God's Way of Communicating with Us

In today’s first reading, Jeremiah 18: 1-6, the Lord asks Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house.  “Rise up, be off to the potter’s house; there I will give you my message.” Jeremiah responds without hesitation and, sure enough, there is the potter working at the potter’s wheel.  The art piece that he was trying to make did not turn out well so he started over until the vessel was to his liking, was truly a work of art to be admired and used for its designed purposes.  The Lord’s message to Jeremiah was addressed to the house of Israel. “Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done?...Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.”

As I reflected upon this passage, the thought struck me that God speaks to us in ordinary language! “Get up! Rise! Be off.” Who does not understand that kind of language? It is so ordinary that I frequently pay no attention. “The Lord speaking? You got to be kidding. I’m too busy now.”  And I miss the opportunity of grace. I miss God’s message that was waiting for me or the message that God wanted delivered to another through me.  How sad that the simplicity and the humility of God trip me up into oblivion.  How often I continue in my stupor. I choose not to pay attention! 

Jeremiah paid attention! “Jeremiah, pray for us that we, like you, will “rise up, be off” to that place to which God directs us, that we engage in that activity to which  God is calling us, to that person where God awaits us. No matter where it might be, what it might be, God will meet us there. He has an important message to deliver to us through a certain person, at a certain place! Pray that we will have the humility to follow God’s mundane, humble way of making Himself known and sharing the Wisdom of God.

Feast of St. Stephen, the first Martyr

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Stephen, the first person to give his life for his faith in Christ Jesus.

In the Gospel, Mt. 10: 17-22, Jesus tells us not to worry about what we might say when confronted for our faith, when we are challenged by pagans, non-believers, and/or oppressors because “[y]ou will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”  Stephen, filled with the wisdom of the Spirit, was no match for his debaters, St. Luke tells us in the first reading of today’s liturgy, Acts 6: 8-10; 7: 54-59.  Stephen “was working great wonders and signs among the people. Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freemen, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and people from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and debated with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.”

The Spirit that willed Stephen is also within our very beings. We, too, have access to the Wisdom of God, who comes to us in Baptism, Confirmation, the Holy Eucharist and through grace available to all who call upon the name of the Lord.  May you and I, today, experience that power at work within us and around us and within and around others as well. May our eyes be opened to the wonders of the Lord worked by others, by the signs God’s gives of His love’s transforming power.

The infant Jesus, God among us, continues to this day to come in disguises and in ways that, many times, pass us unawares. Our efforts to seek the Lord each day make it more likely that we will recognize Him in the daily events of the day: in our children, our young people, the elderly, our own family members and relatives, our priests and deacons, in the signs of the times (the disasters around us that invite us to call upon the Lord and put our faith in God, not in material things or even in humankind. God alone saves!

 

The Power of the Gospel

Today’s first readings, Romans 1: 16-25, contains gems of wisdom that each of is challenged to ponder within the depth of our hearts. What are these gems? 

·         That the Gospel “is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…”

·         That in the Gospel “the righteousness of God” is revealed “from faith to faith”

·         That the “one who is righteous by faith will live”

·         That “what can be known about God is evident to… [the impious and to those who have suppressed] the truth by their wickedness”

·         That what can be known about God is evident [to all of us] because God has made it evident [to us]

WOW!  The question is: do I believe that the Gospel is the power of God for my salvation? And if I do, what is keeping me from reading and reflecting upon the Gospels regularly and, yes, even daily?  That is where my salvation lies, that is where I will encounter Christ, who saves me from my own wickedness: from my own sinfulness, my own vulnerability to give in to temptation.  What temptation? Satan’s deceits, Satan’s subtleness in luring me into gossip, into cheating myself and others of the gift of forgiveness and unconditional loving, of respect and openness to the wisdom of God at work within them and within me, refusing to listen to them or to the Spirit directing me; from responding or not responding because of my prejudices, my fears, my hopelessness, my greediness and/or stinginess.  In whatever sin I engage, I am suppressing the truth of who I am in Christ Jesus, of what I am capable of doing because of the Spirit living within me.   My potential for choosing good instead of evil is contingent upon my relationship with Christ and I grow in my knowledge of Christ through the Scriptures, the Word of God! 

What is holding me back from this Source of God’s power?  Have I, in St. Paul’s words, “exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshipped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever”?