Morning Followed -- The Fourth Day
Evening came, and morning followed–the fourth day. Genesis 1:19
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed. Mark 6:54-56
Piety
Circle by Harry Chapin
All my life's a circle;
Sunrise and sundown;
Moon rolls through the nighttime;
'Til the daybreak comes around.
All my life's a circle;
But I can't tell you why;
Season's spinning round again;
The years keep rollin' by.
It seems like I've been here before;
I can't remember when;
But I have this funny feeling;
That we'll all be together again.
No straight lines make up my life;
And all my roads have bends;
There's no clear-cut beginnings;
And so far no dead-ends.
Study
Let’s start at the very beginning…a very good place.
Five weeks into Ordinary Time, more than a month before Lent and we return to begin again (always?!) like Harry Chapin’s Circle.
Usually, Genesis 1:1 is the first reading at the Vigil Mass. Yet, for the next week and a half, our first reading on the weekday cycle will be from the Book of Genesis. In the middle of winter when our friends in Portland, OR, and Seattle, WA, are getting a season worth of snow and we brace for ice on the right coast, Monday’s reading from Hebrew Scriptures begins with the story of creation out of the primordial ooze, the story that will be repeated at the Easter Vigil.
The Earth was a formless wasteland. Darkness covered the abyss. A mighty wind swept over the waters. And what does God do? He makes light. Then he makes the atmosphere so that we can get the breath of life. Then he separates the land and sea so we have someplace to build our Starbucks and football stadium and Walmart Super Stores. We have someplace to drive our cars and land our planes and tie up our boats. God’s light starts to bring order out of the chaos of creation. Until God makes the first Cursillo end with…the…Fourth…Day.
Skipping over to the Gospel, Jesus brings order back into the lives of people who are sick and rush out to touch him and be cured.
Despite this parallel, there are some who say that the First Reading during the weeks of Ordinary Time is not related to the Gospel. “They are arranged so that we can experience a great amount of scripture, over a two-year period. For example, we might have several weeks from one of the apostolic letters and then several weeks from one of the Hebrew scriptures, before returning to another letter - throughout the season, according to a two-year cycle. This is a great opportunity to let our familiarity with these readings grow with our exposure to them each year.”[i]
Maybe not always. But certainly today. That is the whole purpose of a circle. The beginning point can be at any place in the arc at any time. We can read Genesis 1:1 on February 11 and April 20 or until the 12th of Never. If we just listen with the ear of our hearts.
Action
Where is the arc of your story?
We would be remiss if we did not remind ourselves that in all the political, religious, cultural and personal chaos surrounding us, how does the creation allegory end?
God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.
Good?
Good.
Good!
How sweet it is!
Not easy. Not un-chaotic. Painful sometimes. Uncertain at all times. As Joan Chittister, OSB, in The Rule of Benedict, Insight for the Ages writes: “It is outrageous to say, even under the best of conditions, that [doing God’s will in our life] will be easy. We cling to our own ways like snails to sea walls, inching along through life, hiding within ourselves, unconscious even of the nourishing power of the sea that is seeking to sweep us into wider worlds.” [ii]
Despite the hardships and the cross we carry, we press onward. Ultreya. Always. Beginning again and listening with the “ear of our heart” to what God wants of us. Where do we go next?
[ii] Chittister, Joan, OSB. The Rule of St. Benedict: Insight for the Ages. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company (December 1, 1992). Page 67.
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