a caesura, when they both gazed at each other and wondered, "What just happened?" That saw one another, and they saw themselves together; and like God in the beginning, they knew that what they were seeing is good.
Saint John says, "At that moment his disciples returned...." But perhaps the moment was long. Perhaps it was ten minutes, or thirty, or an hour. For that moment the Lord gazed upon his people with love and affection and delight; and his people wondered that they could be so loved, and admired, and trusted with a knowledge of an infinite moment in time. But she did not think such thoughts, for that is time consuming, but they -- she -- simply wondered.
Saint John also says, "...and they (the disciples) were amazed..." They too were caught in wonder though they read it differently. "Where did she come from?" some thought. And others, "Oh Lord, You can't be seen with her!"
But, the evangelist adds, "...no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?” They were in awe of the Master to start with; perhaps they knew something sacred has happened, or is happening, and they just waited in respectful silence. Until, finally, "The woman left her water jar and went into the town."
Whatever had happened had passed, and the moment was gone forever. But it wasn't gone because it was an eternal moment and the Lord and his people remember it, and return to it often, even to this day.
As Qoheleth said in today's first reading, "He has put the timeless in our hearts." Moments of timelessness are clearly God's gifts. He gives them to human beings, and we are capable of receiving them. They seem fragile, and so brief, but we never forget them and return to them occasionally.
They remain especially for those who grieve the passing of a loved one. We don't get over grief; we don't even want to. We live with it, and grow to love it though it came like an intrusion. And grief invites us to go back and revisit our loved ones in those sacred moments, and wait there for their return. For the resurrection of the dead. For the bliss that was and remains and is promised to us.
No comments:
Post a Comment
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.