Friday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 8:6-13 | Psalm 84(85):8,10-14 | Mark 3:13-19
By speaking of a new covenant, he implies that the first one is already old. Now anything old only gets more antiquated until in the end it disappears. (Hebrews 8:13)
My second home file server died last week. It was working just fine, serving up my data faithfully…until I restarted it, whereupon the disk light on the front panel turned from a flashing green that meant “checking…checking…” to an ugly “IT’S DEAD, JIM!” red.
Apparently, the stress of having to spin up and down sporadically (for power-saving reasons) finally caused the internal hard drive to die permanently when I power-cycled the box. At least I didn’t lose any critical files, and the involuntary loss of thousands of old documents and electronic periodicals may actually have been a blessing in disguise.
Still, after reading the above passage, I relived the mental shock of seeing that baleful red eye staring back at me.
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
I wrote about the benefits of spiritual renewal earlier this week, so I’ll share my thoughts today about its necessity.
Just like the contents of my dead hard drive, we probably have one or more regular spiritual practices, like a daily rosary recitation, that we perform religiously but also perhaps a little mechanically. Even the best of intentions may not be enough to stop ourselves from sliding into humdrum repetition of words and actions that have lost their cherished meaning.
And after enough meaningless regurgitation, we stop altogether, and our faith likewise “gets more antiquated until in the end it disappears”.
This is why I prefer to pray the rosary on public transport. Even though I’m traveling the same route each day, the people I see while I pray are always different, and this inspires me to imbue the same old rosary prayers with a unique twist each time.
For example, my trip yesterday began with a pair of young girls in preschool uniforms chasing each other up and down the train carriage, loudly giggling all the way. I happened to be wrapping up the Third Luminous Mystery as I boarded, so before I started on the Fourth:
Mother Mary, I lift up to you these two young girls. May they never lose the joy they now possess, as they grow up and face life’s issues head-on, and when they have children of their own, may they always show their little ones the love you show to us, the sinners whom your Son suffered and died to save.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
The day before, it was a tired and visibly pregnant woman. I prayed for good health, a smooth delivery and a joyful motherhood.
The day before that, I spied a young Caucasian couple sporting enormous backpacks. Safe travels to the lovebirds, yo!
Thus the old is made new again.
I think the same principle can be applied to any spiritual activity. Instead of mechanically doing the same thing over and over again, let us dedicate and orient it each time towards a different person we have encountered. In this way, we can remind ourselves that though our deeds are directed to God, they are for the people around us, our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Amen.