Category Archives: Musings

Into the Presence of God

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In tomorrow’s first reading from The Letter to the Romans, St. Paul tells us that you, me and all creation is suffering in this world that is as imperfect and incomplete as we are. God created the world and proclaimed it to be good. Then God created humanity and proclaimed it to be very good.  It was all good until humanity opened a portal for sin to enter the world. Sin that in last Friday’s first reading was personified and an entity seeking to corrupt the good of the world and people, seeking to reign over all, and rob us of glory God intended for us. It is as St. Peter (1 Peter 5:8), evil is on the prowl and means to devour you.

All this leaves us and creation corrupted and unable to be fully in the presence of God as the children and heirs that St. Paul proclaims us to be. Being in the presence of God is a big deal, as big as it comes. Being in God’s presence was lost in Eden and perhaps the rest of Scripture can be thought of as God’s efforts to restore us to that intimate presence afforded to the family of God.

What could keep us from that presence? In the language of the Old Testament it is because something has rendered us “impure” in that we have come in contact with Death. Death that entered the world through the sin of one man. The Book of Leviticus has two whole sections on ritual and moral purity. Leviticus provides rituals of thanksgiving and atonement with one purpose in mind: that we be mindful that we worship the God of Life – Life that is meant to be whole, complete, and without the corruption of decay. Life that is meant to be lived in the presence of God. Life that is Holy as God is Holy.

In the Old Testament, there were regulations to keep the faithful from contact with that which would make them impure and not ready to enter into the presence of God. These regulations were designed so the impurity of forbidden things (e.g., a corpse) would not “infect” the person. The rituals were to restore the person.

In the New Testament, Jesus reaches across those regulations to touch the ritually impure. The lepers, the blind, and in today’s gospel, the woman who was “crippled by a spirit” and as a result was so “bent over” that she was “completely incapable of standing erect.”

Jesus reached out to touch her. Jesus was made corrupted and rendered impure. No, his holiness “infected” the woman, removing that which was never desired or intended by God. Now she stands upright, a child of God, an heir to the glory of God.

Now she may draw near into the presence of God.

Image credit: Healing of the Crippled Woman. By Theophylact, Byzantine Archbishop of Ochrid and Bulgaria. 1055 AD | PD USA

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude

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Today marks the Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, both apostles and early missionaries of the Church. Of the two, St. Jude, the patron of lost causes, the namesake of a notable children’s hospital, is the better known of the two. Jude, also known as Judas Thaddaeus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is generally identified with Thaddeus, and is also variously called Jude of James, Jude Thaddaeus, Judas Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus. He is sometimes identified with Jude, the brother of Jesus, but is clearly distinguished from Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus prior to his crucifixion. Catholic writer Michal Hunt suggests that Judas Thaddaeus became known as Jude after early translators of the New Testament from Greek into English sought to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot and subsequently abbreviated his forename. Most versions of the New Testament in languages other than English and French refer to Judas and Jude by the same name. Continue reading →

Reading the signs

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“Red sky in morning, sailor take warning. Red sky at night, a sailor’s delight” So goes the adage. The saying is most reliable when weather systems predominantly come from the west as they do in the United States. A red sky appears when dust and small particles are trapped in the atmosphere by high pressure. This scatters blue light leaving only red light to give the sky its notable appearance. A red sky at sunset means high pressure is moving in from the west, so therefore the next day will usually be dry and pleasant. Red sky in the morning appears due to the high-pressure weather system having already moved east meaning the good weather has passed, most likely making way for a wet and windy low-pressure system. Hence “sailor take warning.” Continue reading →

Sin and Grace

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In yesterday’s reading St. Paul writes that “Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death and thus death came to all men, inasmuch (houtōs) as all sinned.” If you are interested in how the translation of the simple Greek word “houtōs” affects everything, please review yesterday’s post. As noted yesterday, throughout Romans Chapter 5 and well into Chapter 8, Paul attributes to “sin” a very active role: Continue reading →

Sin and Death

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In today’s first reading our selection from The Letter to the Romans moves on from its prior focus on Abraham as a model of trust/belief/faith even when he has moments of doubts. Moving ahead to Chapter 5, St. Paul now takes on the matter of sin and death. Paul’s claim that “Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin, death” would have been nothing new to anyone familiar with Genesis chapters 2-3 and the Jewish understanding of those chapters. This “man” is, of course, Adam, whose very name means “man.” Continue reading →

Of One Mind

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In Friday’s reflection I outlined times in Abraham’s story in which Scripture shows the patriarch doubted God. I compared that with the times Abraham followed God’s instructions. But I also noted, this life is not a balance sheet. The story of Abraham is a story that serves as a testament to the idea that faith can coexist with human imperfection. Abraham’s journey, marked by both faith and human flaws, is a central narrative in the Book of Genesis. Continue reading →

Trusting

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Today’s first reading is from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, one of the most challenging and complex of all the New Testament books – and addresses an equally complex character in the person of Abraham. Known for his unwavering faith in God he is a person who is not always righteous and forthright; a person who sometimes acts in ways not in accord with the will of God. Consider some moments in the story of Abraham. Continue reading →

Being Mindful

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Today’s first reading is from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, one of the most challenging and complex of all the New Testament books. After opening his epistle, Paul provides a summary of covenant history in just a few verses.

For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks (Rom 1:19-21).

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God is still waiting

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Today’s first reading is again from the Book of Jonah. From yesterday’s reading, we recall: “10 When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.” (Jonah 3:10) Great! The Ninevites repented, God relented, and Jonah’s prophetic mission is complete. As mentioned, that would have been an “they all lived happily ever after” ending. But there is another chapter in the story whose first verse gives us an idea that the story’s ending is anything but happy. Continue reading →