Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
My first car was a ‘95 Ford Escort station wagon that I bought with 139,000 miles on the odometer. It was only 4 years, old, and I really liked that car. It seemed to drive forever without breaking down. But ten years later, with rusted out strut towers, big dents from two wrecks, a list of nagging mechanical problems, and 296,000 miles, it was time to admit there was nothing else I could do to keep this vehicle drivable. God seems to feel the same way in today’s reading about humanity’s state just before the flood. But we all didn’t just get junked and crushed like my old car. God had a different plan. This story contains the truth about how God responds to our sinfulness. It’s less about a big floating boat full of animals, and more about how God refuses to give up on our good side (even when it’s really small).
Tomorrow Lent begins, and each of us will have 40 days to think about what went wrong with us and with the world, and how we can work together with God to make it right again. Just as God could have lifted Noah and his family up in a cloud for forty days, God could do that with us. But instead, God wants us to have a tiny part in our salvation. Just as God gave Noah dimensions, and time to build the Ark (while God took care of the massive flood), we have this time to listen to God’s plan and fulfill our part of it, while the spirit strengthens our hearts and changes the world. God will accomplish what no human can, but we have to open ourselves to our work this Lent.
As you are picking your Lenten discipline this year, consider searching for the holy that exists in you right now. God found righteous Noah amidst a wicked generation. We too often consider only our sinfulness, but hesitate to name our goodness, for fear of being prideful. God sees your goodness, loves you, and wants to build it up! In what ways are you holy and righteous right now? Perhaps you could start there, and pick a discipline that will encourage and build up your holy side. Meanwhile, let’s ask God to send a flood against the darkness that continues to haunt our thoughts and actions.
-Chris Nieport
(IME would like to welcome Chris Nierport as a regular contributor to Daily Reflections. Chris is a parishioner at Immaculate Conception Parish. He is an engineer and is married to his lovely wife Tina. Chris will be contributing every other Tuesday).