IN THE BEGINNING (12)

IN THE BEGINNING (12)

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.

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

May my eyes be open to see your face, Lord,

May my ears be open to hear your word, Lord,

May my mind be open to know your wisdom, Lord,

May my heart be open, to love like you, Lord….

In our last meditation on the faithfulness of God, on His faithful presence in history and in our own personal lives. We meditated on God’s love for us being so strong and so unconditional that God is always there in us, for us, with us, around us….always loving us and calling us to love……faithfully present…always PRESENT!

We reflected on the new kind of relationship that Jesus proclaimed, one that is born of faithfulness, obedience, surrender to the will of the one you love…one that goes far beyond blood relationships. Real relationships, true connections, bonds of love are established around shared goals, shared ideals, shared conflicts and pains, shared cause, shared obedience/fidelity, what the Scriptures call “covenantal bond”.

This meditation is an invitation to dwell again on the faithfulness of God, to abide in His faithful presence…..

Take a moment…Pray the following Psalm…Psalm 85

You have favored, O Lord, your land;

You have restored the well-being of Jacob.

You have forgiven the guilt of your people;

You have covered all their sins.

You have withdrawn all your wrath;

You have revoked your burning anger.

Restore us, O God our savior,

And abandon your displeasure against us.

Will you be ever angry with us,

Prolonging your anger to all generations?

Will you not instead give us life;

And shall not your people rejoice in you?

Show us, O Lord, your kindness,

And grant us your salvation.

I will hear what God proclaims;

The Lord – for he proclaims peace

To his people, and to his faithful ones,

And to those who put in him their hope.

Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,

Glory dwelling in our land.

Kindness and truth shall meet;

Justice and peace shall kiss.

Truth shall spring out of the earth,

And justice shall look down from heaven.

The Lord himself will give his benefits;

Our land shall yield its increase.

Justice shall walk before him,

And salvation, along the way of his steps.

The Psalmist celebrates and sings the steadfast love and faithfulness of God.

The long journey from Babylon to Zion is a very important part of Israel’s (and our) life-long pilgrimage home. God had brought them back home once and rehabilitated them and he would do it again (Verse 1-3). The Persian king Cyrus had issued his famous edict in the year 538 B.C. giving permission for the Jews to go home. They returned home and found their land devastated. They were now disillusioned and yet found confidence in remembering how Yahweh had rehabilitated them in the past when they returned from Egypt. Yahweh will do it again because he is a God of faithfulness and steadfast love.

Abide in this thought for some time: God is faithfulness and steadfast love.

The Psalmist prayed: (verses 3-9) “restore us again…revive us again….show us your steadfast love’. His saving love is an ever present reality…..actually here and now in our midst for those who fear him, for those who worship him in awe. Only the eyes of faith could see it. Israel’s human eyes could see only the ruins of their nation. The Psalmist invites and challenges them to look beyond the ruins to the presence of the God of love, who will rehabilitate them and empower them to rebuild their nation as he has done for them in the past.

Taker moment…pray: restore us again, revive us Lord, renew our spirits, show us your steadfast love…….

Our Psalmist continues: God’s “hesed”, his steadfast love and his “emet”, his faithfulness have met (verses 10-13). God’s covenant love, steadfast love and his utter fidelity to his covenant have now converged and met at this point in history. God can be relied on. The return and the rehabilitation of his people is the proof that God’s love and faithfulness have embraced.

The Psalmist continues: his love and peace have kissed. As Jesus said, the Kingdom of God has come…it is now a reality. Emmanuel, God-with-us is here, in this moment, in this place. An ancient Jewish mystic said, “Prayer is the moment when heaven and earth kiss each other”.

Take a moment….abide in this thought for some time: Emmanuel, God-with-us is here, right here, right now….in this moment.

Our Psalmist declares that this amazing and remarkable union between God’s steadfast love and faithfulness has an effect on God’s people. Faithfulness will spring from the earth…love will look down from heaven. Faithfulness and love will dwell in the land. It is all God’s doing….it is pure Grace.

This is really a two-way movement of Grace. This is the inward and outward movement we have reflected on many times in the past. God’s Grace transforms us from inside and out. God’s Grace first. God makes us right with himself. This empowers us to respond to God…… love and faithfulness spring up within us. St. Paul calls it justification. Because we are justified, that is, because love and faithfulness spring from up within, we are able to love God and others and remain faithful to that love.

Take a moment and pray: Lord, Grace us and empower us to be faithful in love and kindness and compassion.

Our Psalmist is also a great visionary. He closes his poem saying, Justice shall walk before him and salvation along the way of his steps. God’s justice will go before us as it was in the days of Moses. He will make his footsteps on the way where we are to plant our feet. We are to step in the footsteps he has first made in the mud and dirt of life’s journey. We are to walk the path our master has walked. We are to make the journey that many saints have made.

Take a moment and dwell on this thought for some time: He will make his footsteps on the way where we are to plant our feet. We are to step in the footsteps he has first made in the mud and dirt of life’s journey.

Jesus spoke the parable of the Sower (Mathew 13:18-23). Seeds fall into all kinds of soil…only those that fall into good soil have the opportunity to sprout and grow and yield a rich harvest. Knowing that the seeds will fall into different types of soil, even into rocky and thorny ground with little chance of growing to fruitfulness, the good and diligent and faithful farmer keeps sowing, trusting in the possibility of a good harvest.

A chicken farmer suffered great loss every year because his land flooded during the monsoon. Because the farm had been in the family for several generations, he did not want to leave it. The flooding became more and more serious with each monsoon. It was too much of a challenge to move the chicken to safety on higher ground. One year the water rose rapidly and the farmer lost hundreds of chicken.

That was the last – the farmer had to make certain decisions. He told his wife, in despair: “I have had it, but I am trapped”. We can’t afford to buy another farm and we couldn’t sell this one anyway because of the yearly floods. I don’t know what to do.”

His wife saw an opportunity in their adversity. “Raise ducks”, she recommended.

Troubles come into every life. No one escapes them. We can and we must be faithful even in those troublesome times. We can take adversity and turn it into advantage, take a burden and turn it into a blessing…….

Knowing that the seeds will fall into different types of soil, even into rocky and thorny ground with little chance of growing to fruitfulness, the good and diligent farmer keeps sowing, trusting in the possibility of a good harvest. Be faithful even in the face of uncertainty!

Take a moment and pray…..

God grant me,

        The serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

        Courage to change the things I can,

        And the Wisdom to know the difference.

        Living one day at a time;

        Enjoying one moment at a time;

        Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.

        Taking as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;

        Trusting that He will make all things right,

        If I surrender to His will;

        That I may be reasonably happy in this life,

        And supremely happy in the next.

                - Reinhold Niebuhr

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs