IN THE BEGINNING (10)

IN THE BEGINNING (10)

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Sit still…..Relax…….Do not rush………

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Settle into silence, into peacefulness, into profound silence, into pure joy. Keep listening in such quietness and serenity. Come to that place, that space within, that place of deep silence, solitude, to just being here and now, without having to accomplish something.

Let us begin with a prayer in our heart:

Open my eyes Lord, help me to see your face,

Open my ears Lord, help me to hear your word,

Open my heart Lord, help me to love like you….

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well……….

Our last meditation was on God’s call to let go, to move on, to journey and to trust God and be faithful to his calling. Faithfulness on the journey is more important than arrival at the destination.

It is a gift to know faithful people, people whose inner strength urges them to share their love generously, even when it costs them much. Their lives tell us that faithfulness is possible, though not easy. Faithful people reflect God’s faithfulness. Faithfulness is the characteristic of a person who simply loves and inspires a sense of confidence and trust in another, even when things don’t seem to be going well.

Prayerfully and slowly read the following story of faithfulness on the journey…Go slow, do not rush…….

In our last meditation, we met Abraham, a man of great wealth, leaving the security of the known and the sure and the certain and embracing something new and untried trusting in God and God alone and making an incredible journey of faith. We also met Jesus calling his men to leave the comfort and the joy of an extraordinary spiritual experience on top of the mountain o face the reality of life down the valley.

In this meditation, we meet two women, moving out of very difficult situation in life, without the security only men could have provided in their culture, returning to a home that seemed to offer a promise……only to find their hope fulfilled far beyond expectations!

Famine in the land of Judah forced Naomi, her husband Elimelech, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, to leave Bethlehem and migrate to Moab. But their fortunes worsen in this alien land. Naomi’s husband died. Her sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Then, ten years later, both Sons died. Now widowed and childless, Naomi came to know that there was once again food in Bethlehem and decided to return home.

Naomi set out on her journey, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law. But she soon urged them to turn back and let her go on alone. Women in those days and in that culture could find security only in the house of a husband, and Naomi had no more sons to offer them. As she kissed Ruth and Orpah farewell, they began to weep loudly. She blessed them: “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May Yahweh be kind to you as you have been to those who have died and to me” (Ruth 1:8).

In her blessing, Naomi invoked the loving-kindness of God. She had encountered this divine kindness in the faithful love of her daughters-in-law. She asked God to wrap these women in the same loving-kindness they have shown her.

Orpah eventually dried her tears and obeyed Naomi. She returned to her people and her gods. But Ruth refused; she will not be pushed away. She spoke with passionate and fierce loyalty.

“Do not press me to leave you and to turn back from your company, for wherever you go, I will go, wherever you live, I will live. Your people shall be my people, and your God, will be my God” (Ruth 1:16). Ruth embraced Naomi’s God and her people.

Together Ruth and Naomi began a journey that neither could make alone. But it had a different meaning for each. For Naomi it was a return, through loss, grief, and anger, to a renewed hope. For Ruth, it was a venture into the unknown, to a people, a way of life, and a God different from all she had known. The two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem.

When Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem, they produced a wave of excitement among the townswomen. Naomi’s misfortunes have so altered her that her old friends and neighbors could hardly believe it was she (Ruth 1:20). They gathered round, and she somehow felt safe in their circle of interest and support. She poured her heart out to them, holding back nothing of the anger and despair she was feeling. As they hugged her and welcomed her back, they seemed able to embrace a self she had come to despise.

Naomi must have been flooded with memories on this return home: of herself as a contented wife and mother long ago; of her husband and sons, of happier times…. But these were gone now. Her friends were right: She was not the same woman who left Judah a decade earlier. Life had seared and reduced her.

Naomi arrives in her homeland empty and bitter, but already there was a hint of hope: “And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest” (Ruth 1:22). The women welcomed her and Ruth, their arms laden with sheaves of grain. Although this seasonal abundance now stood in stark contrast to the emptiness of Naomi’s existence, it was an image of promise. The journey would yield distinctive harvests for both women as they mobilize their resources.

We are now reading a woman’s story set within a man’s world. Ruth and Naomi had to struggle for survival in a patriarchal environment. How would they provide for themselves? Neither was married, so neither had a husband to protect or feed or provide social status. But they were unconventional women; they carved a path between tradition and innovation. They did not succumb to the dangers and insecurities of their situation. Ruth refused to give up and perish.

Naomi did not stay stuck in bitterness; she would not let Ruth become prey to degradation and hunger. They made brave choices, using whatever power they had. Naomi devises a plan whereby Ruth would become appealing to Boaz, a wealthy farmer who was Naomi’s kinsman. Ruth succeeded in pleasing Boaz, and he took her for his wife. She gave birth to a son who became the joy of Naomi’s old age.

The same chorus of voices that greeted Naomi when she first returned in bitter emptiness now celebrated her with joy. The Book of Ruth begins and ends with a community of women embracing Ruth and Naomi in their bitterness and triumph, their emptiness and fullness. They lift up praise that is as superlative as it gets in a patriarchal culture, exclaiming to Naomi that Ruth is more to you than seven sons” (Ruth 4:15). Women and the outsider moved from the periphery to the center. A poor, widowed foreigner became the great-grandmother of King David.

The brave and bold decisions of Naomi and Ruth both embody and bring about God’s blessings. The Spirit of God that moved over the waters of creation is hidden but active in their lives. In a reversal of expectations, she who was from a despised people plays a privileged role in the story of salvation. Ruth and Naomi discover the power of connectedness. They stand as witnesses to a God of inclusiveness, who wants all to flourish. They have faithfully journeyed with God of faithfulness, of all-embracing, inclusive and unconquerable love.

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Read it again

Have your read the above a few times.

Are you familiar with the story?

At least, some idea of what the story is?

Are you, now, familiar with the people in the story?

If so, Now Close your Eyes.

Begin reflecting on how the story has touched you.

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs