The present moment

0:06

Oculi mei

Margaret Rizza

Today is Friday the 13th of November, the feast of Saint Stanislas Kostka SJ, in the 32nd week of Ordinary Time.

Wherever you are right now, on the way to work, walking in the park, sitting at home… what can you see?

Remember for a moment that God is present in all of this, that all of this has been made by God, and is loved by God, that God holds you, and all of this, in the palm of God's hand.

Today we hear a piece by Margaret Rizza: ‘Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum’ (My eyes are on the Lord God.)

Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum

Like the deer that yearns for running streams

So my soul is yearning for my God

My tears have become my bread day and night

As I hear it said: 'Where is your God?′

Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum

By day the Lord will send His loving Spirit

By night I will sing praises to the God of my life

Send out Your light and Your truth as my guide

To lead me to Your holy ground

Oculi mei ad Dominum Deum

Then shall I go to the God of my joy

Singing praise, praise on the lyre and the harp

Why so downcast my soul?

Put your hope and trust in my Saviour, my God

4:21

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 17:26-37

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed all of them — it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.’ Then they asked him, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.’

6:40

Continuum

Jesus recalls the scriptures about the days of Noah and of Lot, when people went about their ordinary lives, eating, drinking, buying and building, until everything changed. These are stark images. How do they strike you? Perhaps you can hear them less as a threat and more as an invitation to live awake to the present moment, where God is found.

Jesus tells us to remember Lot’s wife and warns that clinging to our own lives is a way of losing them. St Stanislas Kostka, a young Polish Jesuit, travelled hundreds of miles on foot to enter the Society and died as a novice at seventeen, having given himself to God wholeheartedly. What are you holding on to? What would it mean for you to travel lightly?

Listen to the reading again, allowing an image or word to stand out, without trying to solve its puzzles. Notice what you feel, whether unease, challenge or trust.

9:50

Luke 17:26-37

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed all of them — it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.’ Then they asked him, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.’

11:57

Take some time to talk to Jesus about what being ready means for you today. Ask for freedom from whatever you are clinging to, and for a deeper trust in him, speaking from your heart.

14:15

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

World without end

Amen