Glorious Things Are Said of You...

The angel spoke to me, saying,
“Come here.
I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
He took me in spirit to a great, high mountain
and showed me the holy city Jerusalem
coming down out of heaven from God.
It gleamed with the splendor of God.
Its radiance was like that of a precious stone...

Glorious things are indeed said of you, O City of God.  The passage above, from today's lectionary readings, speaks to us of the Bride of Christ, both from a time of fulfilled final glory, and from the real potential that lies within us awaiting its awakening.  Indeed our prayer should be "Rouse in me O Lord all that you would have me be."

Late Thursday evening, after a long day of meetings and preparation for what promises to be the most challenging yet exciting year thus far in my career as a special education teacher, I find the inspiration to reflect upon potential--not just potential in itself alone, but potential in Christ.  Indeed I believe that such is the stuff of which hope is made.

Although it is the eternal life with Christ for which we wait, long for, and ever look toward, this life too holds in it the promise that sometimes seems to be most clearly connected with the end.  Yet the potential is with us in the here and now.  We should--as a matter of course--expect to see it come to pass.  We must therefore find the means to see the realization of our hope fully.

Many years ago as a college student I studied the immanent formism of Aristotle in which there is the idea that the complete and perfect form of what a thing is to become lies within it; for example, that the complete form of of an oak tree lies within the acorn.  Certainly much can be said about how we grow and develop as humans, and how our faith matures also, which is true to the analogy of the acorn and the oak.  However, there is also that which lies within us that is perfect now.  Our task is to bring that to fore.

It is a good and practical philosophy of life to believe that I can be the best and that I can bring out the best in others, even that I can bring out the oak tree in myself and in others.  As an educator this is an extremely important position to have and I'm going to be rather stubborn about holding on to it.

There is also a spiritual aspect that goes far beyond the practicalities just mentioned.  Today's scripture points out what we are already, yet mysteriously and often hidden but not less real.  The form of being the Bride of Christ is in us, both as nascency or potentiality and as fully realized, yet awaiting being brought into plain sight.

It isn't a bad idea to connect the practicalities of hard work with what lies within spiritually to begin seeing spiritual fruit.  Once someone told me to be a success I should work hard and study hard.  Really that never goes away as a recipe for success.  I'd add to it pray hard--and then wait and see what grows.

It is always a good idea to have a forward looking frame of mind.  Too often we let what holds us back dominate what could be a rather sweet future, be it a lack of confidence arising from inexperience, or perhaps a sour experience from the past .  Even more, the present itself is permeated with the sweet odor of rising prayer and the presence of God's own hand in our lives.  Never should we allow the enemy to deprive us of what God has made to be a lived-experience, a reality both genuine and authentic.

As the week draws to a close and we take this Friday moment to remember what was accomplished for us by our Lord, we might also set our goals on what will be.  We do penance today--we pray, we give alms, and we fast in some way. 

In our prayer we seek what we might be, what lies within.  We seek it with the intent to work, to prepare, to pray, and to do whatever is called for to perfect who and what God has called us to be.  We do it realizing the potential and energy that lies within and from the reality that desires to come forth.  We do it both for ourselves and for all those whom we serve. 

Our prayer is come Lord Jesus, make your presence felt in our lives and in our world.  Come and shake the foundations of what we believe is possible.  Show us Lord all that you would have us be.  Make us Lord into that perfect bride, that glorious city made of precious stones.  Through it all O Lord may you be ever glorified.

Comments

[Anonymous]

Amen. Beautiful.