Life's Lessons

Today’s first reading, Revelation 11: 4-12, is difficult to get one’s arms around.  John  is asked to pay attention to two of the Lord’s witnesses: two olive trees and two lampstands which “stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone,”  the Lord says, “wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and devours their enemies.”  These witnesses give testimony on the Lord’s behalf. “When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them….The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and be glad and exchange gifts because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth. But after the three and a half days [think also of Jesus in the tomb for three and a half days], a breath of life from God entered them….[A] loud voice from heaven [says] to them, ‘Come up here.’ So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on.”

We live in a world filled with wars and violence against God’s people.  Messengers of the Lord are seen as tormentors, as persons with whom we want nothing to do.  Many times we do not pay attention to “prophets” in our midst, to men and women of our own or of other religions speaking to us of the importance of justice, peace and love, of reconciling with our enemies, with those whom we do not understand, with those we judge as “unfits for the kingdom.”  We may turn our eyes and ears away from life’s tragedies and episodes of pain, not wanting to see the qualities those experiences contain for our redemption, for the transformation of our attitudes, bringing our way of thinking into the way God thinks about the persons involved.

As I was dealing with a painful episode in my life, the thought of the Foundress of my religious community suddenly came to mind. She went through periods in her life where she took refuge at the foot of the cross, pouring out her complaints to the Lord. At one of those times she said to herself as she complained to the Lord: “Enough of this. God is preparing me for something I do not yet understand.”  At another time, having difficulty with relationships, she says:  “I learnt to pray again as a child and came to realize that I have the most to improve.” As I was dealing with a challenging situation, I also, in prayer,  came to realize that I have more to improve within myself than another person. The obsession of needing to be right with this person vanished and peace returned!

What do you do when you encounter the little “wars”  that are part of the realities of learning to live in harmony and respect of one another and self?