1st Impressions Vol 2

The readings this weekend tell us how God cares for us. The 3 parables from Matthew's Gospel selection about the good wheat growing among the weeds, the faith the size of a mustard seed, and how yeast leavens a whole batch of flour suggest to me that a lot of the time, God's care is in invisible ways. It happens. Grace happens. I'm glad.

I'm a bit of a worrier and those who know my family well often wonder how I keep my sanity with all the constant drama that we encounter. I think the answer is based in Romans: "The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness". I consider myself a prayerful woman, but often my prayer has no words (as the next part of Romans confirms.) Sometimes my heart feels broken into many pieces and only the Spirit can search and mend such a heart! Again, that is a good thing, a necessary thing, a thing I count on.

As I grow into the abundant grace that the Spirit provides, I realize how fortunate I am that God "gave (us) children good ground for hope." The selection from the book of Wisdom tells us of God's justice and leniency, but most of all , about kindness and mercy. The things I worry about I trust into the Lord's Hands with the "inexpressible groanings" of the Spirit and often my own tears. Sometimes the complexity of things go beyond worry, only complete trust makes any sense. The tears flow of their own accord, sometimes plentifully and sometimes invisibly. Through all of the journeying, however, I have this trust that I and those I love will be among those who will "shine like the sun", wounded perhaps, but joyful at last. How great is the God Who plants such hope within us all !

MUSINGS AND OTHER ARTICLES AVAILABLE ON WEB SITE LINK LISTED AT BOTTOM Musings from Michael©

Every time I read this Gospel, I think of a friend called Tom. I don't mind calling his name because you will never meet him. He spent five years in religious life. And at the end of that time he was asked to leave because he was an alcoholic he was seriously addicted to alcohol and there was no way that, with that problem, he could go on being a Jesuit and become a priest. He tried everything he could to stop drinking. He saw psychiatrists and psychotherapists; he was put on everything from anti-depressants to anti-psychotics to antabuse. Nothing worked for him. So he had to leave.

The only thing he had ever wanted in his life was to be a priest to work for God and the Church in the world. That he believed was what God had put him on this earth to do.

And, worse, the reason he couldn't do it was because he had a problem within himself that he couldn't control. After he left us, naturally enough, he went on the drink and spent some time being street homeless. He's now been clean and dry for about eight years and works as a librarian. But every time I call him, I find he asks some version of this question: "where does the darnel come from?" Why is it that the Lord would not take away that evil from within him. Why is it that the Lord did not remove the sinful tendency he has and make it possible for him to serve the Lord in the priesthood?

Many people ask the same sort of question: why is it that when I go to confession, I find myself saying the same things over and over again? Why does God not heal me of my sinful tendencies and make me the perfect good person that He created me to be?

This week, we remembered that three years ago, the people who were forced to ask this question with the greatest pain were the Muslim people. Evil came frighteningly close to us. It is now believed that the fourth bomb which actually exploded on the number 30 bus in Tavistock Square was originally intended to blow up the Northern line probably somewhere around Camden Town out town.

The Muslim people of Britain know now that four of their number committed one of the greatest acts of Evil done in this country in recent times, allegedly in the name of their religion. We do not know precisely what motivated these four men. But if it truly was done in the name of Islam, then surely the most painful irony in the whole thing has been that the first dead person to be buried was herself a Muslim, called Shahara Islam. Whatever these men hoped to achieve for Muslims is as nothing to the damage they did to actual Muslims. In truth, this Evil was not done in the name of Islam, but to the name of Islam.

British Muslims also know that their religion bases itself on Truth, Peace, Love and Respect for all including respect for those of other nations, other races and other Faiths. So, where does the darnel come from?

This gospel contains Jesus' answer to that question. So, how does Jesus say that a Christian should respond to the presence of Evil either in himself or in the world?

First, we call it by its proper name. "Some enemy has done this". Evil exists it is a reality in our world and in ourselves. When we meet the darnel in the world, we do not say, "Oh that's just the way the world is." Or "that's just the way I am." We call it 'evil' the work of the devil. And we acknowledge that just as God is alive and active in the world, so is the Evil One.

Because collective evil is not fully explained in any simple rational terms as a reasoned response to legitimate political grievances or social circumstances. Nor is individual evil simply the natural effect of bad things that have happened in our own individual pasts. It is the work of people whose lives have been damaged by the Evil One.

Second we refuse to be controlled by it. We refuse to be part of the Evil ourselves. We do not retaliate. We do not set fires in mosques or abuse innocent Muslims in the street. Our God is a gentle God. He does not tear up the good crop that we are growing for him in order to eliminate the evil.

Third, we bring out of it the good that we can. We take our responsibilities to be the Christians in the world:

We have the job of being the leaven. Jesus tells us: 'The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.' Mother Teresa says that the fundamental task of every Christian is to leave each and every person that you meet today a little happier than when you found them.

We have the job of being that mustard seed. Jesus says, "It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.'" The Kingdom of God does not grow out of hatred or violence, but out of every single small act of goodness and kindness that every person does in the world.

As Christians we look forward to the harvest of the Lord and certainly Tom looks forward to that day, when the Lord will take all the evil that is within us and gather it in bundles and destroy it. And then, the crop we have grown will be gathered into his barn. We do not fear we hope for the day when God Himself will heal all the sinful tendencies within us and make us good for Himself alone will make us the people He created us to be.

Let us stand and profess our Faith in God who frees us from all the darnel in our lives.

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.

-- ABOUT DONATIONS --
If you would like to support this ministry, please send tax deductible contributions to Jude Siciliano, O.P.

Make checks to "Dominican Friars of Raleigh." Mail contributions to: Jude Siciliano, O.P., Dominican Friars of Raleigh, P.O. Box 12927, Raleigh, N.C. 27605.

Or, go to our webpage to make a secure online donation: http://www.judeop.org/donations.htm

-- REGULAR INFORMATION ---
For information on how to Un-subscribe, Subscribe and full information on our services go to http://www.op.org/exchange/

-- WEB PAGE ACCESS --

Where you will find "Preachers' Exchange," which includes "First Impressions" and "Homilias Dominicales," as well as articles, book reviews and quotes pertinent to preaching.

http://www.opsouth.org Under "Preachers' Exchange" Here you will find the "Preachers' Exchange Newsletter," with articles, book reviews and quotes pertinent to preaching. As well as postings of "First Impressions," "Homilias Dominicales," and "Volume 2."

A service of The Order of Preachers, The Dominicans.
Southern Dominican Province, USA
1421 N. Causeway Blvd., Suite 200 Metairie, LA. 70001-4144
(504) 837-2129 ● Fax (504) 837-6604
http://www.opsouth.org
(revised 09-17-2006)