Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
I have been praying a lot this week for the victims of the Aurora, Colorado shooting. It is close to my heart because I am from Colorado, and my parents and many friends still live there. And I am, of course, horrified by the ease with which someone is able to dream up and execute such devastation.
Today's Old Testament (Jeremiah 3:14-17) reading likewise describes peoples' devastation. The Israelites have been forcibly marched out of their homeland, into slavery in a strange land 500 miles away. Then, as now, in the face of such devastation, it is quite easy to long for God, wonder where God is in that tragedy, and wish that God had not allowed such a thing to happen.
But I am struck by the moment of hope in this passage. Jeremiah proclaims:
"They will in those days no longer say, "The ark of the covenant of the LORD!"
They will no longer think of it, or remember it,
or miss it, or make another."
In other words, they will no longer wonder where God is, or long for God or ask all the unanswerable questions about why evil happens. Why? Because they will be so close to God that they will constantly know God's presence. There will be nothing but God's light in that moment.
Of course, it is easy to see this not as hope but just as wishful thinking, for Jeremiah is proclaiming something that God promises will happen in the future. But why should we believe in some future promise when the present looks pretty bleak?
Today's gospel (Matthew 13:18-23) offers some thoughts about this. In this parable, Jesus equates his followers with seeds... the ones who bear fruit are the ones who are sown in rich soil, who are able to sink deep roots into the ground, so that when drought and danger come, the root (and therefore the plant) remains.
Jesus asks us to be strong roots, even in times of persecution and trouble and devastation. How do we do this? We do not do this alone; if we are looking, we will often see that God is there right beside us, speaking a word of hope to us. In the case of the Aurora shootings, I was struck (as were many) by the story of a young girl who was shot in the head and rushed to the hospital. The doctors and nurses feared for her life - and worried that even if her life was spared, she might never be able to walk again, talk again, or do any other number of things.
What the doctors were amazed to discover, though, was that in this girl's case, the bullet landed exactly in a spot that (due to a birth defect) bypassed her brain and protected her from injury. Soon after her surgery, she was talking, and she is expected to make a full recovery.
We could ask the unanswerable question: why weren't all people saved in this kind of way? But alongside that unanswerable question, we might also ponder, "Where are glimpses of God in this time and place?" Where is God trying to help me nurture my roots even in the midst of devastation?
Today, let us pray for the victims of the Aurora, Colorado shooting, and for all who suffer from such devastation. And let us also ask for the grace to see God's love, even in dark times.
- Jana M. Bennett