In You Lord I have Found Peace
My oldest son just received a big paycheck and treated his brothers to a "rent a video game nite" and me to a" Mom, what movie would you like to see?" I love it! He can pay for his own gas, car insurance and have money to rent a movie for me as well. I asked for the movie "Crash" as I have wanted to see it since it was first released. (Good movie, well done, people of different ethnic backgrounds literally "Crash" up against each other.. don't see it if you are feeling down....).
He and his brothers rented "Batman Begins "which was not really on my "must rent to see" list. I ended up enjoying the Batman movie more than I expected. One line in the move woke me up. (I have a bad habit of falling asleep during the slow parts.) Batman is struggling with his dual identity of his suave playboy image and the man who risks his life for others. He is embarrassed with his antics when he unexpectedly runs into his love interest ,Rachel, whom he tries to convince that this playboy person is "not the real me". She responds with simple and truthful words: "It is not who you are underneath, it is what you do, that defines you." I am impressed by the writers of this Batman movie: "What we do reflects who we really are underneath!" We can't sat that what you see me do is not the real me. Words so appropriate for the Gospel of this Sunday.
I think the situation in which Jesus is teaching his disciples is familiar to all of us if we think about it a bit. We have all experienced situations when the words, philosophy or mission of a person or group seemed in direct contrast to the actions of that person or group. We are multi-dimensionally affected and submerged in layers of these types of situations. At work, at home, in the family, in our Christian community, in politics American and global---everywhere we go we must learn to navigate and deal with situations in which what people profess and what they do are not the same. We don't have too far to go to see this dual pull within our own selves; the struggle between being and doing, and working out a right balance between the two. No small feat. ( I am a size 9 on hot days and an 8 1/2 on cold days, wish I was a 7-- much better selection--okay, that was dumb...).
I am going to throw in a random thought here that I hope I can weave into this "gospel reflection" smoothly within the next paragraph or so. Perhaps the layers of this "dysfunction", which is this imbalance between the "who" we are and the "actions" of what we do, are reflected in these situations. Is Jesus calling us to stand apart from these busy, intricate, entangling, painful layers of dysfunction that is exhibited in the pharisees' words and actions? To dig our heels in and not be a part of the problem situation? To be different? YES!!! We will all say? But how???? How do we do that????? ....Because it is hard and I am hurting!!!
Let's go to the responsorial Psalm 131---I think it is all there!!!!
In you Lord, I have found my peace...
A while ago I was greatly troubled by a situation, angry, in fact wanting to put my dukes up a bit ( a lot). But mostly I was tired of feeling pulled apart by it. So I just sank down somehow. I don't know how really. If I could give it a name I would call it "gently spiraling down" to that place where God is and who can give me love and rest.
I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child...
I told this gentle God about my tiredness, my sadness, my struggle, without words but with my heart, and let myself sink into this God whom I knew I would find in the depths of me...
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so is my soul within me...
So this is where I go especially when I feel hurt, sad, threatened, like putting up my dukes, lonely, confused, pulled apart by painful situations ...
In you Lord, I have found my peace...and I feel stonger, more peaceful...confident that I will be changed in the process...to be more loving so that what I do comes from who I am..and that is because who I am is rooted and resting in God...
This is my journey I share with you, and it is yours too. I believe that if we did this, than who we are in God will be reflected in the world...in our families, at work, in our local communities, in ourselves...and that we can change the world...
Together we can change the world...
--Sandy Velasco Scott
He and his brothers rented "Batman Begins "which was not really on my "must rent to see" list. I ended up enjoying the Batman movie more than I expected. One line in the move woke me up. (I have a bad habit of falling asleep during the slow parts.) Batman is struggling with his dual identity of his suave playboy image and the man who risks his life for others. He is embarrassed with his antics when he unexpectedly runs into his love interest ,Rachel, whom he tries to convince that this playboy person is "not the real me". She responds with simple and truthful words: "It is not who you are underneath, it is what you do, that defines you." I am impressed by the writers of this Batman movie: "What we do reflects who we really are underneath!" We can't sat that what you see me do is not the real me. Words so appropriate for the Gospel of this Sunday.
I think the situation in which Jesus is teaching his disciples is familiar to all of us if we think about it a bit. We have all experienced situations when the words, philosophy or mission of a person or group seemed in direct contrast to the actions of that person or group. We are multi-dimensionally affected and submerged in layers of these types of situations. At work, at home, in the family, in our Christian community, in politics American and global---everywhere we go we must learn to navigate and deal with situations in which what people profess and what they do are not the same. We don't have too far to go to see this dual pull within our own selves; the struggle between being and doing, and working out a right balance between the two. No small feat. ( I am a size 9 on hot days and an 8 1/2 on cold days, wish I was a 7-- much better selection--okay, that was dumb...).
I am going to throw in a random thought here that I hope I can weave into this "gospel reflection" smoothly within the next paragraph or so. Perhaps the layers of this "dysfunction", which is this imbalance between the "who" we are and the "actions" of what we do, are reflected in these situations. Is Jesus calling us to stand apart from these busy, intricate, entangling, painful layers of dysfunction that is exhibited in the pharisees' words and actions? To dig our heels in and not be a part of the problem situation? To be different? YES!!! We will all say? But how???? How do we do that????? ....Because it is hard and I am hurting!!!
Let's go to the responsorial Psalm 131---I think it is all there!!!!
In you Lord, I have found my peace...
A while ago I was greatly troubled by a situation, angry, in fact wanting to put my dukes up a bit ( a lot). But mostly I was tired of feeling pulled apart by it. So I just sank down somehow. I don't know how really. If I could give it a name I would call it "gently spiraling down" to that place where God is and who can give me love and rest.
I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child...
I told this gentle God about my tiredness, my sadness, my struggle, without words but with my heart, and let myself sink into this God whom I knew I would find in the depths of me...
Like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so is my soul within me...
So this is where I go especially when I feel hurt, sad, threatened, like putting up my dukes, lonely, confused, pulled apart by painful situations ...
In you Lord, I have found my peace...and I feel stonger, more peaceful...confident that I will be changed in the process...to be more loving so that what I do comes from who I am..and that is because who I am is rooted and resting in God...
This is my journey I share with you, and it is yours too. I believe that if we did this, than who we are in God will be reflected in the world...in our families, at work, in our local communities, in ourselves...and that we can change the world...
Together we can change the world...
--Sandy Velasco Scott
posted by Diocese of San Jose at
11:54 AM
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