June 18, 2023 (Father’s Day)

Sister Jan Ginzkey shares a reflection on the scripture readings: Exodus 19:2-6a; Psalm 100:1-3,5; Romans 5:6-11; Matthew 9:36-10:8

The readings today all remind us that God is working in our daily lives. In Exodus the people are reminded that God calls them His “special possession.” God led them out of Egypt and traveled with them through the desert. The psalm tells us that God cares for each of us: “God’s kindness endures forever and God’s faithfulness to all generations.”

Paul tells us that God proves this steadfast love through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

We are being invited to recognize God’s presence and love in our lives.

I like to imagine God looking at each of us as a new father looks in awe and wonder at his newborn infant cradled in his arms. I see God reaching out in love and encouragement as a toddler takes those first wobbly steps. God walks with each of us as we journey through elementary school, adolescence and into adulthood, just as God accompanied the Israelites in the desert.

Life is not always easy; the path may be rough, and detours slow us on our journey. The psalmist says God bore the Israelites out of slavery with eagles’ wings. I was awed watching a nature program on eagles. I learned that the eagle parents would nudge their young out of the nest when the parents knew it was time for the eaglets to learn to fly. The startled and frightened eaglets initially did not know how to use their own wings.

The adult would swoop down and catch the plummeting eaglet gently in their talons and bring them back to the safety of the nest. Experiencing this lesson a few times and observing the eagle soar gracefully, the eaglet soon mastered flying and soaring on their own. Such an image of God fills me with faith, hope, trust, and gratitude for such loving compassion.

In the gospel Jesus sees the number of people seeking God. Jesus understands that it is time for the disciples, his students, to learn how to help Him in his mission to spread the good news. The twelve become apostles, ”the ones sent out.” Jesus instills the apostles with the confidence and assurance like the eagle teaches the eaglet to fly. Jesus commissions the apostles to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons. They are to spread God’s compassion and love.  

There is an abundant harvest today just as Jesus proclaimed to the apostles. Jesus found the people seeking God on the hillside, in the fishing boats, in the villages. Are you, am I, seeking God? Where do we find those who are seeking God in our world?

There are many seekers who have been disillusioned by the institutional churches.

Some are seeking God in nature. Some are seeking God in intentional communities.

Some are seeking God while living on the margins of society. Those helping the immigrants and refugees at our borders, are often humbled by the deep faith in

God’s presence of the weary and bedraggled seeking asylum. Even in the midst of their dangerous and harrowing journey, like the Israelites in the desert, they are sustained by trust in God’s faithfulness and compassion. This Sunday may we seek a deeper awareness of God’s divine presence in our personal lives, in our families and in our community. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to give us the vision to see God present in our wounded world. May we have the courage to ask for God’s gift to see how we have been borne up on eagle wings.