Scripture:
Tobit 3:1-11a, 16-17a
Mark 12:18-27
Reflection:
Have you not read in the Book of Moses,
-Mark 12:27
in the passage about the bush, how God told him,
I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob?
He is not God of the dead but of the living.
You are greatly misled.
Every Tuesday afternoon I visit a friend of another faith who is in hospice care, and even though over the years we have both claimed no fear of death, here we are on each visit, sharing how terrifying this concept becomes when we must move out of the realm of the intellect into today, disrupting not only our plans for today, but evidently for all time to come. OMG!
We’ve shared how letting go and willingly venturing off from our homes as children, I entered a very familiar life in the Monastery I lived across the street from, and he, believe it or not, went off to the Clown School in Baraboo Wisconsin. Although very different paths leading to this day, a day neither of us could have imagined at that time.
Along the way, we’ve shared how both of us have made many mistakes, some of which held us in bondage to individuals and institutions that we had harmed, or we thought had harmed us. Learning to let go of these mistaken beliefs, or in the words of St. Paul of the Cross and many other mystics, forgiving ourselves, each other and the institutions we mistakenly or not believed were the cause of all our problems, has allowed us to live in the moment.
Dear God, help me believe the Apostle Mark’s reminder to the people of his day, that You are in charge. Help me let go of all my expectations—resentments in the making. Help me forgive myself and others I believe have harmed me, and finally, help me accept that not only are You, our Emmanuel with us today, but so are, our parents and all Your creation.
Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists. He lives in Chicago.