Tuesday 5 November 2024

Today is Tuesday the 5th of November, the feast of All Saints of the Society of Jesus, in the 31st week of Ordinary Time. Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum: My eyes are on the Lord God. Wherever you are right now, on the way to work, walking in the park, sitting at home… what can you see? What can you see around you? Remember for a moment that God is present in all of this, that all of this has been made by God, and is loved by God, that God holds you, and all of this, in the palm of his hand. Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum Like the deer that yearns for running streams So my soul is yearning for my God My tears have become my bread day and night As I hear it said：'Where is your God?' Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum By day the Lord will send His loving Spirit By night I will sing praises to the God of my life Send out Your light and Your truth as my guide To lead me to Your holy ground Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum Then shall I go to the God of my joy Singing praise, praise on the lyre and the harp Why so downcast my soul? Put your hope and trust in my Saviour, my God Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum Today’s reading is from the Book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 30:9-14 And the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe. This is the reading for the feast of all the Jesuit saints. The first part of it needs careful handling. There is some truth in the claim that if we do as God asks of us, this will bring fruit, and sometimes that fruit includes prosperity. If it does, the blessing is to be shared generously. But sometimes the fruit is not material prosperity. The prosperity gospel is not the message of Jesus Christ in any narrow sense. Those saints throughout history who died for their faith, did God’s will, and did not prosper materially. Jesus, himself, was always poor! How does this message apply to a saint who gives their life for Jesus and for the gospel? In what other ways might they still prosper? Any gardener will tell you that if you look after the soil then plants will flourish, and that the opposite is also true. How might this passage apply to the human race with regard to justice for the poor and due care for the earth? As you listen again you might wonder how this message can helpfully be applied to how human beings treat each other and the world that sustains them. God wants the whole earth to be fruitful and to flourish and for no one to be left out. Can you glimpse that longing in God? Can you share in the longing? Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.