When the Good Lord comes a'callin' - Sunday's reading reflection

What do you suppose Abraham was doing while Sarah was preparing the bread and cheese and the servant was preparing the steer.  The meal didn't just happen like it does at the drive thru window.  Sarah had to prep and bake into rolls three measures of fine wheat flour.  Do you know how those three measures are? Not three handfuls.  It's equal to a half bushel.  That's nearly 30lbs.!  And the steer was chosen by Abraham, but prepared by his servant.  Even though the Scripture says he did it quickly, that means that he had to slaughter it, cut the meat and cook it.  We're talking hours and hours.

So at one point Abraham was busy welcoming them.  The next we hear he is serving them as they ate.  But what do you suppose he was doing the rest of the time?  He was sitting with them, asking them questions, listening to them and conversing about his life and theirs.

Do you see what happens in the Gospel?  Martha, like Sarah and the servant, was prepping the food.  Mary, like Abraham in the in-between, was sitting at the Lord's feet listening to him.  And we know that Abraham's visitors were no mere men.  One was the Lord and the other two were angels, as Scripture tells us.  

So we see that it is important to go out of our way to welcome the Lord.  It is important to serve him with the finest we have.  And it's important to sit and listen, asking him questions, telling him about our lives and listening as he tells us about his own.  

Prayer and service, like Blessed Mother Teresa showed us, are a both/and and not an either/or.

Reminder ringtones - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Thank God for smart phones where we can set for ourselves reminders with different ringtones to grab our attention.  In the old days it used to be a string tied around the finger.  By the 1990's, "yellow-stickies" became the modus operandi, being stuck to doors, mirrors, windows, computer screens and even dashboards.  Yeah, thank God we have ways to remind ourselves of what should be priorities.  Why?  Because we so easily forget. -even those things which are so important that we take the time to create a visual reminder such as a string, sticky-note or iPhone calendar reminder.

This is what we see in the first reading.  We hear, "When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said: 'I am God the Almighty.  Walk in my presence and be blameless.'”  In today's lingo you could almost hear Abram thinking, "Really?  Again with this?  I know you're God and I must walk in your presence and be blameless.  You've told me this a thousand times."  In fact, God had been leading Abram since he began his pilgrimage out of Ur.  God promised him offspring and lands.  And then he does so again when Ishmael is conceived with Hagar and Abram is 85.  Now we see Abram at 99, fourteen years later!  Still, no son.  Still no descendents other than the wild ass of a man (Ishmael) who is currently 13 and probably a wild ass of a teenager.

God says to Abram about Sarai, yet again, "I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her."  Abram had heard this before.  But, he needed a reminder! -just like he needed a reminder that God is God and that he must walk in his presence and be blameless.  We see Abram's faith and familiarity with God, as well as his humanity, because we hear, "Abraham [he was renamed in v.5] prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself, 'Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?  Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?'”  

As we know, the answer was yes.  Isaac was born one year later, more than twenty-five years after God first  promised Abraham descendents.  The promise was to be fulfilled, eventually.  But Abraham needed reminders along the way.  And so do we.  God is God.  We are not.  He loves us.  

Relax, and walk in his ways the best you can.