Daily Retreat 02/05/09
2009 Feb 5 Thu: Agatha, v, mt M
Heb 12: 18-19. 21-24/ Ps 47(48): 2-3ab. 3cd-4. 9. 10-11/ Mk 6: 7-13
From today’s readings: “You have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem.... O God, we ponder Your mercy within Your temple.... Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two.... ”
Approaching Heaven
“What is your vision of heaven?” is a pleasant thought-provoking question periodically raised in various media eager for a wholly positive though thoroughly innocuous Polaroid portrayal of the “average Joe.” Predictably, younger people often imagine heaven as a place of non-stop thrills, whereas answers from older people tend to be vaguely idyllic, painting one of life’s simple pleasures being enjoyed in a pretty and peaceful place, e.g., “Heaven to me means enjoying an ice cream cone with your family as the summer sun is setting on the seashore.”
I wonder how many people’s dreams of heaven omit the little detail of specifying where God fits in the picture! Though the Bible only offers a few glimpses of Heaven (including the cameo found in today’s first reading), the scriptural and all other credible celestial visions certainly focus on GOD, with all the other majestic details merely serving as the Almighty’s backdrop.
Images of perpetual exhilaration and scenic sunsets and innocent joys can be useful in envisioning an earthly Eden (“heaven” with a lower case “h”) , but simply put, if we hope to approach Heaven, we need to draw near to God, allowing Him to be central in our lives! Too often, you and I are content to paint God as the distant landscape in which direction we presume our life is more or less heading, effectively reducing Him from “personal Lord and Judge of all” to “pantheistic horizon of life.” So, are your life choices carefully and deliberately following God’s directions to Heaven, or are you just content to see your life drifting along fast enough toward some imaginary pantheistic paradise?
Heb 12: 18-19. 21-24/ Ps 47(48): 2-3ab. 3cd-4. 9. 10-11/ Mk 6: 7-13
From today’s readings: “You have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem.... O God, we ponder Your mercy within Your temple.... Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two.... ”
Approaching Heaven
“What is your vision of heaven?” is a pleasant thought-provoking question periodically raised in various media eager for a wholly positive though thoroughly innocuous Polaroid portrayal of the “average Joe.” Predictably, younger people often imagine heaven as a place of non-stop thrills, whereas answers from older people tend to be vaguely idyllic, painting one of life’s simple pleasures being enjoyed in a pretty and peaceful place, e.g., “Heaven to me means enjoying an ice cream cone with your family as the summer sun is setting on the seashore.”
I wonder how many people’s dreams of heaven omit the little detail of specifying where God fits in the picture! Though the Bible only offers a few glimpses of Heaven (including the cameo found in today’s first reading), the scriptural and all other credible celestial visions certainly focus on GOD, with all the other majestic details merely serving as the Almighty’s backdrop.
Images of perpetual exhilaration and scenic sunsets and innocent joys can be useful in envisioning an earthly Eden (“heaven” with a lower case “h”) , but simply put, if we hope to approach Heaven, we need to draw near to God, allowing Him to be central in our lives! Too often, you and I are content to paint God as the distant landscape in which direction we presume our life is more or less heading, effectively reducing Him from “personal Lord and Judge of all” to “pantheistic horizon of life.” So, are your life choices carefully and deliberately following God’s directions to Heaven, or are you just content to see your life drifting along fast enough toward some imaginary pantheistic paradise?
posted by FrPitstick | 2/04/2009
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