"Our source of unity is not just where we come from, but a common future"
Beginnings and Endings 1: Beginning of God
July 23, 2020
So often we think more about origins than destinies. We feel connected to those with whom we share history whether it is personal history, cultural history or faith history. We do not always take time to ponder common futures. Are we created with a common purpose? Are our deepest connections found in where we are going, rather than those places from which we came?
I think that too often we use images such as heaven and hell to disconnect us from those we have (quite incorrectly) determined are not going to share our future. We should never assume that of anyone.
~ Fr. Pat
Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel | Matthew 13:10-17
The disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”
He said to them in reply,
“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”
He said to them in reply,
“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted
and I heal them.
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted
and I heal them.
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
and your ears, because they hear.
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
I have chosen a song by Stephen Schwartz, “Dreamscape” that is a meditation of the choices that lay before us and our need to make decisions that shape a better future for all of us. We move from “my future” to “our future” when we recognize the God who is not just our common origin but our common fate as well.
~ Fr. Pat
Dreamscape by Stephen Schwartz
I am dreaming
Of a riverbank;
Mist enshrouds the farther shore.
I am standing
In a wooden boat
In my hand, a golden oar.
Will I row against the current,
Or let myself be carried out to sea?
Where I reach land at last
Is up to the river,
But the journey is up to me.
Time to sail,
Reluctant Pilgrim,
My fear is all I’ve got to lose.
Life is nothing,
Nothing but a dreamscape,
And the dream is mine to choose.
I am racing
Down a corridor;
Endless doors on either side.
I could open
Any one of them
Step on through
And change my life.
Sometimes I pause
There on the threshold,
Afraid to leave my bright familiar hall.
Sometimes I spend my days
Running by so quickly
That I don’t see the doors at all.
Step on through
Reluctant Pilgrim,
My fear is all I’ve got to lose.
Life is nothing,
Nothing but a dreamscape,
And the dream is mine to choose.
I am waking
In a forest glade.
Needles of pine
Are in my hair.
I see pathways
Through the underbrush;
Leading to I don’t know where.
I hear strange noises in the thickets
And I know some trails
May not be where they seem.
Pain may await me
But I know if I stay here
I’ll sleep right through my dreams.
Find the trail
Reluctant Pilgrim,
My fear is all I’ve got to lose.
Life is nothing, nothing
but a dreamscape,
And the dream is mine to choose.
Let us sail
Reluctant pilgrims
Our fear is all we've got to lose.
Life is nothing, nothing
but a dreamscape,
And the dream is ours to choose.
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