Daily Reflection for Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Peace and blessing, Friends and Parishioners,
We encourage you to reflect on Wednesday’s readings at this link:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052020.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First reading: Acts 17:15, 22-18:1
Responsorial: Psalm 148:1-2, 11-14
Gospel: John 16:12-15
Our reflection on Wednesday's reading:
“… so that the people might seek God, even perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from any of us.” Acts 17:27
As I read these lines, I immediately thought of the pandemic crisis we are all experiencing. Uncertainty can become a probing toward examining where we put our faith as unprecedented limits and choices face us. By faith I do not mean belief or doctrines so much as I mean where we put our deepest trust. I know that before this March, I had been lulled into expecting life to go on pretty much as it had. Routines would continue, food and money would be there as usual, and my social life would support me as it had before. Wrong!
Things have changed and not by my choice. I had a helpful conversation with a friend who ended up quarantined with his wife and adult children. While glad to have these loved ones nearby and relatively safe, with three more adults in the house, his routine was disrupted.
This disruption included his prayer and meditation time. He realized that he was experiencing increased irritability and saw the importance of his spiritual practice to his sense of overall well-being.
His experience made me consider, what if I ended up in the hospital with this COVID 19? Because of restrictions, the support of my wife and friends would not be available. I could be facing the possibility of dying alone. Where would my faith and trust rest in such a dire situation? This possibility brought new clarity to the importance of my connection with the Lord, and it helped me understand that daily practice of prayer and meditation, regular time building my friendship with Jesus, would be the grounding of faith and trust that I would need in such a situation. I do in fact need this every day to live the life I desire.
We are created for relationship and our creator wants relationship with us. As we pray daily, “Thy will be done”…relationship with us is part of God's will. Without it we are missing the most essential part of who we are.
So let us enjoy the gift of friendship with sisters and brothers, and with the one who has made us. I've heard it said, "Grief shared is halved, Joy shared is doubled.”
Let us be sure to include our friend, Jesus, into our circle of loving relationships. Good friendship, the kind we can genuinely trust, requires investment. It takes time to get to know one another and build the kind of intimacy that carries us in times of distress and blesses us in times of joy. Then we will know more deeply in our hearts the truth of Paul's words in Romans 8: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God.”
Prayer:
Jesus, help us to know you and trust you more deeply as we spend time sitting with you, talking to you, and listening to you. Lord Jesus, be our friend. Amen
Peace to all,
Ed Mitchell