19 February 2019 - that which is hidden

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus enjoined them, "Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod." 

The leaven of the Pharisees is not the right way to have enough bread to go around. Their fruit can only be like themselves. On the outside it has the correct appearance of religion. But within not only is there no nourishment but there is actually the corruption of selfish pride. There is plenty of this leaven and this bread in the world. When we are hungry we are tempted to turn to it.

Instead of the leaven of the Pharisees we must learn to trust in Jesus. We must pray for our daily bread from God. 

"And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?"
They answered him, "Twelve."
"When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?"
They answered him, "Seven."

Trusting in God is the opposite of the leaven of the Pharisees. From the outside it seems insufficient. It is a mystery of hiddenness. It seems like there isn't enough to go around. Yet there are leftovers. The Eucharist appears to be mere bread. Yet it is the very life of God.

We are invited to shun solutions which only appear easy but which ultimately lack substance. We are invited rather to trust in the one who makes what is hidden grow.

He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how (see Mark 4:27).

Jesus is our example in preferring the hidden manna. 

But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." (see John 4:32).

We may be called apart into the hiddenness of the ark before the rain even starts, when the world still seems to be the place where plants and animals are abundant for food. We bring with us only what we are called to bring. And in this hiddenness God renews not just ourselves but all of creation.

Then the LORD said to Noah:
Go into the ark, you and all your household,
for you alone in this age have I found to be truly just.

It isn't necessarily an easy ride within the ark. But it is the only way. And it will be worth it when we see the rainbow shining and set feet on dry land once more.

The God of glory thunders,
and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
The LORD is enthroned above the flood;
the LORD is enthroned as king forever.