March 29/Good Friday
I am forgotten like the unremembered dead; I am like a dish that is broken. ~ Ps 31.12-13
Years ago I had the opportunity to help create a mosaic, and participating in that process intensified my fascination with the form. The process of taking irregular and broken pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic and creating a stunning pattern, an evocative portrait, or a vivid picture seems almost miraculous. The interplay between the coherence of the image and the fragmentation of its composition entrances me: out of such brokenness comes a thing of beauty. The same is true for us, but we are loath to accept it; we are mostly unwilling to acknowledge the many ways in which our lives are broken. Certainly today’s culture, aided and abetted by the forces of social media, strong-arms us to put up a good front. We may go out into the world pretending that everything is okay, that we have it under control, that we are not struggling to make sense of things. But we know deep down that this is not true either of the world at large, where global forces are wreaking havoc, and or in our own personal spheres, where we may be dealing with a host of challenges. We are reluctant to admit that we feel shattered, fragmented, perhaps even as worthless as a broken dish. But such vulnerability is how we connect with others. Times of weakness and discouragement are precisely the moments in which we acknowledge our need for God and for other people. The 13th-century Persian poet and theologian Rumi observed, “The wound is the place where the light enters you.” Sooner or later, the flimsy façade of self-confidence that we have erected will implode. And at that moment, the light of God’s love will pour through the wreckage, and illuminate the beauty in our brokenness. Do we dare open ourselves to his light?
O perfect God, Give me the courage today to show imperfection to you and to others. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032924.cfm
To hear the Gesualdo Six sing “O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded” by Hans Leo Hassler (harmonized by J.S. Bach), click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_OBbjAfVrI
