Marilyn,
Alicia and Lily went to Legoland today, leaving me (at my request)
alone at the hotel on the beach in Carlsbad. I brought along the
book “Jesus, A Pilgrimage” written by Father James Martin, SJ to
read while sitting on the patio waiting for their return. But I
haven't picked it up yet. I decided to read the Scripture for mass
this morning and write a reflection instead. I'm glad I did. The
Holy Spirit has a way of speaking to me that continually surprises me
while at the same time freaks me out in a pleasant sort of way.
As
I sit here gazing out to the ocean and listening to the waves crash
onshore no more than 100 feet away from me, I realize all of creation
is a reflection of God and an opportunity to worship him.
The
first verses of Genesis (Genesis 1: 1-19) speak of the earth as a
formless wasteland where darkness covered the abyss. God decides to
create. He orders, organizes, gathers, and shapes the formless stuff
into something nothing short of magnificent. To do this, He only
needs to speak the word. Then, after the creation occurs, He stands
back, looks at His creation and says, "Man, that is good!"
I thought about the use of the exact words in the book. It's not
simply that he thinks his creation is good. He sees just "how
good it was." It reminds me of those times when I help Lily with
her Legos. We build different things with them, we say “Wow! Look
what we did!”, then we can play make believe with the results.
There is joy that comes from taking a bunch of scraps and seeing what
can be done with them.
The
psalm for today includes parts of Psalm 104. The psalmist calls upon
his inner being to bless the Lord. God is so great; His robe is
majesty, glory, and light. God organized everything so that it works
together beautifully. The earth and the ocean each have their place.
The fuller reading of the psalm really emphasizes how everything has
its own role but complements the rest of creation. For example, God
places birds in the sky but then also gives them branches from which
they can send forth their song. What would the birds do without
branches? God takes care of the seemingly insignificant parts of His
world. He sees it all and says, "Man, that's good." How
much more does He take care of us, who He made in His own image and
likeness?
In
the Gospel reading we continue to see the creative power of God at
work in Jesus. Jesus is both fully human AND fully divine. So being
human, like His disciples, He gets tired and has times when He tries
to get away from the crush of people who want His attention. However,
they always seem to find Him. They want to hear from Him and they
want to be cured of their illnesses or bring their relatives and
friends to be healed. Jesus cannot speak to everyone or lay hands on
everyone. The people discover, though, that this is not necessary.
"If only we can touch the tassel on his cloak...." And all
who touch it are healed. Jesus frequently got angry when He saw how
illness or demonic possession could twist a human being into knots
and make their lives miserable. When the people are healed, I see
Jesus, just like in creation, standing back and saying, "Man,
that is good."
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