marsh flower photo taken last week

 

October 6 2006

Jb 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5 The LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said: Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place For taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface? The earth is changed as is clay by the seal, and dyed as though it were a garment; But from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm of pride is shattered. Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked about in the depths of the abyss? Have the gates of death been shown to you, or have you seen the gates of darkness? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all: Which is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness,That you may take them to their boundaries and set them on their homeward paths? You know, because you were born before them, and the number of your years is great! Then Job answered the LORD and said: Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will do so no more.

Ps 139:1-3, 7-8, 9-10, 13-14ab
R. (24b) Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
O LORD, you have probed me and you know me; you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Where can I go from your spirit? From your presence where can I flee?If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
If I take the wings of the dawn, if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea, Even there your hand shall guide me, and your right hand hold me fast.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works.
R. Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

Jas 5:1-6
Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.
Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,
your gold and silver have corroded,
and that corrosion will be a testimony against you;
it will devour your flesh like a fire.
You have stored up treasure for the last days.
Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers
who harvested your fields are crying aloud;
and the cries of the harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure;
you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.
You have condemned;
you have murdered the righteous one;
he offers you no resistance.

Lk 10:13-16 Jesus said to them,“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon,they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

The gospel message calls us to listen to Jesus and not reject Jesus or this would be also rejecting God the Father.

"If I take the wings of the dawn, if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea, Even there your hand shall guide me, and your right hand hold me fast." The words of the psalm today are beautiful and gently touching. The wings of the dawn I picture as being tremendous wings made of clouds tinted with dawn sunlit and able to travel with a flap to the farthest ends of the earth. The farthest limits of the sea I picture as being a remotest uninhabited island at the edge of the sea at the northernmost or southernmost tips of the continents, there isolated and without other supports. Yet God is there always with a right hand guiding and protecting and a heart that is all loving in all ways in all times. Being in the constant loving presence of God is a source of solace and comfort and strength in the midst of the changes of each day and all places. Everything in life is changing but God is everlasting the one constant in my life the one source of all that is good and lasting.

Job acknowledges the omnipotence of God and his smallness as a being on this earth. He says in the first reading that he will not speak in deferring to the wisdom of God over his limited view as a simple man. Job constantly shows a willingness to let God be God and accept his fate as a human being that is subject to the will of God. His friends had encouraged him to curse God but Job never does this in the depths of his despair he in his words and acts honors God and never turns from God even though in his suffering at times he even wishes he was never born.

This morning I am filled with an awe of the beauty and the length and breadth of creation. I am grateful for the many gifts that I continue to receive. I am filled with joy at the vision of God's creation daily. The days this week have been clear and sunny and filled with beauty. I am thankful that I have the time and health to enjoy the beauty of the day.

Yesterday after tutoring students all day, I went to an oncology nurses meeting. The stories that the nurses had about their lives as nurses that they were telling the students at the meeting were amazing. One young man who has been a nurse for a year and a half talked about acts of kindness to his fellow nurses in the midst of being overworked and understaffed. He said he always keeps in mind his motivation for being there and for him that is serving the Lord.

Another nurse talked about an African American woman patient she saw yesterday who had just lost all her hair that day from chemotherapy. She said the woman's eyes teared up then she said she was not going to have a pity party and had decided to not wear a wig for all of October because it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. She will dress up and wear her baldness proudly, then for fun she decided after that she will wear a blonde wig that the nurse who is a nurse practitioner telling the story spent 20 minutes helping her pick out even though she had a room of patients with appointments waiting to see her. Another nurse was a hospice nurse and spoke of doing everything she could to have things the way the dying person wanted them in their own homes. It was an inspirational night. I had not planned to go to the nursing meeting but it was a blessing and gift.

I pray that today when I go to a state nursing policy meeting that I may learn information and ways to help others. I pray to be Christ to all i meet in the monastery and wherever I go today.