The lessons for today are appropriate for people who experience distress and anxiety. At some points in our lives, all of us have fears and call out to God for rescue. But we usually don’t do so from the perspective of first acknowledging that our anxieties are often due to our lack of trust and our inability to honestly confront our weaknesses and our daily need for God to reveal God’s light in the midst of our lives.
St. Paul says we should boast of the things that show our weakness. That is not something that is easy for most of us to do. But it is our weakness, not our strength, that draws us to God. And if we acknowledge how God works through our lives in times of weakness, not in times of strength, others are more likely to be drawn to God.
The Psalmist says that the Lord hears the call of the poor and lowly and rescues the just. But who are the just? Shouldn’t we all blush with shame for something? From my experience, and the perspective of my faith, it is a matter of the openness of our hearts, not the record of our deeds, that makes us just before God.
The good news for us today is that no matter what we must confess that we have done or undone, no matter how weak is our flesh and our willingness to sin, we shouldn’t lose sleep over our condition. If we call on the Lord with hearts full of praise, God will rescue us and fill our hearts with light. With this light, we will be delivered of our fears.
Barbara Dilly
I came to Creighton in 2000 and retired in 2020. My twenty years of teaching, research and service in the Jesuit tradition enhanced my own life. It was an exciting time of celebration. I loved teaching and interacting with Creighton students because they responded so eagerly to the Ignatian pedagogical emphasis on the development of the whole person. It is this spirit of whole person development and celebration of life that I hope to infuse in my reflection writings.
My academic background is eclectic, preparing me well for the Liberal Arts academic environment at Creighton. I earned my BA in World Arts and Cultures from UCLA in 1988 and my Ph.D. in Comparative Cultures from the University of California, Irvine in 1994. My research focused on rural communities in the American Midwest, Latin America, and Australia. I taught Environmental Anthropology, Qualitative Research Methods, Social and Cultural Theory, and Food Studies courses.
I retired to Shell Rock, a small rural community in Northeast Iowa where I enjoy gardening, cooking, quilting, driving my 65 Impala convertible an my 49 Willys Jeepster. I have lots of fun playing my guitars with friends from the Cedar Valley Acoustic Guitar Association. But most importantly, I am still working to make my community and rural America a better place. I host a community quilt studio and serve on the Mission Board of my church. I also serve as the Climate Committee Chair and on the Executive Board of the Center for Rural Affairs.
