Listen to Me

Listen to Me

Friday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place for taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface? The earth is changed as is clay by the seal, and dyed as though it were a garment; But from the wicked, the light is withheld, and the arm of pride is shattered.  Job 38:12-15

“Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”  Luke 10:16

Piety

(Yes…the Feast of St. Francis was yesterday.  The Lighthouse Keeper is not unaware of the calendar.  Francis set out to rebuild and reform the church.  It can not hurt to remind ourselves of his importance throughout the year.  This epistolary prayer by Art Laffin is one way to do that.)

Dear St. Francis,

A man walks past a mural of St. Francis of Assisi at the
Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, Ariz. (CNS file photo)

As I pray in this small church you and your friends built by hand, stone by stone, help me and all followers of Jesus to build a church today that has as its foundation the Gospel mandate of unconditional love, mercy, compassion, justice, peace, and reconciliation.

Recognizing that the reign of God is at hand, help me and all followers of Jesus to build a church that seeks repentance and conversion and is committed to living and proclaiming the reign of God. Through your intercession, help the church to be a true sign of fidelity to the Gospel, renouncing wealth and power, and embracing voluntary poverty and simplicity. Help all followers of Jesus to create a church of true communion, recognizing that each person is a special member of the body of Christ. A church that embraces each person as equal in God's eyes; a church that acknowledges its sin's and seeks forgiveness for any harm done to others; a church that denounces racism, sexism and all forms of discrimination; a church where the dignity of each person is revered and all are welcomed and cherished; a church of servant leaders.

Empower all followers of Jesus to embrace Gospel nonviolence and be a prophetic witness for peace and social justice, without counting the cost. Help us to make the church truly be a peace church, a church that renounces all injustice, violence, killing, weapons, and war, and always advocates for the poor and the victims. As you loved peace and creation, help all people to protect and safeguard all life and our sacred earth and environment. Help all people who comprise the church to always stand for love, life, and creation. Amen.

(Written by Art Laffin on December 4, 2012, at Santa Maria degli Angeli, Assisi Italy, where the church St. Francis built is located. Source URL: https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/prayer-feast-st-francis-assisi)

Study

Once, and only once, I got into a debate with an umpire…well, he was a retired umpire.  Steve Palermo was an umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1977 to 1991. His field career ended when he was shot in the back following his intervention in an altercation outside an Italian restaurant.

Steve was shot after work…while it was nearly midnight, his workday had just ended.  On July 7, 1991, he and several friends ate dinner after a Texas Rangers game.  Two waitresses were being mugged in the parking lot. In an attempt to apprehend the assailants, he suffered a bullet wound to his spinal cord, resulting in instant paralysis from the waist down. Palermo's umpiring career ended, and doctors told Steve and his wife, Debbie, that he would probably never walk again. Through rehabilitation and determination, Palermo managed to recover, walking with the use of one small leg brace and a cane. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch in Game 1 of the 1991 World Series, only three months after suffering his injury.

While both of us were doing projects for a rehabilitation group, Steve and I were discussing his injury.  No matter what the doctors, nurses, and therapists told him, Steve determined that he would walk again.  I asked him what he would do if that didn’t happen.  You would have thought I insulted his wife.  He proceeded to reproach me in forceful and explicit language how his recovery was as much mental and it was medical. Never again did I bring up a subject to debate the “ump.” 

Thinking about losing that debate with Steve must have been a little how Job felt as the Lord berated him. The Lord enters the debate and addresses two discourses to Job, speaking of divine wisdom and power. Such things are altogether beyond the capacity of Job.  I had not been paralyzed.  I had not undergone rehabilitation.  Such experiences were beyond my capacity to understand. 

Job was reduced to virtual silence.  “Look, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. I have spoken once, I will not reply; twice, but I will do so no more.” (40:4-5)

Overcoming the silence, however, Job embraced repentance for his behavior.  Turning to the Good News, Luke addresses the judgment on unrepentant towns. The call to repentance that is a part of the proclamation of the kingdom brings with it a severe judgment for those who hear it and reject it. 

Action

May we accept the call to repentance as willingly as Job and the cities described by Luke.