Attentiveness

Poor are made “rich.” Those who are barren bear children. The well-fed go hungry while those who were hungry grow fat. A mother relinquishes her son. Seemingly wrenching disorder…and much of it isn’t very pretty.

How can these things “be?” They counter our logic and, perhaps, the experience of our faith as a quid-pro-quo; I obey rules and do good things, ostensibly to please God, and he in turn does good things for me. This is not what seems to happen in today’s readings.

Of course, this kind of quid-pro-quo doesn’t sound like entry into a deep, mystical experience. It sounds more like entry into a life of organized crime. We do for each other “up and down the line” and The Don rewards each of us.

In The Mystery, nothing is like it seems and the order of this world is crushed by the mysterious gift of God’s love and mercy. So it seems, today’s message may be about where to apply our attentiveness. Rules, order, obedience (though there is of course a place for these things) perhaps are not necessarily what is primary. When we have no “nourishment;” when we are without health or when we are experiencing emotional or physical pain, when our status has been stripped from us; the immensely difficult challenge of our faith appears to be to believe in, to trust in and to maintain hope in: to be attentive to The Mystical – God unceasingly trying to reveal the truth of his mercy and love for each of us.

Author: John Sabine, Principal Gifts Officer, Advancement