[1]My introduction to
Divine Mercy was through three women at one of the parishes I served. It is my
practice to greet people as they come in for Mass. One day a woman, Cindy, approached me calmly
and gently asked if I was aware of Divine Mercy. At the time I was not. Cindy
said she would like to bring the devotion to the parish and thought it would be
a good fit for me. I told her I would
pray about it. In other words, I’m kind
of busy in my life and I wasn’t ready to add one more thing to my plate.
About a month or so later, another woman
approached me, Trisha, asking if I was familiar with the Divine Mercy
devotion. I said, I’ve heard of it. By the way did Cindy put you up to this? She
said, Cindy who? Again, I was told this might be a good fit for me, and again I
said, I’ll pray about it. By now I’m getting the feeling something was
happening, but I didn’t know what.
Two weeks later, Maria, a much bolder woman
approached me, handed me the pamphlets on Divine Mercy and told me she would
like me to preside over the devotion on Mercy Sunday. I asked, do you happen to
know Cindy and Trisha. She said no and just read the material and let me know
if your willing to do it and walked away. As she walked away I looked up to
heaven and just said, Yes, Lord.
If you recall Jonah’s previous adventure on
the way to Nineveh, this second command by God to proclaim His word to the city
Jonah is obedient. In his obedience Jonah got to witness the response when people
respond. Conversion. The King repents and he commands that the people repent,
so that God himself will repent of His anger and of the promise to destroy the
city.
What does obedience look like? The Gospel reading uses two women to illustrate
the spectrum of obedience. Martha was obedient to the cultural norms of the
time. When guests came to the home it was the woman’s role to serve the guests.
When she complained about Mary’s perceived disobedience Jesus gives another
illustration of obedience. The obedience to accept the invitation to sit with
the Lord. Mary chose this obedience and Jesus was not going to take this away
from her. Life is a blend of both, a secular/cultural obedience and an
obedience to sit in silence and listen to the Lord.
On this the first memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska,
we often see the struggle she had with this balance. Her cultural vision of a
good nun, was about the things she did, but often struggled with because of her
weakness, her knowledge of her wretchedness. Jesus’s demand for strict
obedience to her superiors, her confessors, her directors, often seemed to
create conflict or requests the were impossible for this little weak and
wretched nun. It is through obedience she learned the way of trusting in God’s
plan, despite her brokenness, despite her weakness.
The rhythm of life for us is, like Mary, to choose the better part (listen), sit in the silence with Jesus, don’t flood him with words of regular prayers. Sit and listen. When we do this successfully often our Martha tasks tend to go much smoother. Like Jonah and Faustina; trust in God’s call, live His mission to share the Good News in deed and word. Believe that in all we do, His presence is with us always. So that in all things, in obedience, all we need to say is “Yes, Lord.”
[1] Scripture (NABRE), Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 10:38-43
No comments:
Post a Comment