Our readings for this Sunday, the First Sunday of Lent are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021824.cfm).
Again, these are my notes and interpretations of Fr Dennis Dillon SJ’s homily from the 10AM Mass on February 18, 2018 and his poem selection from February 22, 2015.
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The poems Fr Dennis references in 2018 & 2015 are:
Evening on the Lawn by Gary Soto (18 Feb 2018 10AM Mass)
Small Boy by Norman MacCaig (22 Feb 2015 8:30AM, Noon, or 9PM Mass)
In 2018, we reflected on —
- How the readings are a review of our basic call to be Christians — our covenants (God with us), our being claimed by God through Baptism, and our responsibility to confront our temptations.
- 1st Reading (Genesis) Water! is a reference to Baptism (our RCIA / OCIA elect), a long tradition back to Noah, a one-sided covenant, a gracious guarantee as God promises Noah and all his descendants … but note that they don’t have any obligation to God in this covenant.
- On a summer retreat I (rl) encountered my temptation of cynicism with this passage, as I wiseacred to myself that “Yeah, God didn’t promise we wouldn’t destroy ourselves …” That is not who God is — not Lawyer God who specifies that burning up was not the part of that covenant; not Cynical God; not Human God (think STAR TREK IV) not any of those human frailties — but Love Loving. We don’t know God, but I can remember this covenant (between God, humans, and ALL living creatures) and push back against my temptation to give up.
- Back to D2 — The Sign of the Cross at the start of Mass is a remembrance of God’s promise in our Baptism; God leads us through the floods of our lives — great and small.
- The Gospel — the first time D2 has thought of this time in the desert more squarely in the context of the vision quests, like the indigenous tribes across the globe. The time in the desert is a journey to see who we are now and who we are meant to be.
- Maybe Jesus, particularly in Mark’s version of the Time in the Desert, is a vision quest by Jesus to understand what “you are my Beloved Son” means, to find out what it meant. The journey and meditation certainly marks a transition in his life and ministry.
- In essence, that’s what we’re all doing as Christians, ever since our creation and Baptismal grace. We are in the desert, trying to find out which spirits we are pulled by.
- College can be a desert! 🙂 Trying to figure out who you are and who you are meant to be. Jesus finds out that John the Baptist is arrested and to be killed; that’s when he announces his professional life. (fyi — St Mary’s is officially Saint Mary Student Parish and is a parish dedicated by the bishop to serve the University of Michigan Catholic community and hosts the Newman Center, so there were a fair portion of young people present.)
- Evening on the Lawn by Gary Soto describes a pivotal moment in a young man’s life when his gifts have him perceive this wondrous image of nature, an isolated roiling cloud seemingly gobbling up stars, and he calls his mother and stepfather to join him. They don’t share the moment with him, though they come outside and indicate mild puzzlement or irritation that their routine was interrupted. It is a pivotal moment of individuation for him (and all others) when the “home of our youth [is] struck by lightning.” This felt like Jesus reconciling his new sense of identity: devotion to the faith, his authenticity, and the faith traditions. All of us are called and must do this devotion to the faith and the authenticity created inside us.
In 2015, D2 used (I must have missed the Mass / homily) —
- Norman MacCaig’s poem, Small Boy, as a simple reflection on the practices and challenges of Lent: we practice simple things every day but we are really “practicing for the future” and our greatest challenge is to “unclench [our grasp] and let them go.”
The Sunday readings were particularly meaningful for me this year. I made my bucket list trip to visit the overwintering monarch butterflies in the central mountains of Mexico, about 3-ish hours west of CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico aka Mexico City). I stayed closer to the southern edge of the monarch sanctuaries / reserves at Cerro Pelón Butterfly B&B (triple thumbs up!!), and they could take us out the back door to the Cerro Pelón Reserve or drive us in their comfy van to the other main reserves (El Rosario and Sierra Chincua) or any other place the monarch colonies were (literally) hanging out. These monarchs born last August through October in the United States and Canada made the (up to) 3500 mile journey back to these areas in Mexico, form colonies to conserve body energy and protect each other, and are just now mating, and they will begin the northward migration laying the eggs for the first generation in northern Mexico or the southern United States. It is the third or even fifth generation, never having seen or been to the mountain reserves in Mexico, who will overwinter there arriving between late October and mid-November.
When we visited the monarch colony in Sierra Chincua, it was very quiet being early in the season (late November) and during the work week. I went with the 1/2 hour-ish ride being led on horseback up and up towards 10,000 feet, followed by a 20-ish minute hike to the colony. I prayed a bit in this peaceful, quietly joyful place. Grateful to be here, so very grateful for the Moreño familia whose business model for their B&B made this possible for me. We had 30 minutes with the colony, and then went around the corner of the trail and sat down for our delicious packed lunch — a Meal as Communion if there ever was one! As the clouds lifted a bit, the butterflies became more active — a “gentle explosion” of 100s rather than the 1000s you sometimes see images of. Still — in the silence of no traffic, no human voices, no other noises whatsoever, all we could hear was the flapping whirr of monarch butterfly wings. Unbelievable! And then the rainbow came out.
My prayer had been that God not let us mess up and destroy these butterflies and their migration (the latter of which is headed towards extinction because of the decrease in number of butterflies). I wiped away tears at the renewal of the covenant “between me [God] and you and every living creature with you” that we will not be destroyed (Gen 9:8-15). So that is today’s image …
As one friend quipped — the only thing missing is the unicorn! But deep mysticism in a cynical world does feel magical. No unicorn needed. 🙂
The covenant is a good reminder that we never enter our journeys alone — God is with us, angels minister us, and the Trinity in our friends and communities shine brightly if we let them (sometimes the vulnerability that invites the shining is the hardest choice for us).
The Surest Sign 