Reflections of a Nun
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Dormition of Mary August 15, 2010 Gn 28:10-17, Ga 3:28-4:5, Lk 1:39-55
How
awesome is this place! It is the house of God, the gate of heaven. How many
of you see this quote on the high wall above the Holy Wisdom kissing icon
whenever you come through the doorway? I imagine there are few of us who
could quote exactly where it came from though we could guess it came from the
Old Testament. In this morning’s reading we heard what prompted Jacob to
utter the words. It was connected with Jacob’s assurance from God that God
was with him and would not leave him.
According to St. Paul in the Galatians’ reading, all of us are one in
Christ-belong to Christ and therefore are children of Abraham and have the
same assurance from God as was given to Jacob. Jesus promised that he would
always be with us and would send his Spirit to enlighten us.
It is
the same Spirit that enlightened Mary to say yes to the angel Gabriel and for
Elizabeth to realize why John leaped in her womb. What might these (thoughts)
reflections mean to us now? The theme of the Pilgrimage talks was about
hidden holiness. While both Mary and Elizabeth might have been known for
their goodness among their immediate families, it is doubtful that many
others saw their greatness initially.
The
knowledge or belief that God is with us and acts through us if we but let
God, helps to understand how to be like God while being ourselves. Among the
many approaches to our lives we can take, two stand out for me. The attitude
we develop to the pain and suffering connected with our health, our wealth,
our station in life. Do we have a realistic appraisal of what we can do to
alleviate the pain and/or illness as well as the wisdom to accept the
afflictions gracefully? To let God act through us we must have some quiet
time to gain the wisdom to see realistically what our own actions and
reactions can be. Not all suffering is simply to be endured. How many people
there were that Christ healed? To feel the pain, the frustrations and sadness
is natural. The question is - how we express it, even interiorly.
The
second approach is our attitude toward others. Our God is a God of love, a
God of compassion and our goal is to let God be compassionate through us.
Stop and think about when you have been or felt compassion for another. Is it
simply who we are or is it that we are letting God act through us? Being
compassionate does not mean we do not have to make some hard decisions that
are painful both to oneself as well as to others directly involved, like
placing our sister in a nursing home. Dealing with a person suffering from
Alzheimer’s disease or any other malady is helped by remembering our own
weaknesses enough to be kind to those who are struggling with theirs. It is
our own weaknesses that help us understand the necessity of compassion, of
mercy and forgiveness.
As was
pointed out during the Pilgrimage conference, we cannot have a rigid
definition of what constitutes holiness. We need to make the effort to be
the best we can be, knowing we will sometimes fail or make unwise choices.
We do not need to worry about being “perfect”. A valuable gift we can offer
to God is to be compassionate with others who may be as unworthy of our
compassion as we are of God’s. The mercy of God is certain. May we all, as
well, let God be compassionate to each of us through one another. Then when 2
or 3 are gathered anywhere in Jesus’ name we will truly experience: How
awesome is this place! It is the house of God, the gate of heaven.
Christ is in our midst!
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