A New Earth
The second reading from the Office of Readings on Monday, May 4th, was a sermon by St. Gregory of Nyssa, bishop.
He uses imagery from our world to explain the faith. For example, he says the faith is the womb that conceives new life. Baptism is the rebirth that brings us into the new light of day. The Church is our nurse; her teachings are milk, and the bread from heaven is its food.
He depicts a new day, which is eternal, and a new heaven and a new earth. The new earth is a good heart that, like the earth, drinks up the rain that falls down and yields a rich harvest. The depths of richness of wisdom and knowledge are the sea. The virtues are the stars. Sound doctrine is the grass and plants that feed God’s flock.
I’m not much of a poet, but I was captivated by the beauty of St. Gregory’s writing. I find it useful to employ familiar things, like creation, which I can see and touch, to explain that which I can’t see. Seeing with the eyes of faith, and noticing how He has ordained everything for our benefit. The vastness of the sea, the rain, and the stars are familiar, yet I don’t fully comprehend them. I believe it is the same way with God; I’m in awe of Him, yet I don’t fully understand Him, and that’s good, because He gave us faith.
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The Musician
“I am but a harp in the hands of the Spirit. If I make a beautiful sound, it is not the wood or the strings that deserve the praise, but the Musician who plucks them. Let God be the song, and let me be the instrument.”
—St. Ephrem the Syrian
There is something heavenly about harps. The image of a cartoon character going to heaven, sitting on a cloud, harp in hand, might have something to do with it. It might be a childhood memory, or it could be that its sound, when properly plucked, can evoke thoughts of heaven.
God gave humankind minds capable of making instruments and beautiful music that can lift up our hearts and souls. Beauty clues us in to the existence of God, who is beauty Himself. However, I had never thought about God as a musician until I stumbled upon this quote; yet it makes sense. If you look at the harmony of His creation, a symphony starts emerging just like C.S. Lewis wrote about the creation of Narnia.
If He wants us to participate in His life, the perfect harmony of the Most Holy Trinity, it makes us look at ourselves as instruments. We, too, can make beautiful music from our lives by being attuned to His movements through us. We just need to let the maestro pluck our strings and harmonize our song with the rest of the orchestra.
John 14:1
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
About four years ago, I was laid off from a start-up I had been working for over a year. It was the first time I had lost a job in my career, and it happened over a Zoom call first thing in the morning. After I spiraled a bit, Mrs. Cantú and I sat down, talked things out, and eventually everything worked out for the better.
This week, my current employer did a round of layoffs, which seems to be the norm these days. I wasn’t affected this time; however, my team shrank to almost half its size. Even though I’m still employed, I recognized that the anxiety in the previous two weeks was creeping in. Mrs. Cantú called me out on it, and I was able to snap out of it for a moment, only to attempt to digest the fact that people I have been working with for years will no longer be there.
I feel for anyone who has lost a job, especially since I’ve been through it once. I don’t wish this on anyone. I’ve been trying to strike a balance between giving people space and letting them know that if I can do anything for them, they just need to ask.
Then I noticed something interesting. Even though I wasn’t affected, I began to feel a certain dread of the unknown and a touch of survivor’s guilt. What I’ve been trying to tell myself is that my feelings about the situation won’t change the facts and won’t help others much. So what can I do instead?
Enter John 14:1. We’re all in God’s hands. He has told us not to let our hearts be troubled or afraid, so let’s trust Him. Four years ago, I thought everything was crumbling in front of me, and about a month later, after dozens of interviews, I found a great job with a salary that would allow me to provide for my family. It was, as some of us say, a blessing in disguise.
I’m trying to stay positive and let tomorrow worry about itself. We’ll cross those bridges when we get there.
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Sobremesa
If you had to choose between the beach and the mountains, which one would you pick and why?
What instrument would you be? I think I’m shaped like an upright bass.
Have you ever experienced “blessings in disguise”? What happened?
1. The mountains, because there’s more of a variety of things to explore there.
2. Maybe a ukulele or something similar, small and stringed that God can pluck, even while hopelessly out of tune.
3. I have. I recently had to make a very difficult decision on a leap of faith, and in the month since then, I’ve been truly astounded at the ways in which God has blessed me for it.