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The Power of One!

December 7, 2020 / / 0 Comments
The power of one!
A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse!

Oh, Advent! My favorite liturgical season of the Church year! One of my favorite traditions for the season is the Jesse tree. Each day I take an ornament out of my Advent calendar to place on my Jesse tree. Each ornament has it’s own Bible verse to contemplate. The idea is to follow the Bible during Advent through salvation history to the birth of Jesus on Christmas day. The topic today: The power of one!

The Power of One

The first week of Scripture focuses on Genesis. On December 4 I read Genesis 6:5-8: Warning of the Flood. It says: When the Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil, he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved. So the Lord said: “I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created and not only the men, but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air, for I am sorry that I made them.” But Noah found favor with the Lord.

What stirred

The last line of the verse “but Noah found favor with the Lord,” stirred something in me. My immediate thought was, there is always someone righteous enough to redeem us – not perfect, just righteous. What a timely message! At a time when the world seems so dark, divided and irredeemable with no where to go but down, it’s important to remember the story of Noah. The one man in the world who found favor with the Lord.

Now you may be thinking, one man, redeeming power, no kidding, ever hear of Jesus? But there’s a difference between Jesus and Noah – Jesus was divine. He was, in fact, perfect. Noah was not and yet he was enough! He was righteous enough to redeem the world in his time.

I considered the contradiction of the “good” of God’s creation and the “evil” that would lead him to want to wipe it all out. God’s regret struck me. How could the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient God I know and love feel that way?

Subject to futility

I slowly began to understand as I continued to ponder throughout the day. It wasn’t a contradiction at all. You see, God created us flawed. We may not be perfect, but we’re still good! It’s ALL good. As a matter of fact, Romans 8:20-21 tells us “for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Never once do we read in Genesis, or anywhere else in the Bible for that matter, that God created everything perfect! There’s always room for improvement, which is where we come in as God’s co-creators. God has given us an opportunity, as His co-creators, to participate in His creation. We have an opportunity to be His partners. Yes, He gave us free will, but He also gave us so much more than that.

Our God is an awesome God! The fact that He allows us the free will to choose – to make better or exploit, to love Him or leave Him is evidence of how much He truly loves us! Amen!

If you love something

How does the saying go? “if you love something set it free, if it comes back it was yours, if it doesn’t it never was.” Imagine that! Our God is not possessive or forceful. Does He desire a relationship? Does He desire cooperation and participation? Of course He does, but He won’t force it. So who loses when we don’t follow through? We do! Think of all the wonderful things God has created, and then think of the fact that He wants us to continue His work. Think of the fact that God is waiting for us to make His amazing creation even better! We’re called to continue evolving. Are we doing our part?

Hearing the call

The story of Noah gave me an entirely different outlook as I move forward on the journey. First, if God was currently planning to wipe out all of mankind, am I righteous enough, like Noah, to redeem the world? Could the world depend on me? I’m certainly not perfect, but do I have the little it takes to find favor with the Lord? Does He delight in me? How about you?

Second, as God’s co-creator, where do I belong? How do I respond to His call to co-create? Seems like a tall task, all of it, but remember “God requires fidelity, not perfection.” Remember the power of one! All we have to do is show up and God provides the rest.

After reading and pondering Genesis 6:5-8, I’m relieved and excited and hope you are too. I hope your Advent got off to a good start! God bless you!

Postscript

This won’t be the first time this ever happens to me and I’m sure it won’t be the last. You may have read something similar in some of my previous posts. I drafted this post over the weekend, about two days after I had read the Scripture verse. While all my thoughts and ideas in the draft were complete, I delayed posting. Why? Who knows, but I do know that I woke this morning with the intention of getting back here to post. It’s been a while!

I’ll share here Richard Rohr’s morning meditation, which left me flabbergasted. He goes way deeper than I do or ever could! Enjoy!

