LIFE IS ALL ABOUT CONNECTEDNESS

“One day Elisha came to Shunem,
where there was a woman of influence. . .

“Whenever Elisha, the prophet, passed by, he used to stop there to dine.
So she said to her husband, ‘I know that Elisha is a holy man of God.
Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof
and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp,
so that when he comes to us he can stay there.’
Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.

“Later Elisha asked, ‘Can something be done for her?’
His servant Gehazi answered, ‘Yes!
She has no son, and her husband is getting on in years.’
Elisha said, ‘Call her.’
When the woman had been called and stood at the door,
Elisha promised, ‘This time next year
you will be fondling a baby son.’” 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a

LIFE IS ALL ABOUT CONNECTEDNESS

God’s plan for us humans has not changed since the time before God created us. That plan seems to have been that we are to connect with each other as gently, securely and productively as people like the woman and Elisha connected in this and many other Scripture passages. The incident begins on the surface (I say “on the surface” because the real beginning was in the mind of God who created us and our “human nature” with all its connective functioning and capabilities.), in this instance, the connecting starts with the woman recognizing that Elisha is a “holy man.” A “holy man” – what does that mean? I think it means some time before this encounter Elisha recognized his connection with God, willed to accept this – this inseparable bond with God – and spent the rest of his days going wherever God led him, sharing his God-link with everyone.

Each of is like this woman and Elisha, and also like every single created thing, seemingly unconnected “on the surface” but, beneath the surface made up of molecules: atoms connected to each other by shared electrons. When we act like the atoms and bond together rather than being repelled by what is different or trying to take from the other in order to benefit ourselves alone, we become the “holy men and women” through whom God’s life begins to flow in and among us. It is then that we become:

“a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation;
announcing the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”  1 Peter 2:9

“Jesus said to his apostles:
‘Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. . . . Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.’”  Matthew 10:37, 39

This Gospel passage always disturbs me more than I would like. Think about it: how much I, and perhaps some of you reading this, order our everyday lives to do exactly as Jesus says not to do. We spend much of our everyday lives protecting and preserving our own well-being and that of our loved ones. Is there a danger – for us and for our loved ones – in doing this? Let’s think about this.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

If we are not careful, will our over-attentiveness to ourselves and our families erode something that we need also to protect? Might too much  emphasis on ourselves and our families diminish our ability to appreciate those who are less close to us, less like us, be it in the way they look or act or think?

HELPING US PUT GOD FIRST AND KEEP GOD FIRST IN OUR MINDS AND HEARTS

Numerous Gospel passages speak of Jesus going off by himself to pray. We need to do that, too, so that our hearts remember in the midst of the everyday family-oriented activities that it is the whole of God’s family that comes first. If we don’t, we run the risk of forgetting that, in God’s eyes – the only view of things that really matters – we are, first and foremost, every one of us, “holy men and women,” but that it is God  who at all times sees rightly what is going on and is really best for all of us – and I who may be seeing rightly some of the time. How do I come to know this if I don’t take time to listen to God (and to others) with an open mind and heart – a mind and heart that let go of thinking that the way I see things is the way things look from God’s perspective or from anyone else’s perspectives?

Let’s look around us –  in our homes and streets, in the places where we live, work, shop, play, when we are watching shows and celebrating weekend Mass together (Yes, look around; see us as a community of holy women and men!). Let us remember those who have died and those who will come after us  – because all of us, in God’s eyes, in God’s plan, are called to be “holy men and women,” (What can I do to become more like Elisha and this woman of influence?)

Sister Loretta