The refrain used this morning for the psalm response in the lectionary readings is very poignant and comforting. Verse 19 says that God is close to the brokenhearted and Lynn Bauman’s commentary says that it is at the level of the heart (deeper than the intellect) that the psalmist speaks this prayer and gives this guidance. He titles this psalm “The Healer of Shattered Hearts” and his translation of the lectionary section provides beautiful images of this healing God who can be counted on to enfold us in the confidence that love brings. This one deserves to be read aloud – more than once.
Indeed God hears the voice of those who cry in pain, drawing near to them with tender, loving care. God comes so close to those who live with brokenness, to heal those with the deepest inner wounds. God is healer of our shattered hearts. Yes, it is true, the troubles that plague humanity are vast and deep. But it is God who frees us from them all. God guards our hearts, our core, our very bones, the inner frame of those who serve the good. And nothing there is ever truly broken or destroyed. (vs. 17-20)
I’m so glad I live in a time when poetry and literature from times and cultures other than my own have been made available. Especially do I love reading translations of mystical poetry like that of Hafiz (1320-1389) which express in a few words deeply felt spiritual truths or ways of relating to God that touch the cerebral western mind with new images of wild abandon. I was looking for something to wake me up with “oomph” today and was stopped by something less flowery but more thought-provoking than I expected from my search. Here it is: my advice for the day.
I’ve thought and talked a lot about mercy, especially since I came to understand that it has more to do with love than with pity. At the conclusion of the “Year of Mercy” declared by Pope Francis, it was suggested that we continue to keep that virtue front and center in our lives. Not a bad idea, it seems, in our broken, frustrating world as we attempt to maintain equilibrium and good faith each day.
This morning’s gospel left me with many possible avenues of exploration. It’s the familiar healing by Jesus of the man at the pool of Bethesda who had been ill for 38 years but had no one to put him into the pool for healing when the healing waters were stirred. (JN 5:1-16) I first think (and thus have commented about) how impossible it sounds that he was lying around for 38 years and nobody lifted him into the pool. Secondly, it gives me pause to think about that scene and how the whole thing worked: how large the pool was, how and how often the waters were “stirred”, how big a crowd was there waiting (I think of the processions in the grotto at Lourdes with massive crowds) and finally how intent everyone must have been on their own invalid so that everyone ignored this man. So many considerations with little information to help me conceive of his predicament…
I would have to look back in my posts to see if Monday is the day on which I am most likely to rely on the thoughts of others rather than my own in writing here. Perhaps it would make sense that the beginning of the work week would be fraught with plans and deadlines or regrets about what I did not accomplish during the weekend, in which case focus on creative thought might be more difficult. Whether or not that is sometimes the case, it is not so this morning, yet I am once again drawn to share what is to me an engaging and meaningful lesson from Alan Cohen’s book, A Deep Breath of Life. See if my choice is helpful for you.
The Scriptural texts for this morning tell good stories. I especially always like hearing how David became king. What a surprise for his family! When Samuel came to speak to Jesse and asked to meet his sons, (1 Sm 16) nobody even gave a thought to David, the youngest, who was probably happy living in obscurity, spending his days with the sheep of his father’s fields. And this time when Jesus cured a blind person it wasn’t because the man was crying out asking Jesus for healing, as in the similar gospel stories, but rather just because of a question from the disciples about why the man was blind in the first place. (Jn 9). What got me thinking, however, was the reading in the middle (Eph 5:8-14) that begins with a startling teaser if we don’t read it quickly. At least in my translation we might think it reads: Brothers and sisters, you were once IN darkness but now you are IN light in the Lord…but there are no prepositions preceding the words darkness and light! What Paul seems to be saying is that our identity was darkness and living in God changes our very existence into light.
Today’s readings got me thinking about reaction vs. response and about the difficult job of those messengers in the Bible who spoke for God. First there is Isaiah, human prophet, whose job was to warn people about coming destruction and then in the gospel “an angel of the Lord’ whose message was quite a bit more unbelievable – at least from my vantage point.
Still basking in the glow of last weekend’s beautiful golden jubilee celebration that I experienced with so many kind words and gestures, I was immediately interested in Alan Cohen’s daily reflection for this date because the title was actually “Golden Moments.” After a personal anecdote, he continued with what is surely a worthy way to look at life. (I especially like his concluding sentence.) See if you agree.
I smiled as I read the Psalm for today – one of the praise psalms toward the end of the book, Psalm 147, wherein we find a weather report of sorts. In verse 16, the psalmist sings of God’s activity thus: He spreads snow like wool; frost he strews like ashes. Yesterday I was thinking we were surely headed for spring but this morning there’s lots of activity out there, wind and blowing snow – as if last week’s dump of almost 3 feet of the white stuff were not enough!
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 