The Passion of the Christ

April 12, 2020 / / 2 Comments
The Passion of the Christ
Pieta

The Passion of the Christ! Could you imagine? I decided to watch it again this Good Friday. Oh my! I sat and watched, alone in my office, taking notes about the scenes and doing a Visio Divina of sorts. Here are my notes:

Jesus continues to be tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane but remains steadfast in prayer and maintains His strength to endure suffering.

betrayal

Judas, filled with regret, forgets the love, mercy and compassion of the Lord. He forgets about the power of prayer and begins to despair to the point of death.

Peter, however, regardless of the darkness he witnesses and the guilt he feels over his denial, recalls who his friend is and what He promised. He understands his role in the drama and relies on the Truth, capital T, to set him free of guilt and despair. I’m guessing through his open confession of his denial given to Mary, the sting becomes more bearable.

temptation and lies

Memories of what He will leave behind – mom, love, work, peace, caring family – still do not deter him from literally walking through the pain. A sure sign of what it means to detach from those things that distract us from life’s journey.

Joseph, Christ’s foster-father and our spiritual father was referred to as “the obscure carpenter” by the haters in the movie. Really? Raising the Son of God. The man charged with teaching faith and vocation and keeping the family safe – obscure?

strength through scourging

Anyone who has seen the movie knows how brutal the scenes of Jesus’ scourging were. All I could think was “I did this,” “I had a hand in the buffets and spitting.” How? Through the laziness, complacency, lack of reverence, disobedience, lack of charity, judgment, etc.

Mary, pillar of strength and grace. As she witnesses the physical abuse of her Son who has been wrongly accused, she manages to hold it together because of her intimate relationship with the Father. She truly knew the reason for this “season” of suffering and accepted it. Mary knew what it meant to be detached in a sense. She didn’t ask, “why my child?” Mom didn’t try to stop it. She simply asked “my Son, where, when and how will you choose to be delivered from this? She was willing to sacrifice for the greater good. All for the glory of God!

character identification

On the other hand, we see the barbaric and evil acts committed against Jesus by the Roman soldiers. The scene is full of ignorance. Ignorance of the ones participating by beating Jesus and those participating by standing on the sidelines. Can we identify with them? Of course we can. How often do we witness injustice and do nothing, say nothing? How often do we sin in the varied ways we act and fail to act?

We can all identify with the characters of the Passion. Often we put ourselves in the scene to compare ourselves to those who betrayed Jesus and take stock of how we do that today. I recently heard a podcast where the priest suggested we put ourselves in the scene as Jesus. Can you identify with Jesus?

How often do you feel betrayed by others or suffer at the hands of another? How often are you unjustly accused or feel beaten, weak and abused? Who has done that to you? Have you forgiven them as Christ has forgiven you for all you have done and failed to do? Can you offer it for the salvation of others, as Christ did and put it behind you? Can you bear it all patiently and see it as an opportunity to be in solidarity with Christ in order to grow closer to Him?

how to help

Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry His cross and stands up for Him when he thinks the abuse is just too much. He risked his life by standing up for Christ. Can you place yourself in Simon’s shoes? How can we help Jesus carry His cross? How can we be like Simon?

  • follow his commandments;
  • love one another as he has loved us – that means: humility, forgiveness, seeing Him in all His creation, it’s the only way!
  • Read Scripture – get to know Him and His story;
  • love your enemies and pray for your persecutors;
  • worship Him, revere Him, pray with Him; participate in the sacraments and in His plan for your life;
  • detach
  • bear your crosses patiently – don’t will them away; don’t ignore them or run from them but ask God for strength to get through them, as Jesus did;
  • offer your sufferings as Jesus did. How could anyone be as heartless as those Roman soldiers. Yet he forgave them. They knew not what they were doing and neither do we, neither do the people who hurt us! Isn’t it easier to forgive someone if you believe they do not know what they are doing?
moral of the story

Bottom line is, Christ is VICTORIOUS! The evil one could not convince Him to back out the plan for salvation, no matter how difficult or painful the road was. How does the story of Christ’s Passion speak to you in your life? In the midst of the present pandemic? He made Himself and ALL THINGS new! Take courage! Praise be to God!

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