Today’s first reading, Is. 65: 17-21, opens with the Lord
telling us that he is “about to create
new heavens and a new earth,” and that the “things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind.” Rather, God says, “there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its
people to be a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people.”
God is speaking, also, to us and about us. The things in our past, the things that are
painful or about which we are ashamed, the things that bring forth distress,
that have been traumatic for us, will be no more. These things shall no longer
be remembered in the sense of causing us the pain they once produced within our
minds, bodies and spirit. No, God, is recreating us, day by day, into the persons God designed us to be: men
and women of integrity, men and women of humility, men and women of faith, men
and women of trust, forgiving and reconciling men and women and thus healed and
forgiven, knowing our hearts of hearts that we are truly loved unconditionally
and fully!
As we come to Jesus as persons needing Jesus’ help and
depending on God’s mercy to be made “new” again, to have our sadness turned
into “rejoicing,” as did the Roman
soldier in today’s Gospel, John 4: 43-54, we will experience “the fever” of our
anger, resentment, guilt and shame and “the diseases” by which we condemn and
judge others and ourselves as unworthy of God’s love and mercy leave us. Yes,
we will be restored to the health of the redeemed, for, not only has God created
“Jerusalem to be a joy,” but has also created us to be a joy as well and to
know joy in this life, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.
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