March 3, 2008
Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
By Beth DeCristofaro
Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; … there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; For I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight; I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in my people. (Isaiah 65: 17-19)
You changed my mourning into dancing; O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks (Psalm 30: 12-13)
The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. (John 4: 49-50)
Piety
Dear God, come down, I am incomplete. Help me turn from worries, fears, habits and choices which lead away from you. Help me trust and walk away from those things which I hang onto. Help me walk toward you, 60 miles or 6,000 miles. Help me to believe, like Pamela, that you promise love and life and that you exult in me, your child. Amen.
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/030308.shtml
A parent with a child in an ICU finds it hard to go home at night when urged by the attentive and skilled nurses, “You need to rest yourself.” Yet the royal official turned and walked toward home upon the words of Jesus: “You may go; your son will live.”
God’s promise is life. God’s promise is love. A young girl named Pamela heard and believed that promise and walked 60 miles through war torn wilderness because she believed. She came to a refugee camp seeking an education despite having no money and despite the fact that she is a girl – not a priority for Sudanese education.[1]
I live in a place with medicine, heat, food, good books and excellent music for my mind and soul. Why do I have such a hard time rejoicing as the psalmist asks me to? I think it is because sometimes I confuse God’s promise of life and love with creature comforts and feeling good. Pamela and the Jesuit priests serving in the refugee camps do not confuse this. Pamela was happy that she was accepted into a school with no electricity or water, not enough books and shared space to sleep at night far from her family.
The Chosen People didn’t have it all that good but Isaiah tells them of God’s exuberant promise. there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; For I create
Action
As you brush your teeth tonight, say a prayer for those with no water, no toothbrush. As you put on your shoes, say a prayer for those with no shoes and those whose feet have been blown away by landmines. As you eat your meals, pray for those who have no food and no family left with whom to share it. As you finish reading this, pray for those who have no opportunity for education. Say a prayer for those who fear car bombs or missiles in their homes. Say a prayer for Pamela and say a prayer of thanks for the life and love God gives to her and to yourself.
[1] They Come Back Singing: Finding God with the Refugees, Gary Smith, SJ, Loyola Press. Read a sample at http://www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Lent-with-Refugees/
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