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Meditation: Jeremiah 14:17-22

“Let my eyes stream with tears.” (Jeremiah 14:17)

It’s always easier to hear a message of hope than a message of woe. That’s why the people of Jerusalem found it hard to accept many of Jeremiah’s prophecies. He warned them that unless they turned back to God, their land would suffer the consequences. Unfortunately, everything Jeremiah said came to pass: drought, famine, an invading army, and finally exile. What can possibly inspire us about this tragic tale?

If we look around, we can see at least as many problems today as existed in Jeremiah’s time. In fact, if we think about it long enough, we may also be moved to tears. What of all the pain caused by abortion, drug addiction, and domestic violence? What of the poor who live in unimaginable squalor? As God’s people, we must surely empathize with all of the sadness, loss, and suffering.

But our response doesn’t have to end there. In fact, it would be unchristian to let it stay there. Many critics of religion point to suffering as a reason not to believe in God, but we can say exactly the opposite. God’s will is not to cause suffering but to stop it. That’s why he sent his Son! Jesus came to free us from sin and to give us the “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). He came to bring heaven down to earth and he now calls all of us to build that kingdom here and now.

We shouldn’t just sit around and watch things get worse. We all share in Jesus’ office of priest, prophet, and king. Sometimes we’re called to be like priests and minister his healing and his salvation to those who are hurting and alone. At other times we can act as prophets, speaking the word of the Lord to those who have lost hope or don’t know if they can trust in God. And we can exercise kingly gifts: providing food, shelter, and justice for the marginalized, the, poor, and the neglected.

Yes, our eyes should “stream with tears.” But at the same time our hands and feet should be just as busy, bringing hope and healing to all God’s people.

“Lord, give me compassion for the wounded people you have placed in my path. Give me the courage to reach out to them and the wisdom to help them as best I can.”

Psalm 79:8-9,11,13; Matthew 13:36-43

27 July 2010

Be Simple as Doves

God would not be infinite Goodness and Wisdom if, seeking and even demanding our love, He had not at the same time made it possible for us to enter into this intimacy with Himself. The means He has provided, and of which we can be absolutely certain, to enter into immediate contact with Him, are the theological virtues and the gifts which accompany them.

By faith we adhere to the truth of the divine life offered to us. By charity this life becomes ours. By hope we are certain, with the help of grace, to live this life more and more, and finally to possess it forever in eternity.

This is the essence of all true and real prayer. Instead of frittering away our time of prayer on various points; instead of philosophizing about God, multiplying acts of the intellect, of the will and the imagination, in order to conjure up ‘pictures’ of what we are thinking about, how simpler it is to go to God directly in our hearts. Seek Him in simplicity of heart ~ Wisdom 1:1. It is Our Lord Himself Who gives us the invitation. Be simple as doves ~ Saint Matthew 10:16. Man is a complex being, but it would be a pity if he introduced his complications into his relations with God. God, on the contrary, is simplicity itself. The more complicated we are, therefore, the farther we stray from Him; the simpler we are, on the other hand, the closer we come to Him.

We have seen that God, our Father, is present in us. When a child wants to talk to his father he does not make use of a manual of etiquette or a code of manners: he speaks in a simple and unaffected way, without formality; and we must do the same with our heavenly Father. He Himself said: Unless you become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven ~ Saint Matthew 18:3. A mother never grows tired of hearing her little one say: ‘Mother, I love you’. It is the same with God. The more childlike our prayer, the more it is pleasing to Him. After all it was He Who chose for Himself the name of Father. It is the Holy Spirit Who cries in us: Abba, Pater ~ Galatians 4:6. It is the Holy Spirit also Who places on our lips the inspired words of Scripture and of other liturgical texts.

Our prayer, then, must be quite simple – as simple as possible. All we have to do is to place ourselves on our knees, and with complete sincerity make our acts of faith, hope and love. There is no method of prayer more certain, more elevated, and more salutary than this.

~ Dom Jean-Baptiste Porion ~