September Graces
September is a time of pervasive and profound passovers. Children pass over: from no school to preschool....preschool to all day kindergarten....to primary school....to middle school....to junior high school....to senior high school....to college, vocational school, military service, or the world of fulltime work....from living at home to living away from home. Further, each of these young-people- passovers is simultaneously a new passing over for their parents.
What are we to make of such experiences? Where is God in all this? The younger folks can frame their experience as a passing over into greater responsibility, and their parents can view their own experience as a passing over into greater trust both in God and in their sons and daughters.
Jesus invites us to understand all the passovers of our lives as part of his Passover. He invites us to incorporate each of our passovers into his Passover—that is, the continuing process of our passing over in him from sin to grace and from death to life. It is precisely when we feel that we are "in over our heads" that we need to be reminded that in the waters of baptism Christ has bound himself to us irrevocably and has promised to be with us always. It is especially when we feel lightheaded and weak that we need to be reminded that Jesus reveals himself in the Eucharist as food for the journey, sustenance in the transitions of life.
As Church we are called forth into full, conscious, and active living—both in the liturgy and in life. Full life is living in conscious union with and participation in Christ. As St. Irenaeus preached: "The glory of God is a human being who is fully alive; however, life that is fully human consists is
September is a time of pervasive and profound passovers. Children pass over: from no school to preschool....preschool to all day kindergarten....to primary school....to middle school....to junior high school....to senior high school....to college, vocational school, military service, or the world of fulltime work....from living at home to living away from home. Further, each of these young-people- passovers is simultaneously a new passing over for their parents.
What are we to make of such experiences? Where is God in all this? The younger folks can frame their experience as a passing over into greater responsibility, and their parents can view their own experience as a passing over into greater trust both in God and in their sons and daughters.
Jesus invites us to understand all the passovers of our lives as part of his Passover. He invites us to incorporate each of our passovers into his Passover—that is, the continuing process of our passing over in him from sin to grace and from death to life. It is precisely when we feel that we are "in over our heads" that we need to be reminded that in the waters of baptism Christ has bound himself to us irrevocably and has promised to be with us always. It is especially when we feel lightheaded and weak that we need to be reminded that Jesus reveals himself in the Eucharist as food for the journey, sustenance in the transitions of life.
As Church we are called forth into full, conscious, and active living—both in the liturgy and in life. Full life is living in conscious union with and participation in Christ. As St. Irenaeus preached: "The glory of God is a human being who is fully alive; however, life that is fully human consists is
seeing God." Literally, a mystery is something we see when
we close our eyes. When we close the eyes of our head and
open the eye of our heart we have a chance, through grace,
to glimpse and to enter into the heart of our faith: the
Paschal Mystery of Christ's continuing presence and action
in our world.
As God's Pilgrim People we have come to Mass to get in touch with our baptismal connection with Christ. As we enter Chapel we touch the skin of our minds with holy water to put us in mind of the Mystery into which we have been plunged (baptism = Greek for plunged). As God's tribe in transition we have come here today to be re-minded by the Word through which in all of our passing over’s find meaning and by the Story into which we incorporate our stories. As God's people in passage, we have gathered on Sunday to receive strength from the unleavened bread that doesn't have time to rise because we need to get going. May our Sunday celebrations of Jesus' Paschal Meal renew our conscious incorporation into Christ the Person and into Christ the Process---through, with, and in Whom all creation is passing over to its fulfillment.
As God's Pilgrim People we have come to Mass to get in touch with our baptismal connection with Christ. As we enter Chapel we touch the skin of our minds with holy water to put us in mind of the Mystery into which we have been plunged (baptism = Greek for plunged). As God's tribe in transition we have come here today to be re-minded by the Word through which in all of our passing over’s find meaning and by the Story into which we incorporate our stories. As God's people in passage, we have gathered on Sunday to receive strength from the unleavened bread that doesn't have time to rise because we need to get going. May our Sunday celebrations of Jesus' Paschal Meal renew our conscious incorporation into Christ the Person and into Christ the Process---through, with, and in Whom all creation is passing over to its fulfillment.
