Too Young?
~ Recently, my high school son went on a high school retreat. As parents, we were asked to write a love letter to him. As I was discerning about how to write this bulletin article, something became very clear to me… It’s this.
The scripture ‘stories’ we hear each weekend aren’t just stories about how God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit moved people like John the Baptist to live his life the way he did, or the apostles to drop their nets and follow Jesus. Rather, the words we hear at Mass and in scripture are the very living, breathing Word of God, meant this day in this precise ‘now,’ to travel directly into our own beating hearts and minds as we breathe this moment. If THAT’s the case, then doesn’t that change everything?!
I began my letter to my son with these words:
“I hope you never tire of letters like these. They speak truth. Truth of who you are. Truth of who God is.”
And then it occurred to me … isn’t this what God is saying to us each time we open scripture or listen during the Liturgy of the Word? “I hope you never tire of letters like these…they speak truth. Truth of who you are. Truth of who I am.”
I continued in my letter to my son … “It’s as simple and profound as this … YOU ARE BELOVED! From the hair on your head to the depths of your soul. YOU ARE BELOVED. I will always marvel at the way your existence became real … a moment of complete trust and surrender resulting in the most unimaginable and abundant gift … I am still in awe and wonder and always will be.”
And then it occurred to me. God is saying this to ALL of us … ALL the time… in big and small ways. He marvels at us. His creation of Love. It may not look like a dove resting upon our heads and a loud booming voice, like Jesus’ baptism, but a whisper in our hearts that we are His and He delights in us.
Today in Matthew’s gospel on the occasion of John’s arrest, we hear Jesus reminding us of Isaiah’s words: The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Are you the people sitting in darkness? I know it’s me sometimes. If we take a look, we can see it all around us – in individuals, in communities. In knowing our delight in who God is and His delight in us – How can we bring the light to help build the Kingdom of God that is right here within us and between us? What words or actions or prayers might you have to speak truth into someone? The truth of who they are and the truth of who God is?
Throughout the year, we present an article in the bulletin each week on a variety of topics, written by a member of our Parish staff or ministries on a rotating basis.
