Readings:
Jermaiah 20:10-13
John 10:31-42
Reflection
AVOCA BEACH: It was a bright, sunny day, 20th April 1969. I was vacationing with my mother, watching the moon landing on our tiny TV. I walked across the sand and stood on a rock covered with vegetation and tiny creatures, the surf crashing all around me. In the clear blue sky was an orb—the moon—with a human being walking on the surface. Struck by the centuries of life emerging from the sea at my feet, my head in the future with human life on the moon, I stood in awe, in the stream of evolutionary divine love that creates and sustains all life. I have returned to that sacred place many times, each time refreshing my hope.
Jeremiah’s life was under threat. God had commanded him to proclaim the fall of the kingdom of Judah, smashing the potter’s jug as if it were the Kingdom soon to be broken by the invasion from Babylon. Those who heard were infuriated, but as they clamoured for his death, Jeremiah retreated to his impregnable consciousness: “God, my Hero, who delivered my soul in need, I sing to Yahweh.” Hoping against hope, he carried on.
Jesus was just too much for the Jewish leaders. Recently he had proclaimed: “I speak the word of God from My Father. In fact, I am the son of God.” (Yes: way too much.)
“Again, they wanted to arrest him,” wrote John, “but he eluded them.” He retreated to a secret place by the Jordan where John had been baptizing. This was a sacred spot where he had heard clearly and consciously the awesome words of his Father, “you are my Beloved Son.” Refreshed by that place and that consciousness, he continued on his journey.
Blessed are we when we find a quiet place to refresh our consciousness as “Beloved of the Father.”
David Peter Folkes is a former Passionist Priest who resigned and married with 2 children and 2 grandchildren living in Chicago. He is mostly involved with refugee resettlement and racial equity issues.