Our 7-year-old grandson spent the night with us last week. We laughed, played, and read books. The next morning, we all went to breakfast. He returned home nibbling a huge cookie. He was eager to tell his family that he had beaten both of us in a Crazy 8s card tournament at the kitchen table.
But when we walked into his house, he saw his older sister with something new. Instantly forgotten was the joyful time and attention he had with his grandparents. Instead, Dan zeroed in on a trip to the store he had missed. “No fair!” he said. “I didn’t get anything!”
How quickly we dismiss the gifts we have been given when we see what others have. We forget how rich and bountiful our lives can be when jealousy invades the present moment.
In today’s first reading from Genesis, we see the story of Sarah and Abraham. After many years of longing for a child, God’s promise brought them a son, miraculously conceived despite both of their advanced years. Today’s first reading begins with a happy ceremonial feast in honor of the young Isaac’s weaning.
Yet a resentful Sarah sees only Abraham’s other son, by Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar. As the two boys played together, Sarah demanded of Abraham: “Drive out that slave and her son! No son of that slave is going to share the inheritance with my son Isaac!”
God had promised that Sarah and Abraham’s son Isaac would be the start of a multitude of nations, and that God would maintain the covenant “between me and you and your descendants after you throughout the ages.” Sarah could not enjoy the great gift she had been given with Isaac and the personal relationship Abraham had with God. Instead, she feared that her son Isaac might lose his inheritance. Sarah’s fearful greed and jealousy drove Hagar and Ishmael away. So, Abraham reluctantly sent away Hagar with his own son, Ishmael. But the two refugees, driven into the desert, were protected by God and Ishmael grew up to become the patriarch of Islam.
How often do someone else’s gifts stir in us envy and resentment? How quickly do we allow our own contentment and peace to be replaced by a jealousy of something someone else has - real or imagined?
God offers us a deep love and personal affection no matter how we have lived our lives, or what we have done. That incomprehensible gift can quickly be forgotten when our hearts are filled with the demons of envy or other weaknesses.
Demons appear in Matthew’s gospel today as Jesus heals two men possessed by evil spirits. Jesus encounters the spirits outside of town, and they recognize Jesus, calling him “Son of God.” They have terrorized the town and “were so savage that no one could travel by that road.”
Jesus calmly sends them into a herd of swine which rush into the sea and are drowned. This is Jesus, who loves us endlessly, showing us how he can easily dispatch demons. The demons who troubled those men are gone, and the two are left with the presence of Jesus. I imagine them coming awake after their possession and seeing a great peace and love as it settles into their hearts. They hear Jesus speak to them and they know deep in their souls that their lives will never be the same again.
Jesus, with that same unending and unearned love, is here for us, too, to relieve us of our demons. It might be jealousy over someone with more money, fame or honors. It might be the demons of judging others, drinking too much or straying from our vows. No matter how large the demons in our own lives, Jesus stands next to us healing us and giving us strength and his powerful love.
Loving Jesus, thank you for the friendship and love I feel from you when I take the time to quietly talk with you. I am grateful that you liberate me from the torments in my life as you walk with me daily. I feel your constant presence as I struggle to escape from my fears yet feel your peace deep in my heart.
Maureen McCann Waldron
The most important part of my life is my family – Jim my husband of 47 years and our two children. Our daughter Katy, a banker here in Omaha, and her husband John, have three wonderful children: Charlotte, Daniel and Elizabeth Grace. Our son Jack and his wife, Ellie, have added to our joy with their sons, Peter and Joseph.
I think family life is an incredible way to find God, even in (or maybe I should say, especially in) the most frustrating or mundane moments.
I am a native of the East Coast after graduating in 1971 from Archbishop John Carroll High School in suburban Philadelphia. I graduated from Creighton University in 1975 with a degree in Journalism and spent most of the next 20 years in corporate public relations in Omaha. I returned to Creighton in the 1990s and completed a master’s degree in Christian Spirituality in 1998.
As our children were growing up, my favorite times were always family dinners at home when the four of us would talk about our days. But now that our kids are gone from home, my husband and I have rediscovered how nice it is to have a quiet dinner together. I also have a special place in my heart for family vacations when the kids were little and four of us were away from home together. It’s a joy to be with my growing family.
Writing a Daily Reflection is always a graced moment, because only with God’s help could I ever write one. I know my own life is hectic, disjointed and imperfect and I know most of us have lives like that. I usually write from that point of view and I always seem to find some sentence, some word in the readings that speaks right to me, in all of my imperfection. I hope that whatever I write is in some way supportive of others.
It’s an incredibly humbling experience to hear from someone who was touched by something I wrote. Whether the note is from someone across campus or across the world, it makes me realize how connected we are all in our longing to grow closer to God.
