• Thoughts from the Second Floor Front
  XXV Sunday in Ordinary Time
  September 24, 2023
  
  Seek the LORD while he may be found,
  call him while he is near.
  Let the scoundrel forsake his way,
  and the wicked his thoughts;
  let him turn to the LORD for mercy;
  to our God, who is generous in forgiving.
   

       Isaiah’s directive to the people of Israel is ladened with a sense of urgency in his message. Years ago, on a retreat I was making, the director told the story of a conference in Hell called by the Prince of Lies. The topic to be discussed was how to tempt more and more souls into the realm of the Evil one. When Old Scratch asked for suggestions, one young tempter suggested that people are told that there is no God. Ah, Satan grumbled, we have used that in the past and it worked fairly well. Another demon-in-training said: How about we tell them there is no devil. You all know how stupid those people are and if they can’t see something they believe it doesn’t exist. Satan grinned at that submission. Then from the back of the conference room a rasping old voice from an ancient devil said: How about if we tell them, there is no hurry.
  
       Yesterday was the Autumnal Equinox. I am not so sure I can agree with F. Scott Fitzgerald who, in the Great Gatsby, wrote “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” Fall is a beautiful time of year but it does not last long enough. The colors are wonderful, the outside temperatures are terrific, the autumnal menus are very fine. All that being true, with characteristic Irish pessimism, I regularly go back to a haunting phrase: Yes but it doesn’t last long enough and then we are in winter! There is a certain wisdom to living in such a way to appreciate the present moment. When I was in education, whether it was as a high school teacher or Academic Dean and then Vice-Rector, I would regularly reflect on the reality that the work encouraged me, if not demanded of me, to always look to the future. What is due next? What is my lesson plan for tomorrow? When is the next free weekend? When does the semester end? I loved teaching for a number of reasons. However, I often fell into the trap of preparing for the next thing and missing the present moment.
  
       I have heard people say of another they admire greatly: He looked at me or listened to me like I was the only person in the room. That is a real asset in communication. I’ve also experienced people who when I was shaking their hands in greeting, they were looking over my shoulder to see who else was in the room. The individual was not so much interested in seeing me as to being seen by others. I often speak of the ministry of presence. There are occasions when words not only fail, they do not even matter. Friends walking side by side in silence. The embrace of family and friends at a funeral. The look of lovers, one to another. Moments of deep prayer marked by a powerful sense of the Divine presence. Seek the Lord in those moments.
  
       Think about the workers in the vineyard. Some were so concerned about what they were getting they failed to recognize the landowner’s generosity to some and fairness to others. The first line in the Liturgy of the Word this weekend, from the Great Prophet Isaiah, is filled with that sense of urgency: Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near. This passage is an appeal for conversion so you might suspect that it would probably seem more appropriate during the sacred penitential seasons of Advent or Lent. Or perhaps the liturgist knows that the need for conversion is ongoing.
  
       There is a sense of movement in the passage: forsake the way, turn to the Lord. Conversion is about movement but the movement is not merely physical. The turning away from something also must involve a turning towards something. The real challenge is not at all in the physical turning or the seasons of the year turning, summer into fall, but the spiritual turning. To turn one’s mind and embrace an entirely new means of thinking and understanding is the real challenge. Take up the challenge this week and see things and people differently.
  Faithfully,
  
  Msgr. Diamond