Monday, February 13, 2006
WISE WORDS: Second Sunday of ordinary time (last month)
Fr. Bouchard begins his homily with examples from movies and literature of stories the bring humor or crisis to situations of mistaken identity. This parallel to scripture has a practical application to life. He points out: "Mistaken identity is a spiritual problem, too. Scripture is filled with stories of people who failed to recognize God or God's messenger. Angels are confused with men, and men with angels; John the Baptist's followers mistake him for the Messiah; Mary Magdalen mistakes Jesus for the gardener; The Disciples think he is just a fellow traveler on the road to Emmaus."
Examples in our own lives are probably even more frequent than in the gospels. Bouchard is right when he tells us that: "God certainly could reveal himself to us all at once, in a flash, with no intermediary at all. But God ordinarily chooses not to do that. Instead, he sends people into our lives who help us discover him a little bit at a time. They help us see glimpses of truth, they set us straight, they deliver us from our delusions. This is the role of spiritual directors, of course, but it is also something that friends, or occasionally even strangers, can do for us."
The challenge is double sided. How do we listen with ears that really hear and find the Wisdom of the Spirit in the world with us? But at the same time, the messenger of Wisdom may be in us. What message do others receive because of my words and actions?
Fr. Bouchard begins his homily with examples from movies and literature of stories the bring humor or crisis to situations of mistaken identity. This parallel to scripture has a practical application to life. He points out: "Mistaken identity is a spiritual problem, too. Scripture is filled with stories of people who failed to recognize God or God's messenger. Angels are confused with men, and men with angels; John the Baptist's followers mistake him for the Messiah; Mary Magdalen mistakes Jesus for the gardener; The Disciples think he is just a fellow traveler on the road to Emmaus."
Examples in our own lives are probably even more frequent than in the gospels. Bouchard is right when he tells us that: "God certainly could reveal himself to us all at once, in a flash, with no intermediary at all. But God ordinarily chooses not to do that. Instead, he sends people into our lives who help us discover him a little bit at a time. They help us see glimpses of truth, they set us straight, they deliver us from our delusions. This is the role of spiritual directors, of course, but it is also something that friends, or occasionally even strangers, can do for us."
The challenge is double sided. How do we listen with ears that really hear and find the Wisdom of the Spirit in the world with us? But at the same time, the messenger of Wisdom may be in us. What message do others receive because of my words and actions?
