Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
As I pray with today’s readings, one of my mom’s favorite photos comes to mind. It is a photo of her standing by the sink with three of her young grandchildren standing on chairs, helping her do the dishes. Mom did most of the work, for sure. But they gladly stood beside her, doing what they could. They were “big stuff” on their chairs, working with mom and helping in this important task. Mom invited them to the work, because she loved and trusted them. They loved doing it because they loved her.
Mothers and fathers and grandparents care for their children and invite them into the work of adulthood as they grow. They continue to play together, though the play looks different as time goes on. They enjoy just being together. They comfort them in times of distress.
We are daughters and sons of God, loved and called to love. Like a mother, God’s love is tender. It is even stronger than our earthly mother’s love, “even if a mother forgets the child in her womb,” God will not forget us. God seeks us out. Isaiah reminds us that God goes to the margins, to those most in need, and welcomes them, meets their every need, just as a mother goes to her child who is most in need and tenderly cares for them.
Christ says that because his Father is at work, Christ is also at work. As daughters and sons of God, baptized in Christ, God is at work in us. We are called to cooperate with God’s work in us, to work with God. We can turn to the Gospel and to Isaiah today to see what it looks like when we are cooperating with God’s grace at work in us and in the world. When we accept God’s gracious gift of Love, we let Love live in us. When Love lives in us and is at work in us, we feed the hungry and offer drink to those who are thirsty. We make a way when it seems impossible. We welcome the immigrant. We seek peace in our relationships. We call to those intombed in rubble to come out, and we seek peace.
We are daughters and sons of God. Today, may we know trust God’s tender love for each of us. And may we step up to the sink with God who trusts us to cooperate with God’s work in us and in the world.
—Kelly Adamson