Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - March 16, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
While college students have a tremendous amount of native charm and attractive exuberance, there are other types of beauty that can brighten life. Living in the country at a small college I see a lot of the former: the easy smiles, the enthusiasm for friends, fun, and football, the energy and joy, a willingness to see humor in a lot of places, the casual and careless dress which still looks good. A metropolis offers other scenes that are stimulating and show other kinds of potential in our fellow human beings. You see women, professional, working or shopping, beautifully dressed, elegantly groomed; you see men handsomely turned out in suits and ties or, likewise, people of both sexes making a statement with exotic dress. All, students and the downtown types, give you entrancing glimpses of the potential, the attractiveness, of the human race.
Speculating on the purposes of the universe and its evolutionary direction, Angela Tilby proposes that one of God's goals might be to produce as much diversity as possible. While we might value predictability and the down-home look, there's still an excitement in seeing what else human beings can do with themselves and their capacities. We have Psalms praising the variety to be found in creation -- sun, moon, snow and ice, summer and winter, fire and wind. Possibly we've reached a stage where we should praise God more for the variety and possibilities in the people that modern life permits us to encounter.
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
