The Just Man

Tags

Father, feast day, fidelity, interiority, Jesus, just man, Luke, Matthew, obedience, silence, Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I was in my car and on the road at 6:17 this morning, traveling to participate in the 6:45 liturgical celebration of St. Joseph’s feast day with my friends, Florence and Anne. Rarely would I be up and out that early but it is Florence’s 60th anniversary in the Sisters of St. Joseph and she has been friend, sister and mentor to me for 47 years now, so the early call was certainly worth the trip. (The raspberry scones and coffee that followed were an added treat as well!)

When there is conversation about St. Joseph, the introductory sentence most often goes something like this: “We don’t know much about Joseph, except that he was a just man, the husband of Mary and (foster) father of Jesus.” I was thinking about this during the liturgy this morning as Father Charles elaborated a bit about Joseph’s character as a devoted husband and father.

The deep feeling of love and respect for Joseph, not only of Sisters of St. Joseph but people the world over, speaks to me of the power and value of communal reflection. Stories of Joseph, prayers said to him, and reports of “favors” granted because of faith in his intercession with God have been a part of Christian tradition since the beginning. What I have learned and loved most about this man from it all is the clear sense of his silence. Joseph spoke no word that is related in Scripture but the stories told about him – his fidelity to Mary and Jesus, his obedience to the messages that allowed him to keep them safe, and his trust in God permeate the early chapters of Matthew and Luke, convincing me of his deep listening and contemplation.

In this world of noise and hurry we would do well to pause and be grateful for such a model of interiority, respect and care. May today include that moment and a blessing for Sisters of St. Joseph everywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

Synonyms?

Tags

brotherly love, constant, energy, genuine, intensely, lectio divina, obedience, Peter, pure heart, sincere, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth

In the early morning sunshine, everything feels pristine to me. Perhaps it’s the 12 hours of sleep I had after the sedation of yesterday began to wear off that has given me new energy. (Mission accomplished, by the way: 6 tiny polyps removed so I’m good to go for 5 years.) It’s one of those days when I wake up feeling motivated to love everyone and face everything with a smile. Sometimes that feeling even lasts all day!

Today, wrapped in those good vibrations, I read an exhortation in the first letter of Peter that fit what I was feeling and gave me pause (1 PT 1:18-25). It says: Since you have purified yourselves by obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love, love one another intensely from a pure heart. It always interests me that translation and even different editions of the same translation (here the New American Bible) can make such a difference in impact even though the meanings are essentially the same. Had I been reading my personal Bible {(c) 1970} instead of the lectionary readings for this date on http://www.usccb.org, I would have found that verse to say: By obedience to the truth, you have purified yourselves for a genuine love of your brothers; therefore, love one another constantly from the heart. There are really only three slight differences in the two texts – all of them adjectives. In the first clause, the modifiers of love (sincere and genuine) are virtually synonymous and at the end of the text Peter emphasizes his point in the newer edition by adding that we must function from a pure heart. The one word that first caught my attention, however, and still remains the “hook” for me is the difference in how we are to love one another. Although I can see the possibility of being fairly constant in my love for others, intensely is generally reserved for a special few.

This may sound like a ridiculous attempt for me to have something to say and probably is a result of my years as a language teacher doing textual analysis, but I think there is some merit in looking more closely if it is even one word that sparks a response in us. Monastics have been doing this kind of lectio divina (sacred reading) for centuries. If I can apply the intensity of love that I know toward God as I am outside working on this glorious day or sharing Eucharist on a special feast to all that I meet no matter where or why, the depth of my life will certainly be more in concert with “obedience to the truth” than if I simply try at all times to remember the command of Jesus to love one another. That statement certainly implies a growing intensity if we add the follow-on of as I have loved you, so maybe I am just whistling in the wind. The message, it seems, can be found anywhere if we really look. So let us today determine to love all of our sisters and brothers constantly and intensely – just as God loves us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sabbath Time

Tags

discern, hear, Jesus, Matthew, mosaic law, obedience, Sabbath, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Obedience is one of the three vows that I took as a Roman Catholic Sister many years ago that is still part of religious profession. In my early days (the “good old days”) it was easier to live that vow as it was interpreted by most as just doing what one was told by the superior who had the ear of God in all things large and small. As we have evolved, so has our understanding of this vow that we take to God through our religious community. We understand that the root of the word “obedience” – from the Latin – means to hear. Most often for religious, it means to hear together, to discern in community or to hear honestly what God is saying to us individually while not abrogating the responsibility to be obedient as well to legitimate authority. The difference is, in part, the recognition that every mature person is called to maturity in decision-making.

Jesus often ends a story or a lesson with the words, “Let the one who hears…” followed by the requisite action. He is calling for an obedience that comes from understanding of what he’s asking and then an assent to it. Sometimes his call is to a higher law, going beyond, but not abrogating, the Mosaic Law that he came not to destroy but to fulfill. This morning’s gospel (MT 12:1-8) is a great example of going beyond a law for a higher good. The disciples are hungry, but it is the Sabbath. The law calls people to refrain from picking grain on the Sabbath. That reminds me of when I was young and the law of the Church was clear: “No unnecessary servile work on Sunday.” We used to define that in my house as no doing of laundry, no ironing…but it didn’t mean we could skip washing the dishes. It’s easy to see the reason; we were supposed to spend our day differently from other days of the week, in a way that kept us in mind of God. It was never to be a question of “the letter” of the law, but rather of living in that spirit. It was a process of doing what was logical to achieve the goal while always thinking of the good outcome. Putting on the mind of Christ means making good decisions, living in the love of God at all times and acting from that center. In that way we will always know what is the right thing to do. In that way every day will be our Sabbath.