Women at the ambo: The ways deep and the weather sharp

In quiet and trust from Michelle Francl on Vimeo.

“A cold coming we had of it
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow. — T. S. Eliot from Journey of the Magi

On Monday I spoke at St. Simon Stock parish in Berlin, New Jersey.  I was to return last night, but the National Weather Service predicted freezing rain and "sharp weather" (to quote T.S. Eliot, which I do to start the reflection).  So instead, I spent last night tucked up in my study, learning to use iMovie.  The results are posted above.  Having done it once, I now know how to do a better job, and I'll try to put up part I on the weekend.

From the reflection:

Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel):  “God’s word is unpredictable in its power. The Gospel speaks of a seed which, once sown, grows by itself, even as the farmer sleeps (Mk 4:26-29). The Church has to accept this unruly freedom of the word, which accomplishes what it wills in ways that surpass our calculations and ways of thinking.”

Are we ready to become all flame?  Pope Francis is beautifully blunt.  Ready or not, he says, we ought to step forward:

  

“Let us try a little harder to take the first step and to become involved. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.  An evangelizing community gets involved by word and deed in people’s daily lives; it bridges distances, it is willing to abase itself if necessary, and it embraces human life, touching the suffering flesh of Christ in others..."

Could I ask for the grace to assent to that unruly, ungraspable Light, that which I cannot cup in my hands, that which I cannot stop from pouring forth? Can I ask, however intemperately, to be set alight?