THE FEET OF THE SUN

NOVEMBER 13, 2022

The imagery of the readings is frightening and cannot be easily understood.
Maybe one aspect is of the contrasts we live with:
terror and violence among ourselves and the Earth, and also the healing and gentle power of God.
The sun of justice will shine with healing in its rays’. When we see the terrors of the globe, it is a sign that God’s power is also in our midst: ‘do not be frightened’, we are told.

If you look at the sun in the evening, you often see the rays of light hitting the Earth. In Irish they are called ‘cosa na greinne’ or the feet of the sun. We can think of them as God’s feet walking along our scorched and wounded earth: through the poverty and the illness of his world, through fields full of landmines and unexploded bombs, the rays of light take their pilgrimage from heaven through our world, which needs the light of God so badly.

Even in persecution the presence of God is near. Even in betrayal and in the conflicts that arise over the word of God and how to live the gospel, God is near. He never abandons his people. We can almost sum up the message of the prophets as ‘God does not abandon us’.

In years when the Church throughout the world was stripped of almost all except its relationship with Jesus, we know that despite the faults, sins and weaknesses and the huge need for renewal, God is near in the word of Jesus Christ. It is in listening to his word and interpreting it together for today that we will find our true way forward as his community.

Lord Jesus, may your kingdom come
and your will be done on earth as in heaven
.

Donal Neary S.J.