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3/22/2018

Ironies in our Lives

The ironies in our life do not match the stark contrasts of Jesus’ life, yet …

Director’s Reflection

Dear Companions on the Journey,

Great were the ironies that surrounded Jesus’ life.  St. Gregory of Nazianzus (325-389 CE)a reflected on some of them:

He who fed thousands with a few loaves fasted and knew hunger; he who promised to remove all weariness fell asleep in Peter’s boat; he who had often restored speech to the dumb allowed himself to be led silent as a lamb to the slaughter; he who had put the demons to flight with a word handed himself over without protest to the powers of darkness; he who had healed the man born blind with his spittle allowed his eyes to be covered and spat upon; the healer of lepers became, according to the words of Isaiah, a leper, as one from whom men and women hide their face; his face which shone like the sun on Mount Tabor was marred, despised, and rejected; the Master who changed water into wine accepted vinegar to quench his thirst. The Lord who raised Lazarus from the dead and restored his son to the widow of Nain went solitary into death and left his mother alone to bear the burden of her grief.

The ironies in our life do not match the stark contrasts of Jesus’ life, yet the sort of recompense that we will find in our commitment to working for, and loving, our neighbor may have the same sort of disappointing effect. And the discouragement which must have marked Jesus’ life will find an echo in our own…

What do you think?

And let us pray for/with one another.

Michael

The Paulist Center