For 1 February 2025, Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time, based on Hebrews 11:1, Mark 4:35–41
Hebrews 11:1
Sisters and brothers, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Mark 4:35–41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
———–
A few minutes ago, I loaded the breakfast dishes and started the dishwasher. It is fair to say I thought it was the Christian thing to do.
Most of those dishes were supper dishes from last night. And at supper, one of the brothers said that sometimes Christian life boils down to doing the best next thing. And that is what came to mind when I started the dishwasher. Much of our days, we spend doing the next little thing, the best next thing.
Sometimes, when we are in the daily habit of doing the best next thing by Christian instinct, things come to a tipping point, and life will never again be the same. At supper, for example, I mentioned Rosa Parks. One morning, she sat down in the white passenger section of the bus, and Montgomery, Alabama, was never again the same. I like to think it was the best next Christian thing for her to do.
But how do we have faith that our often mundane daily actions will be Christian?
We can take a clue from Scripture. For example, in today’s chapter 4 of Mark, we hear: “On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side,” and our passage from chapter 11 of Hebrews says: “Sisters and brothers, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” God’s Reign, which we cannot see, is what we hope to exercise in our daily actions. Each day, the scriptures and the liturgy tickle our imagination and enter the muscle memory of our souls. And our souls lead us to the best next thing—we wash the dishes, and we become ordinary prophets. Jesus says, Let us go to the other side—to the Reign of God. Our daily encounters with scriptural and liturgical imagination bear fruit in daily action: we can live in hope that we are doing the best next thing as we embark to the other side.
Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
1 Feb 2025
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Hebrews 11:1
Sisters and brothers, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Mark 4:35–41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
———–
A few minutes ago, I loaded the breakfast dishes and started the dishwasher. It is fair to say I thought it was the Christian thing to do.
Most of those dishes were supper dishes from last night. And at supper, one of the brothers said that sometimes Christian life boils down to doing the best next thing. And that is what came to mind when I started the dishwasher. Much of our days, we spend doing the next little thing, the best next thing.
Sometimes, when we are in the daily habit of doing the best next thing by Christian instinct, things come to a tipping point, and life will never again be the same. At supper, for example, I mentioned Rosa Parks. One morning, she sat down in the white passenger section of the bus, and Montgomery, Alabama, was never again the same. I like to think it was the best next Christian thing for her to do.
But how do we have faith that our often mundane daily actions will be Christian?
We can take a clue from Scripture. For example, in today’s chapter 4 of Mark, we hear: “On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side,” and our passage from chapter 11 of Hebrews says: “Sisters and brothers, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” God’s Reign, which we cannot see, is what we hope to exercise in our daily actions. Each day, the scriptures and the liturgy tickle our imagination and enter the muscle memory of our souls. And our souls lead us to the best next thing—we wash the dishes, and we become ordinary prophets. Jesus says, Let us go to the other side—to the Reign of God. Our daily encounters with scriptural and liturgical imagination bear fruit in daily action: we can live in hope that we are doing the best next thing as we embark to the other side.
Scripture passage from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.