Covenant vision

How often is it that we come to Mass and hear the scriptures read, and it washes over us without sinking in? Perhaps we’ve heard the story many times before, and so we don’t really pay attention to it. Perhaps we’re thinking about what’s happening in our life, or paying attention to what the kids are doing, or maybe we had a late night and are having trouble focusing. Or maybe we see the Scriptures as a recounting of something that happened long ago, without seeing that these words are also the Word of God addressed to me.

We come to Mass, and we continue to come to Mass, because in some way we are nourished, or consoled, or strengthened, or grow in a sense of community, or discern a direction for our life, or connect with the risen Lord in a helpful way, or some combination of those.

The word of God proclaimed in the scriptures is one way for us to connect our life with the life of the Spirit, one way for us to apply the teachings of the scriptures, especially the teachings of Jesus, to our daily life, one way for us to go home with something to think about and perhaps work on in the coming weeks, a way for us to embrace more fully what the Lord asks of his followers.

One consistent message of the prophets is that we have broken faith, not just with God, but with each other, and that God is not happy about this. One need only to pay attention to what’s going on in the world to see that this is still the case. War, violence, anger, and division between countries and groups show us that we have forgotten that we have a common Father and are called by God to keep faith with each other and honor the covenant we have with our Father in heaven. In God’s eyes we are more alike than different. In the eyes of many of us, we are more different than alike. We are invited through our worship and through our Scriptures to make God’s vision of the world our own vision.

“O Israel, hope in the Lord, both now and forever.” (Psalm 13:3)