 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
“You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped…”
Though rarely, if ever, used in my everyday vocabulary, this word/phrase from the prophet Jeremiah stays with me throughout the day anytime I hear it. It’s such a good word…duped! It served Jeremiah’s purpose well in his attempt to express the personal crisis that comes with the territory of being chosen as a prophet of God: I don’t want to do this, but because of my love for you, and for the greater good, I know that I must!
And, it’s not too difficult to see why the Jeremiah reading and the gospel text from Matthew were paired together today: Jesus’ realization that, in being named the Christ (which we heard in Matthew’s gospel for the first time just last week) he will suffer, die…and be raised. Instead of quoting Jeremiah’s, “You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped,” Jesus will, on the night before his death, pray “Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me.” It’s just another way of saying, I don’t want to do this, but out of love, and for the greater good, that is, the coming of the kingdom, I know I must.
Then, there’s poor Peter.
It’s the beginning of a new school year, so let’s take a test: How many of you remember what name Peter’s good friend, Jesus of Nazareth, gave him just last week? Anybody? That’s right. Peter: “rock”…the keeper of the keys to the kingdom; the foundation of his church. And what name is Peter given today? Satan. And why? Because Peter doesn’t get it…yet. He cannot wrap his head, and heart, around the truth of the paschal mystery: in order for Jesus to fulfill his mission as the Christ, in order to bring all people to fullness of life, he must suffer and die.“You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped…” I’m guessing that S. Frances Knapp, Antonia Hermann and Gonzaga might have used that phrase…or something similar…as they landed in our fair city 150 years ago at Chicago and Cass streets, realizing they had little to nothing, at least materially, to begin a new venture of building a school and establishing a Benedictine community.
It will come to no surprise to you that I prefer plans and schedules over spontaneous events. However, after a particularly long day last Tuesday, which, if you recall included our 150th rain event downtown, a festive meal, and an unscheduled run to the St. Francis emergency room, I found myself saying to someone the next day, “It’s a good thing I didn’t know what I was going to have to do yesterday…if I had, I don’t think I could have gotten out of bed.”
So, where does that leave us? I’m guessing that many of us sitting in this chapel, really didn’t have a clue about what we were in for as members of the Catholic church, and, as has come to pass, as Benedictine Sisters of Chicago. And, as we look back on our lives, it’s probably better that way! But, we are here because we believe deeply, in the mission of our church and the values of our community.
And, at its roots, it’s all about relationships:
Jeremiah continued prophesying because he loved his God; Jesus went to the cross because he loved his Father; Peter served as the 1st leader of the Church because he loved his friend, Jesus. We live and work in community out of love for our God and, hopefully, each other.“You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped…” Let us thank God for that.