First Impressions Volume II

The circumstances of my life now have me and my family going to evening Mass and hearing the readings from Cycle C for this Sunday after many years of participating in the RCIA rituals of morning Masses. These readings tell of a very caring and loving God, a much needed message for many people during this Lent. The first reading is from the Book of Exodus and contains the familiar story of Moses, the burning bush, and the promise of a land of milk and honey. The Gospel account from Luke is less familiar and contains the parable of the fig tree not yet to be cut down. To me, both tell of a God who is intimately connected with us and cares for us oh, so very much.

In the account of the burning bush, the Lord reveals to Moses that He is I AM who am. The Lord also reveals that He has heard the cries of the people in Egypt and has come to rescue them from their afflictions, promising to lead them to a land of milk and honey. This is good news, but we know that it was not immediate good news. There were difficulties that followed because the people simply did not cooperate with God. The faithfulness of God, however, remained.

In the Gospel, Jesus uses the parable of the fig tree to try to help the people of His time understand God's magnanimous ways of forgiveness. The parable is in response to their questions about the deaths of those Galileans and those at Siloam who were killed. Were their deaths punishment for sins? Jesus in pretty emphatic in His response: "By no means !! " Even the fig tree which has produced no fruit in the last three years will still get another chance.

Ah, chances ! Our God is a God of second chances ... and many, many more ! The breadth and depth of how God forgives us, even when we are not yet sorry for misdeeds or horrible sins, I think, is a bit beyond human comprehension. As a mom and now grandmother, I do have an inkling of how that works. In my own personal faith journey, I just know it does !

Sometimes sorry gets pushed to the back burner as we try to live day by day and then, as if it were all of a sudden, we realize the wrong that has been going on. I am ever so grateful for the many chances God gives me and all of us through His graces. I don't think the realization of sin and the turning away from it is "all of a sudden" at all; no, I think it is God's continual love, those heartstrings that connect us to Him, the really strong ones that never let us go far enough away to drop out of God's loving embrace.

What about the bad things that do happen to people, are they a punishment? Should we live in fear of a God who is ready to zap us when He catches us doing wrong? Jesus already answered that one ...

Teaching children, grandchildren, and re-teaching myself to rest comfortably and trust in God's unfathomable love is the challenge of mature years, at least for me. It reminds me of Thomas Merton's prayer to God about not knowing if efforts are the right ones, but still trusting. It also comes to mind as I react with glee as my grandbaby learns to walk. Her "drunken swagger" stage reminds me of beginning efforts to live a life in tune with those promptings of the heart that we each have. The ease with which I smile at her when she falls and looks up at me, wondering if she should cry or get up, just must be another glimmer of God's grace in me. God's smile does wonders, doesn't it ! ? I pray this Lent that my awareness of God's love grows and grows. May we all find this awareness within ourselves and help those who question guilt, punishment, and second chances know I AM who am.

"Offer it up for the Holy Souls in Purgatory". Usually she said it to me when I was filled with righteous indignation at some major injustice that had been perpetrated against me -- such as an unequal division of the ice cream. It is not, you understand, that I could ever be so petty as to argue over a small amount of ice cream. No, it's the principle of the thing. As any child knows, if the dangerous precedent is established that another child gets more ice cream than he does, then who knows to what even greater injustices this might lead? A firm stand has to be taken straight away. And at the time I took very seriously my responsibilities to take just such firm stands.

It was at just such times that my mother would invite me to "offer it up for the Holy Souls". And by golly it used to infuriate me! It seemed to imply that the issues of high principle in which I was engaged actually mattered little compared with the importance of maintaining peace and harmony in the family home. Worse, it implied that by standing up for my rights I was somehow at fault and failing in generosity -- failing to serve God, when surely it was God's business to be on my side in righting a grave wrong.

Well, with 30 years of hindsight, I think I am just beginning to realize that my mother may -- just may - have had a point. In my homeland of Northern Ireland a peace has been made which has involved sacrifices of principles previously sacred to both sides. My letters and telephone calls from home tell of greater joy than I have ever heard my friends and family utter before. It may not be entirely peace with justice, but it's better than it was - nobody is dying and everyone is happier than they were. Slowly, my home country has learned that "an eye for an eye and the whole world soon goes blind".

Not every principle has to be stood upon. Not every right has to be asserted every time. Sometimes it really is better to bite one's lip, take the hit and "offer it up for the Holy Souls".

Just about this time last year, something previously unthinkable happened -- at the home of the Gaelic Athletic Association in Croke Park, in Dublin -- the highest citadel of Irish political republicanism -- and the scene 80 years ago of one of the most appalling atrocities in the Black and Tan war -- the English rugby team stood to salute the British national anthem, 'God save the Queen'. And eighty-two thousand Irish people -- thee largest crowd ever assembled at a rugby match in Ireland ; stood in respectful silence and offered it up for the Holy Souls. It was a beautiful moment of true Christian forbearance.

I have to admit that, even in advancing middle age, I still notice when I get less ice-cream than the person next to me. And when I do, I hear my mother's voice in my head saying, "Offer it up for the Holy Souls", because that is a small part -- a tiny part - of the Christian forbearance that is the foundation in the world of Peace.

Let us pray that peace may be in our hearts, and in our lives, in our families and in our entire community. And let us pray that it may begin with me.

Let us stand and profess our Faith in God who places His Peace in all of our Holy Souls.

Volume 2 is for you. Your thoughts, reflections, and insights on the next Sundays readings can influence the preaching you hear. Send them to jboll@preacherexchange.org. Deadline is Wednesday Noon. Include your Name, and Email Address.

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