October 25 2011
Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
By Beth DeCristofaro
For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; … We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:19, 22-23)
Jesus said, "What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches." (Luke 13:18-19)
Piety
I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for
may for once spring clear
without my contriving.
If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.
Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing to you as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~ (Rilke’s Book of Hours:Love Poems to God, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)
Study
These readings just fill me with awe as I read them. The saying goes “sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees.” Well, in these days sometimes it’s almost impossible to hope for -- much less see -- a heavenly bush at all or hear the birds living in it. But it is God’s promise as Creator, God’s dying and rising as Redeemer and God’s presence as Spirit which is more real and everlasting than earthquakes, political venom, murders and armed conflicts, dementia, addiction, hurricanes, cancer, or any horror or tragedy we can face. In the face of no hope, God’s love is there for us in the branches to hold on to and be sheltered within.
Action
In this beautiful season of Autumn, let the colors, the amber light of the sun, the chill in the morning air, or any other favorite image of the season bring you to thanksgiving for God’s movement in your life and the hope of the Kingdom springing into being around us. In your prayer, ask God to breathe life into the sadness, hurts, hates, stumbling sins that are keeping you from sitting in the branches of the Kingdom singing as Rilke longs to do.
