Reflection on the Readings

REFLECTION ON THE READINGS

We hear in this Sunday’s first reading from the Prophet Isaiah – God’s ways are not our ways. God’s thoughts are not like ours. You can say that again! Isaiah insists that the divine perspective is as up, up, and away from ours as heaven is from Earth. Given that chasm, we’re not
going to figure out the divine will by doing the math or weighing the scales or applying pure reason. The only way we’re going to see things God’s way is to “seek the Lord while he may be found”—to seek communion with the Holy One. And to do that we have to empty ourselves of our “scoundrel” ways and “wicked” thoughts. In doing so we provide a place for God’s thoughts and ways to enter and inhabit us.

Sound easy? Try letting go of your way of thinking and doing before you answer. Consider the last time you passed judgment on another person for not behaving as you would or for not responding in the way you think is appropriate. It’s very, very hard for us not to insist on “our will being done”—at least on Earth, and very possibly even in heaven. So often we create God in our own image by presuming that God shares our values. Of course, the goal is always that we share God’s values. But it’s all too human for us to get that backwards.

Quote of the Week