Like the loving grandma who is interested in the report card of her grandchild, Mother Church is looking for the results of our contemplation on the Word that has gone on during this Ordinary Time. In this harvest time what growth has the Paschal Mystery been bringing about in us?
Transformation is going on in the texts of October. The Word, like a loving mother, is patiently showing us that in the new humanity being formed out of the death and resurrection of God’s Son, things are going to be different…not same old, same old.
Central to this teaching is the appearance of the child in the texts, how to regard possessions, and a new and deeper look at marriage just for starters. What is at the heart of all this?
Jesus is teaching us to keep our eyes on the Mystery of Love that is his Father. Like the child with a one-track mind, only if our minds are centered on God as Love will we have a clear enough vision to read everything else correctly. Without a centered mind we flit from one thing to the next, one concern vying with another for our attention, and we find ourselves exhausted with trying to keep up with it all. It’s time to let nature speak to us its profound message at this time of year.
Everything around us is drying up and fading away. The flowers have bloomed themselves out, the leaves are falling from the trees leaving them barren, and the crisp smell of autumn is in the air. With our eyes fixed on the One who never fades, who is always fresh and new, who loses nothing, we are taught that all in this world passes away. There is only One we need to keep our inner eye on.
This disciplining of our minds to go back again and again to the “one thing necessary” is the heart of contemplative vision. Only by daily exercise, perhaps by the constant repetition of the Jesus Prayer (Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner) or some other favorite mantra, will we achieve that centering that we so sorely need. Then our vision clears regarding what to do about what we own, how we are to love those we have made commitments to, and most of all, who we are as the beloved of God. There is a still point amid all the noise.
The glory that shines from God begins to permeate our souls, and we too begin to shine as we walk through our days. The struggles will be there. The sorrows will break our hearts. The joys will renew our spirits. But best of all, our hearts will be clear, pure, like that of a child.
Give me, O Love,
The pure curious eye of the child.
Teach my heart the one thing necessary.
Help me to gently come “home” to you hundreds of times during the day.
You, my one thing necessary.
