Friday, August 07, 2009
Walking on the Water
It was just a few days ago that Francis Michael mentioned during our Sunday Chapter that we really do not know exactly what Jesus said or did. When it comes down to sifting the real facts from the available texts, the mission is impossible. We know there are inseparable and intertwined layers of theological reflections, biographical sketches and stories that defy a clear grasp of the naked truth. Scholars have long sought to reach the historical Jesus. But he seems to be more elusive the more you try and pin him down. But truth is not necessarily always garbed in the objectively factual or the scientifically verifiable.
Taking a cue from the gospel account of Jesus walking on the water, we look for inspiration to those in our own time who dream to move on the seas of life with an inspiring grace.
There is a group of homeless men in Warsaw, Poland who are building a big ship. They were inspired by a priest who started the project and then died at the age of fifty. His death moved the men to work even harder to get the necessary donations from good hearted people to complete the ship. Iron and paint have been donated and it is only a matter of time before the ship begins its journey around the world, starting at the Baltic Sea.
The name of the priest was Father Boguslaw Paleczny and he founded a shelter for the homeless that he called the Saint Lazarus home and, not unlike Lazarus, many men and women experienced a rise to new life through the love of Father Paleczny. When some of these raised and inspired people take to the seas, they will do so in the hope of being witnesses to what a new life can mean. They also want to draw the attention of the world to the plight of those who have no homes and no hope. The ship will be named after Father Paleczny.
The truth of Jesus may seem elusive but perhaps we are dealing with a weak nature of truth as we bear it down upon the gospels. Truth has many guises, and it moves gracefully through life on every horizon. The story of Jesus walking on a sea invites us to ponder the meanings of wonder, fear, awe and calm as we move through the high and low tides of this life. Every now and then, the wind carries a seemingly special inspiration and a ship rises, and sets sail, bearing a memory and a message that are as near to the miraculous as we could ever hope to find. A living truth waiting to be born is set free from its mooring in a text, and it finds hearts and a waiting sea, and moves with grace on the waters.
Taking a cue from the gospel account of Jesus walking on the water, we look for inspiration to those in our own time who dream to move on the seas of life with an inspiring grace.
There is a group of homeless men in Warsaw, Poland who are building a big ship. They were inspired by a priest who started the project and then died at the age of fifty. His death moved the men to work even harder to get the necessary donations from good hearted people to complete the ship. Iron and paint have been donated and it is only a matter of time before the ship begins its journey around the world, starting at the Baltic Sea.
The name of the priest was Father Boguslaw Paleczny and he founded a shelter for the homeless that he called the Saint Lazarus home and, not unlike Lazarus, many men and women experienced a rise to new life through the love of Father Paleczny. When some of these raised and inspired people take to the seas, they will do so in the hope of being witnesses to what a new life can mean. They also want to draw the attention of the world to the plight of those who have no homes and no hope. The ship will be named after Father Paleczny.
The truth of Jesus may seem elusive but perhaps we are dealing with a weak nature of truth as we bear it down upon the gospels. Truth has many guises, and it moves gracefully through life on every horizon. The story of Jesus walking on a sea invites us to ponder the meanings of wonder, fear, awe and calm as we move through the high and low tides of this life. Every now and then, the wind carries a seemingly special inspiration and a ship rises, and sets sail, bearing a memory and a message that are as near to the miraculous as we could ever hope to find. A living truth waiting to be born is set free from its mooring in a text, and it finds hearts and a waiting sea, and moves with grace on the waters.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
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