Scripture Reflection, November 18: The Meaning of Reverence

Scripture Readings:
Malachi 3: 19-20   
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3: 7-12
Luke 21: 5-19

During these middle and final weeks of November, we listen to Scripture passages about the final coming of Christ. These readings can be pretty tough to understand. They include vivid imagery of fire, earthquakes, and other fearful omens. They can seem foreign to our experience and to the ways in which we think. We do not live with the kind of intense expectation of the return of Christ that the early Christians experienced; thus we can wonder what these readings have to say to us.

It is important for us to remember that, as strange and frightening as some of these Scripture passages sound, they were primarily words of hope addressed to believers. They were meant to instill hope and courage in times of darkness and fear. It was not easy to be a faithful Christian at the time in which Luke wrote his gospel and recounted these words of Jesus. It was not socially approved or politically correct. Becoming a baptized Christian and trying to live as a follower of Jesus was a risk – a risk of one’s reputation, social standing and sometimes even a risk of one’s very life.

Some of these early Christians were forced to give public witness for their faith before hostile authorities. So the words of Jesus were words to live by, to keep in one’ s heart for reassurance and courage. They remembered that he had said, “It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute….not a hair on your head will be destroyed.” For those who identified themselves as Christians, these were words to keep in mind when it seemed as if everything was collapsing around them and they wondered how they could persevere under such strain and opposition.

Jesus speaks those same words to us today. You and I, too, are called to give testimony to Christ by our lives. We are challenged to give courageous witness in a society that may not openly persecute believers but in many ways stands in opposition to the good news of Jesus. The way in which each of us is called to bear witness to our faith differs according to the circumstances of our lives. Each of us encounters distinctive opportunities and challenges of offering testimony to Christ in a college dorm or classroom, a work situation, in marriage and family, among our friends and neighbors.

As I was thinking about what it means to give witness to Christ, I was struck by a line in the first reading for this Sunday’s liturgy, from the prophet Malachi. Malachi speaks of the “day of the Lord,” and he proclaims that it will be a day of judgment for the arrogant and evildoers. But he adds, “For you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” One of the ways in which we can offer witness to our faith in Christ is by fearing God’s name. What is that all about? It certainly does not mean living in cowering fear of God, in fright and perpetual guilt. We will never be able to grow in our love for God if we live in cowering fear or perpetual guilt. It does not mean that we have to “put on a holy face” when we come before God, out of fear that God will reject us if we come before him as we are, with all of our needs, struggles and weaknesses.  It seems to me that what the prophecy of Malachi calls us to is reverence. We are called to become people who reverence God, reverence others, and reverence ourselves.

This week marked the 11th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, former archbishop of Chicago and certainly one of the most inspiring Church leaders of recent times. His book, The Gift of Peace, is a kind of final testament that has been a source of inspiration for many people. It is a series of personal reflections on his life written in the midst of a period of great suffering caused by a false accusation of sexual abuse and the onset of a virulent form of cancer.  In reading this book, you encounter a person who had obviously learned what reverence means. His pastoral outreach to others who were suffering from cancer, his willingness to forgive the man who made the false accusation, his concern for the ordinary people of the Church, made it clear that he possessed a genuine reverence for others. And his honest sharing of his own prayer -- his ongoing dialogue with God throughout these ordeals -- reveals a person who loved God deeply and trusted in God’s care in his life.

Living with reverence is an everyday challenge for all of us. It is so tempting to view our relationships with others in terms of how much we can get out of them, how useful they can be to us. When in business we look only at profit margins, with little concern for people, there is no reverence there. When we overpower the people with whom we live with our words and fail to listen to them, there is a lack of reverence. When we think that what we do to our bodies and what we do with our bodies is just our own private business, we have missed out on the meaning of reverence. When we stereotype all of the poor as freeloaders or “rif-raff,” we have lost a sense of reverence. When we ignore the sanctity of the life of another human being, whether it is a child in the womb or a person on death row, the virtue of reverence is missing. When we fail to appreciate the many gifts God has given us, including the gift of this earth, there is no reverence.

To live in reverence means to view life with a particular set of eyeglasses. Reverence enables us to respect and appreciate God, other people, and ourselves. This leads us to look at another person not as someone who can be useful to me, but as someone who deserves my respect. That other person is a mystery who stands before me, one who needs to be listened to, to be honored and respected even if I disagree with him or her. To live in reverence entails a particular approach to the gift of time, neither wasting time as if it had no meaning, nor rushing from one thing to the next. Reverence enables us to recognize particular moments in life that invite special attention and stepping back, like birth, death, pain, commitment, loss, victory. Reverence moves us to reflect on our patterns of consumption: to take what we need but not to live as if the whole world belonged to us or our worth were determined by how much we own. Reverence means that we learn to respect and appreciate ourselves, our intellect, our spirits, our bodies. To live in reverence means cultivating a sense of God’s presence, an awareness that God is with me at every moment and that he comes to meet me in the ordinary circumstances of my life.  Reverence gives birth to hope, because it is based on a power greater than ourselves. (See Robert Morneau, Spiritual Direction, Crossroad Publishing, 101-109).

One important way in which we give testimony to our faith in Christ today is by becoming people of reverence. Acquiring that virtue involves a lifetime of learning. As we come to the table of the Lord this Sunday, may we ask him to increase within us this virtue of reverence. We can make that prayer in confidence, knowing that Christ reverences each one of us, that he has a profound appreciation for each of us. As the gospel tells us, Christ knows every hair on our head and he loves us with a love that is faithful and undying.

Robin Ryan, CP