Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
The comic strip Family Circle had a motif my dad thought was funny and accurate. When the mother would ask her four small children who was responsible for this or that domestic disaster, the children would blame it in on “invisible gremlins”: Ida Know, Not Me, and Nobody. These ghostly figures would show up to embody the excuses, but of course, they were mere figments of imagination.
The famous contest between Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal shows the power of our figments of imagination. As the pagan prophets continue to more and more melodramatically call upon their god to the point of slashing themselves with spears(!), the author of First Kings says: “But there was not a sound; no one answered, and no one was listening.” Their god is a no god by name – a phantom hope.
The overwhelming vindication of the God of Israel sending fire from heaven for the humble prayer of Elijah seems unlike anything we have seen. Yet, we have testimony from 10,000 people at Fatima that they saw the sun dance during the culmination of the Marian apparition in the early twentieth century. Miracles are not opposed to the laws of nature; nature is rather sustained at all times by God willing it. If God chooses to surpass what we ordinarily experience in nature, that is a miracle and completely in line with Providence. Thus, Jesus did not come to abolish the law and prophets but to fulfill and surpass.
Everyone seems to worship someone not no one. However, it is often a vague spirituality, the “Universe” answering wishes, or tarot cards and the occult. The personal and loving God, Father, Son, and Spirit, has been revealed to us. We call upon Him humbly and trust that while we make real messes He can write straight with our crooked lines. We have a God who hears prayers and answers them, but our relationship with Him makes us trust that He knows what we need better than we can imagine.
Reflection by Fr. Pachomius Meade, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections