December 16/Third Monday of Advent
“By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” ~ Matt 21.22
Since about fourth grade, when I first encountered word problems, math has not been my strong suit. A geometry exercise I loved, however, was using the compass to draw a perfect circle. As I pressed the slender leg into the center of the paper and carefully inscribed an arc all the way around, I felt confident that the results would be error-free. That compass never failed me! It seems that many of us, these days, no longer know in whom or in what we may fix our own center. Institutions, traditions, long-held customs and norms all seem swallowed in the cacophony of opposing voices. Truth itself seems up for grabs. Or as the Irish poet W.B. Yeats famously wrote in The Second Coming, “The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” But in fact, there is a fixed center that will hold. It is God, who lifts us out of the scrum of our daily lives and puts us on the path to his truth. As medieval German mystic and theologian Meister Eckhart observed, “Whoever wants to start a good life should do so like someone setting out a circle. If he has fixed the center of the circle accurately, and it remains firm, then the line of the circle will be a good one. In other words, a person should first learn to set his heart firmly in God.” We are invited today to recognize the unchanging and everlasting authority of the creating, redeeming, sanctifying God — the authority that Jesus so calmly claims in the face of a hostile establishment, as Matthew tells in today’s Gospel. In whom do we trust? Jesus knows: In God we trust.
Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth, grant me the confidence and wisdom to place my trust completely in you. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121624.cfm
To hear “Come and Find the Quiet Center,” by Shirley Erena Murray, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jukLcHj3BA
