April 11 – Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
“He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there.” John 10:40 NRSV
Jesus was a marked man. He would have been arrested had he not “escaped from their hands.” Jesus went across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing. Perhaps he went to draw strength at the place where he was anointed by the Spirit and to hear in the water the echo of his Father’s words, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” In a sense, Jesus returned to his origins, the place where his ministry began. It was good to return after all the hassle of teaching, preaching, curing, and in the process upsetting the authorities. For whatever reason, Jesus returned to the water, and we imagine he was rejuvenated by the people who “came to believe in him.”
Sometimes we don’t think of Jesus as someone in need, but, fully human, he was needy. It was good to be believed; it was good for the Son of Man who had nowhere to lay his head to be “home.”
When you need your spirit rejuvenated, what do you do? What is “home” for you? Lent is a baptismal season. Perhaps reflect on your baptismal promises. How have you lived your original commitment?
When in need I go to my prayer life. I pray the rosary, the repetition is soothing. The meditation is soothing. I talk to God, aloud. I share my emotions, getting them out into the light. Stuffing emotions only create volcanos to erupt later. If anyone ever questioned our faith and how we pray, how we are constantly in motion during mass, they would know that the repetition of doing what comes natural is a soothing palm. This is home, this going to what is safe and normal, going to God is healing.
I have to agree with Kathy. The rosary is a great prayer form me, too! I joke to myself that I am praying “ring around the rosary!”
Most of the time my life is a whirlwind of appointments, communications, documenting, deadlines, etc. and I meet God in the “driving wind and earthquakes.” There do come those times when I am overwhelmed and not in touch with God in the business of life. When I need my spirit rejuvenated my first option at work is cloud watching. I try to observe some small part of a cloud and watch it morph or I focus on leaves of trees and watch for the slightest movement. I might focus on the leaf of a bush. With the focusing of my sense of sight, my other senses quiet and a stillness takes hold inside. Then I can be like Elijah standing at the entrance of the cave attending to the Spirit.
1 Kings 19:11-13 New International Version (NIV)
The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”