Reflection for Wednesday, August 4, 2010: 18th week in Ordinary Time.

Abstract

The Bonds of Love||We are in this together.| The promise of authentic love is eternity. The changes brought by time do not have the last word. I promise to be there through it all. This promise is not always fulfilled. But in love that perseveres, we glimpse the face of God. The eternal is made flesh once again.|The tribes of Israel abandoned God. They sank into idolatry, betrayal, conspiracy, war, and finally exile. Those who weren't killed were enslaved and Jerusalem was destroyed. Their failures stretched out endless as the desert. But God's mercy stretches even further. Through Jeremiah, God tenderly reminds the remnant, "with age-old love I have loved you." Life will return. However far we wander, God will find us and the tambourines will sound again.|Are we a people too? In the modern world, we call ourselves individuals. Each keeps to a separate, self-chosen path. My responsibility is narrow and pinned to my choices. But is this separateness an illusion? We forget what our ancestors knew. When church members sin, all are brought low. When government or corporate leaders betray their charge, the devastation is shared. When people migrate for better lives, they are my brethren too.|We live together amid many struggles. By the mercy of God's love, we will dance together in the restoration.