Here, in the middle of summer, it would be nice to give our minds a break. But today's reading comes from Paul's letter to the congregation in Rome, whose intelligence and alertness he never underestimates. And accordingly, the awesome Sr Emmanuelle Billoteau, Benedictine hermit in Provence, has provided a "meditation" to comment on it which equally refuses to underestimate us. How refreshing. I've chosen J.B. Phillips's New Testament translation to represent the current official French one, which mostly fits. Read with care, because this is not easy. But very, very rewarding.
“Moreover we know that to those who love God, who are called
according to his plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good.
God, in his foreknowledge, chose them to bear the family likeness of his Son,
that he might be the eldest of a family of many brothers. He chose them long
ago; when the time came he called them, he made them righteous in his sight,
and then lifted them to the splendour of life as his own sons.”
(Romans 8:28-30;
tr. J.B. Phillips)
GOD, GREATER THAN OUR HEART
Sr Emmanuelle
Billoteau, Benedictine hermit
In the space of three
verses of extreme density, Paul sketches our ultimate destiny. Thus he opens up
for us a horizon that goes far beyond what our spirit can conceive. Moreover,
he deals cleverly with the experiences where we have trouble
understanding that everything contributes to our good.
Preparation
Lord, “let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort” (Ps. 119:76)
Observation
Right from the start, Paul sets us on another plane than
that of feelings, even religious ones. To speak of those who love God he
chooses, from among the words available to him, the verb corresponding to “agapè”: the love that has its wellspring
in God and has been “flooding through our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to
us.” (Rom. 5:5) So it takes on a
level of depth and stability that allows it to withstand storms. Then, Paul
mentions those whom God “chose long ago”, thereby expressing his conviction
that our being in the world did not happen by chance: we were thought and
willed by God before our creation. Finally, there are those whom he “made
righteous”: a specifically Pauline approach to salvation, seen as the opposite
of condemnation, in other words as reconciliation with God (cf Rom. 5). Hence the restoration of the
image and of the resemblance; hence our participation in the very glory of the
God who calls for our response of faith.
Meditation
By means of these words we understand that our “good” is not
only that which is “pleasant” to us, but also that which is “useful” and
“salutary”, in a view that goes beyond the limits of our present horizon and of our
singular person. It is not that Paul passes over the sufferings of our current
state, but by the standard of this ultimate future he sees them as labour pains
(cf Rom. 8). This connotes a dynamic of life awaiting its
fullness. This dynamic we can already experience in our existence when, like
Job, we move from a hearsay knowledge to a personal knowledge of God as a
result of a drama in our life. Or when, like Paul, we find that our murky ways can, by God’s grace, end up in the light: yes, “though sin is shown to be
wide and deep, thank God his grace is wider and deeper still.” (Rom. 5:20)
Prayer
“I called upon the
Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and
set me in a large place. The Lord is
my strength and song, and is become my salvation.” (Ps. 118:5,14).
