THOUGHTS OF A MONK

Prodigal Son  & Encounter

February 4, 2007

This morning I’d like to consider three different encounters: the meeting of Simeon and Anna with Jesus and his parents in the temple in last night’s gospel, the meeting of the errant lost son with his father in this morning’s gospel, and Moses “seeing” God on the Mt. when he received the “tablets of stone.” 

In our own lives can we see similar encounters?

I remember the annual fall retreat held in my Junior year in high school. I read a book entitled “Three religious rebels”. It was the rebel part that intrigued me, as I was not in my “O God, let me know what I should do with my life” mode at the time. At bedtime during my prayers a LIGHT encountered my attention. Afterwards, it was with great certainty I knew God wanted me to be a monastic contemplative. Simeon and Anna received the Light to recognize the Christ. I recognized my direction in life in the light.

Numerous decades later my father described the morning after that life-changing night and said he knew something tremendous had happened to me during the night. Though nothing was said at the time by either of us, my father read the change in me with his heart. A father has an uncanny ability to “read” his child. It is just as the father could read his prodigal son’s change of heart from a great distance.

I suspect that the Messiah was not seen with Simeon and Anna’s physical eyes but with the eyes of their hearts.

What enables a person to respond in these encounters? We often wait for God’s revelation to come in a spectacular way. Yet divine glory often invades our space through the still quiet voice given long ago. A voice does not have to boom from a cloud when we hear God whisper, through scripture perhaps, or in another way. God’s voice can turn a night of despair into an unforgettable moment of hope.

The situation may not change immediately. Our suffering, in whatever form it takes, may drag on for what seems like an eternity; yet, everything changes. We can be confident in God’s faithfulness.

Think of the heroic amount of courage it took for Moses to ascend the mountain to enter God’s presence! It was believed that anyone who saw God face to face would die! After Moses encountered God his own face became illuminated. When he came down from the mountain he had instructions on how the people could also enter into God’s presence. Hearing from the Lord brings responsibility. After we experience God, our faces might not become illuminated but there is a change in us. There are times when we can be like the father who not only accepts another’s plea for forgiveness but even lets the other know how happy he is to be in their presence and to be able to love them in some way.

It takes courage to be able to embrace our own encounters with the divine. The mystery is that we can encounter the light and become God’s hands, feet and mouth to reflect God’s love and mercy as the father did to both his  sons.

There are times when I meet another who reflects the presence of Jesus.