R. (52b) Glory and praise for ever!
God is good and worthy of so much more than our praise. May our every breath we take be an offering of praise.
When I read the first reading, I smiled at the names and the poor lector who may have been caught off guard ; ) but then my mind wanders to the Brother's Grimm Fairy Tale of Hansel and Gretel -- a gruesome tale of horror that despite the positive ending should never be read to children. I am sure it was the white-hot inferno that led to my train of thought. The first reading is a wonderful tale of salvation and teaches us that if we live by faith and trust in our God (and in the fairy tale -- look out for each other/our neighbor) we will be saved.
The first reading as well as the Psalm really set up the Gospel. I believe the key verse is:
“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The truth is within us. It is our belief that we are good, lovable and unique just as God created us. When we recognize that, we can more easily see the same truth in those around us. Our hearts are open to empathy and true compassion and we begin to love more deeply not only ourselves, but our 'neighbor' and the loving God who gave us life and invites us into eternal life with Him. It is then that we understand the fullest meaning of the truth that is written in the Gospel verse. When we truly believe in our own goodness we are freed from the slavery of greed, power, abuse and the lies of the modern world which can enslave us. There is tremendous freedom in this gift of truth which is within us and it frees us to move beyond our own needs to see the goodness in others. We can choose to be merciful to the humble and the poor, to those who come to the doors of our hearts seeking compassion in our daily work, to those with whom we live and in our entire world. We need to choose to believe in our goodness and begin to see the same goodness in others. When we do this we experience and live the Hope that Pope Francis spoke of in his inauguration homily yesterday.
If we believe that Christ truly lives within us and walks with us then we, too, can be like the 3 (who will go unspelled) and were thrown into the blazing inferno to escape unharmed with a 4th in their midst, whom I take to be the presence of Christ within them. Do I believe that I am good, lovable and unique just as God created me? Or am I still trying to make of myself something that I judge to be even better? My judgement? God's creation? You choose.
Hope you have a great 'hump day!'
Love and Hugs,
MOM
I have to admit, John's Gospels often rub me the wrong way. I struggle to connect with his vision of God and his high Christology. I appreciate that the Jesus in the three early gospels embraces his humanity with less boastful awareness, he is a pre-Easter Jesus, genuinely connected to his humanity. Mom I so appreciate your comments and reflections!I read the readings and kind of felt meh and then read your post and was like Ok, I'm on board let's do this. I went back and re-read the readings using your lens and was grateful to have a second chance to look at the language. Why is it that sometimes we find it easier to love our neighbors or our enemies than it is to love ourselves? I challenge myself daily to see God in the faces of my students, but rarely to I remind myself to see Her presence in myself. Thank you for you thoughtful words!
ReplyDeleteLaura