2020-07-19 _ 16th Sunday ● Wisdom 12:13, 16-19 ● Psalm 86 ● Romans 8:26-27 ● + Matthew 13:24-43 ●
Will children and teachers be in school classroom buildings
or not in school classroom buildings?
Will there be online computer based learning?
And, will there be soccer, football and sports?
Of course, this summer is something distinct. In years
past, we didn’t wonder what life would be like in the Fall / Autum. Perhaps, we
just wanted to enjoy the summer, savor it. It goes by very quickly.
[_02_] One of my brothers – who is a high school
teacher – enjoys the summer, and finds them each of them all too fast and
furiously brief.
This is how he summarizes it. This is how the summer goes.
It’s like a weekend:
·
The month of June = that’s Friday afternoon.
·
The month of July = Saturday
·
The month of August = Sunday
·
The month of September = then, it’s all over and you are back to school on Monday.
[_03_] So, when you are
enjoying your weekend, who wants to think about Monday or what’s coming next?
Sometimes we can be too worried about the future, not
living in the moment and too focused about what is coming next, and not living
in the current moment.
And, I will give an example.
I recall an instance – perhaps one of many -- that I embarrassed
myself years ago on a school trip with classmates.
We were in a museum, in Manhattan, at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in NYC. It was a Friday, the trip was really a holiday and break
from our regular schoolwork and studies. So, who thinks about academic homework
in the middle of fine paintings and sculpture?
Nobody, except me!
I turned to one of my classmates and asked him a question
about that had recently come up in the classroom.
Overhearing my impertinent question which ruined the
fine-art meditation moment, another classmate stormed off mocking me for
bringing this up in a museum telling me – effectively – you know, we’re not in
school right now, turn it off !
I was not, as we say, in the moment. I was too consumed
with what was coming next.
[_04_] Pope Benedict XVI (B16) wrote this about the meaning of Advent
a season in which we also focus on who is coming next and who – the Son of God
– is already here.
Jesus arrives on 12/25 at Christmas but also he is coming
to us each day:
“The Christian knows that the presence of God that has now
only begun will someday be a full and complete presence. This knowledge sets
him free and gives him an ultimate security”.
(Josef Ratzinger, Dogma and
Preaching, “The Meaning of Advent”, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011, p.
322, )
[_05_] Another
example from our local environment and ecosystem, the natural world
A few months ago, there was a bird’s nest
just a few feet from one of the rectory windows. I noticed the nest after the
nest was constructed. Then one day, I saw two bird’s eggs in the nest.
I watched those eggs every day. They reminded
me of a bird’s nest from 25 years ago, in my parent’s backyard, a nest that was
discovered first by a friend of mine.
Then, we made sure that it was secure and undisturbed. So, protecting the nest, protecting ourselves
for what is coming next is important.
For so many of us, during the COVID 19
shelter in place, and even now, we are protecting our own “nest”, our own lair,
our own casa or home.
Here’s the thing, during all of this COVID 19 and coronavirus, I do not
really know what happened to the birds and eggs. I lost track of them…and never
saw them again.
I wonder what is coming next … for them. Wondering,
what is coming next, I am also called to let go of my own desire to control the
outcome and let God be in charge…
By the way, the nest, is still there as a reminder
of this to me.
[_06_] There are many
examples of things that happen to us in which we wonder what is coming next,
what will happen next?
And, in these situations, we are called not only to protect
ourselves – in the nest – in the home – in our own human life span – but also
to be prepared for what is coming next.
The Gospel this Sunday is about something coming next.
And, along the way, along the way of our lives, we are
sometimes called to endure very difficult things.
It may be the death or illness of someone we love. This
invites to ask – what is coming next?
It may be addiction or harmful habit of someone we know
..or even ourselves. We amy ask – what is coming next?
It may be our need to repent of our sins or sinfulness. We
may ask, what is coming next?
It may be the invitation to forgive someone who has hurt us
or trespassed or sinned against us. We may ask, what is coming next?
[_07_] Many of these are very imperfect and troubling
experiences that we live through, but while they produce trouble and distress,
they can also purify us and bring us closer to God and neighbor and love.
Jesus is coming next.
B16 wrote:
“In
point of fact, we cannot see God as we see an apple tree or a neon sign that is
in a purely external way that requires no interior commitment. We can see him
only by becoming like him.”
[In parallel, we also see and love others
in a sense by becoming “like them”. Imitation is truly a high form of
flattery. In this regard, in a family or
marriage we can remain distinct but also become similar to each other.]
We
see God by becoming like him, by turning away from pleasures, enjoyments,
possessions and from ourselves. We can see God only when we stop looking for
him as we might for a street sign or dollar bills and begin looking from the
visible to the invisible.
The invisible is what is coming next.
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