eleven::five

This is my first post for the month of November. So far two wonderful Solemnities have been celebrated, All Saint and All Souls. I failed to write reflections on them, and still yet I will not. But I will note that we have a lot to learn from the saints of the past and we must seek to be saints in the present. Holy ones, set apart, not to be divisive but to be a source of unity and healing in a broken and sick world.

Throughout the ages the saints of God have served God and people in dire circumstances, often in times and settings that would have caused anyone to question the existence of God. They have had to face famine, drought, and war all along being called to remain faithful to the Good News and the hope that the world is being and is yet to be redeemed.

Ours in no different a time. We have war on all sides. The sources of fresh water are quickly disappearing. We have either too little or too much rain. Energy sources continue to fuel destruction as they hiccup their final reserves. Leaders in governments and powerful businessmen seek personal gain at the expense of billions.

Yes, this is a time that the saints need to be revealed. If you are a saint, speak up. Pray. Talk with friends. Work on living differently in this world gone mad, this world that is killing itself, this world that God gave us to care for. We have failed in caring for it, and so Creation groans. Let us groan, too, but not only groan but also seek to mend the pains.

:::
(a homily)

"Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his ways!" It is always good to be reminded of the greatness of God. Perhaps we've got stuck on thinking highly about ourselves and need to hear of the One who needs no council. Or perhaps we've been brought so low by circumstances and realities around us that we need to hear of the great love of God whose saving help heals and protects us. And always we need to be reminded that God's praises are to always be on our lips, overflowing from the depths of our beings being renewed by the Holy Spirit.

Upon remembrance, upon receiving the Word and mercy of God, our lives are reshaped. We are able to question ourselves, to take account of our activities and the way we relate ourselves to the world. Mercy's work does not cease in us, but is meant to flow out of all we do. When we are humbles, when we pray sincerely and unceasingly, when we open ourselves up to the unsearchable ways of God, we are made answers even to others' prayers. If we are remembering well, we might become answers to the prayers of the poor and dejected. If we are remembering well, our voices might speak words of wisdom and truth with transformative effects.

But are we answers? I confess that often I am not. I'm more a cause for questions and confusion. And so I need the council of God and God's people. We all need council. I suppose that is one of the reasons we gather here together. We are drawn to the mystery of community and what it might offer. We come here because we know how often we need to be reminded of the great love of God in Christ Jesus. "From him and through him and for him are all things." We are here to gather around the remembering table to be reoriented to the One who has saved us from ourselves. The unsearchable ways of God are made real in the bread and wine, and so we eat and drink to remember that which on our own we could have never known. Let us prepare to encounter the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God and pray we would be made to be answers to prayers, faithful apostles of God in the power of the Holy Spirit.