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21st Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle B August 25, 2024
Diane DeDominics • October 2, 2024
21st Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle B
August 25, 2024
Campfires. Campfires are part of what summer is all about. As a child, I remember campfires at Y camp where we sang songs and watched skits with corny endings, “Hare today, Goon Tomorrow”. We also listened to stories of fables from American History or Indian lore. Campfires are places to reflect and think about life. As the embers fade, we would lie on our backs and look at the star-lit sky and think about what is out there. Reflections upon God and our place in the universe.
Last week I had a campfire with my sibs and some friends. We told stories about our childhood days and high school years and exchanged news about neighbors and old friends.
The words around the campfire are words like what Joshua says in today's first reading. As Joshua wanders with the exiles, he encourages them to remember all the good things God has done for them in the past and is doing for them today.
“Far be it from us to forsake the Lord”. The Lord has not forsaken us, we may just have to remember how the Lord has been with us. Come move a log close to the fire and reflect with me on our life of faith.
Look into the flames of the campfire and let your mind wander. Think about your life of faith, who has been a guide for you? Who first helped you learn what it means to be a follower of Christ? What times or moments helped you to know there is a living God?
I find myself staring into the fire and remembering my mother who got up early in the morning to get laundry done and get dinner started. As I came downstairs I would find her in her chair praying her rosary. Her break from work was time spent in prayer. Mom took all of us to church each week. We always seemed to arrive to an empty parking lot and church. We needed to be early to have those few moments for quiet prayer in the church.
I recall summer days spent wandering in the woods looking at the plants and the animals. As we rode our bikes in the cemetery, we got in trouble for this, I would find myself thinking about all the men and women of faith buried here.
I remember the plaque given to me on my confirmation, which still sits on my dresser, “What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.”
What about you? Whose face do you pull out of the fire?
“Far be it from us to forsake the Lord”
Look again into the fire, look up at the star-lit sky, see the bright shining moon. Think about how God is active in your life today.
I find myself experiencing God this week as I prayed with a family who has said goodbye to its father and the wife and who told me over and over, “I know he is at peace”.
I reflect upon the red sky I looked at the other night as the sun set on the horizon.
I see the faces of the children as they savor the flavors of summer at the Delaware County Fair.
When my cat jumps on my lap I feel his love for me and breath and prayer of thanksgiving to our God.
Now think back over your week, where was God in your days this week?
“Far be it from us to forsake the Lord”
We wake from our reverie in the flames of our campfire, but we go forth to recall all our God is doing for us. This time of peace and reflection nurtures our soul. We have experienced what the psalmist has told us is true, we have “Tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord.”
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