July 19, 2010
Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow before God most high? Shall I come before him with holocausts, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with myriad streams of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my crime, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:6-8
“There is something greater.” Matthew 12:41c
Piety
Dear Lord, do I want to see a sign from you as the Pharisees did? I certainly do not desire miraculous cures or great solar phenomena, but I often find myself hoping that you will touch my own and my friends’ hearts in a very distinct way. I often desire an inner feeling of peace, tranquility, and sweetness in which your love and goodness can be tasted.
But you, O Lord, ask me to accept the sign of Jonas, the sign of your death and resurrection. You want me to recognize your presence not so much in unusual outer or inner events, but in the painful experience of living in the belly of the sea monster. You do not take your friends out of this world but want them to taste its bitterness with you so that by sharing in your death they can share also in your resurrection.
I pray that I can be faithful to you with no other sign to rely upon than the sign of Jonah. You yourself gave me that sign, and that should be enough.
In you, O Lord, I put my hope. Amen.
(“Monday, July 23,” from A Cry for Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee by Henri J. M. Nouwen. New York: Doubleday, Image. 2002. Page 130.)
Study
We have been told over and over and over again what the Lord requires of us. If this were just a phrase buried in a relatively small, obscure book of the Hebrew Bible, then we might be able to plead ignorance. But Micah is echoing the theme that is expressed throughout the Old Testament and the invitation that Jesus continues to issue to his followers. Psalm 50 reminds us that to the one who “goes the right way the Lord will show the salvation of God.”
There is something greater to do than offer sacrifices. God made all things. He does not need nor require us to give those back to him. He only wants our friendship.
How do you behave with your friends? You spend time with them. You call them on the phone. You send them text messages (well, we can skip that with God.) You share you life with your friends. You might even go for a walk with your friends. With whom have you taken a walk recently?
When we take a walk with someone, we share some special moments. Perhaps you watched the sun rise on the beach with your spouse. Perhaps you walked the dog with your grandchild. Perhaps you hiked a trail with your son’s Scout troop.
When we walk with someone, we say that nothing else in the world matters more than spending this time, these minutes, with you. It is a very intimate relationship. No words need pass between you and your companion like the stories share on the road to Emmaus. All that is required is spending time with them in the sample place doing the same thing. Together.
Jesus taught his lessons while walking about Galilee and Jerusalem. When Jesus invited the disciples to follow him, they accepted it as an invitation to walk with him. God is looking for people like you and I who will walk with Him. God wants us to spend some quality time with Him. God wants us to walk in the same direction that He walks. God wants us to care for the protection of all that he has made. God asks very little else of us.
“Walk with me.” Think back to Noah and Abraham and Micah. The price of the covenant was simple…to walk humbly with God. When Jesus cured the paralytic man, he commanded him to “Rise, pick up your mat, and walk.” When Jesus raised the twelve-year-old girl from the dead, his command was “Arise” and the Gospel commented that she walked around.
When Jesus sent the disciples out on their mission, he told them only to take a walking stick and sandals, the essential tools for someone commanded to walk humbly with God. When Jesus appeared after the resurrection, one of those first appearances was when he was teaching a pair on the walk to Emmaus.
Action
Whether you are headed to Emmaus or Centerville, take a step in the right direction. We all turn to God in times of crisis. When we face illness. When we mourn the death of a friend. When a brother, sister, mother or father deploys to a war zone. God can count on the pews filling up when something bad happens. But God wants our presence during regular ordinary days. God’s presence in our life emerges from a daily walk. That may not sound too miraculous. In fact it is pretty mundane.
How do you approach your walk. Are you asking God to walk with you? Or are you realizing that God is asking YOU to walk with HIM? You have been told, my friends, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.
You have taken on the role of helper, volunteer, advocate. We don’t need daily reminders that many people in this life can perform good without faith. In fact last week, in an exchange on Facebook, I exchanged messages with someone who claims that faith is not needed in order to good for each other.
He may be right. But I am glad that I live in a country in which he is free to believe that and I am free to believe that my faith and action go hand in hand. Our job is to work for more than just putting band-aids on problems.
Just as Micah and Isaiah called for structural change in the distribution of wealth and property, we are also called to work for such structural change in our world. There is something greater here to do. We can’t stop feeding the poor. We can’t stop clothing the naked. We can’t stop visiting the sick. We can’t stop teaching the young. But we also must get on with the work that Dorothy Day characterized in her famous quote: “Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.”
Isaiah was not content with acceptance. Micah was not content with acceptance. Jesus certainly was not content with acceptance. Let us all join them in changing the direction in which we as individuals and society are looking for happiness.
