So much has occurred in a short period of time in my little corner of the world. Death comes to us all; sometimes announcing its approach and at other times stealthily catching us unaware. Death has been recently a very vivid partner in who I know myself to be and how it is that I spend my time. Death demands our attention and insists acknowledgement of change be forth coming.
So soon after the Easter accolades of “He is risen from the dead! Christ has conquered death! Where, o death is your sting? “ an encounter of death is significantly poignant. What is it that we as an Easter people n have gained in our faith by our recent celebration? It is into this paradigm that I invite you to ponder with me the words from the readings.
God is with us! This seems like a no brainer but … this is the number one thing which I notice as a spiritual director that people seem to forget. God is with us when we are confused. God is with us when we are afraid. God is with us when we are in pain. God is with us when we feel hopeless. God is with us when we struggle. God is with us when we doubt. God is with us when we cry out. God is with us when we cannot find the words to speak. God is with us when we are present to those dying and when we embrace death ourselves. God is with us! This should be our mantra with every breath, with every thought, with every action. Lord, my prayer is that it actually becomes so.
The second lectio phrase from the Psalm is like a nagging awareness to me. I want to claim the gift of ears open to obedience. Yet with this gift comes responsibility. I listen deeply and then must act accordingly. For if I do not act accordingly I am behaving as many American toddlers behave when presented with a long awaited gift who are more interested in what comes next and in having gotten their demands met than they ever were in receiving the gift for what it was. I have been called and I have been gifted. Lord, give me the grace to live into the love, possibility and life that you present me with in this instance.
The lectio on the reading from Hebrews, I come to do your will…by this will we are consecrated is the exclamation point on the lectio from the Psalm. What is it that I ask of my God? I ask for the grace to live into the love, possibility and life that you present me with in this instance.
I am with Mary in that I simply cannot wrap my head around what is offered in love from my God. How can this be? Then God being God answers in a way that tells me all I need to know but not more than I can handle. Thank you for loving me so much that you continue to address my never en ding questions but you continue to bless me with the awe of being sure that I do not really understand but that with you all things are possible.
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