Three Well Chosen Readings

Each Catholic wedding has the potential to be a unique experience.  At least among people I know, the bride and groom working with the priest who will celebrate the wedding mass have a chance to choose the readings.  A Catholic mass typically includes one reading from the Old Testament, one reading from the New Testament that is not part of the Gospel, and a Gospel reading.  Each couple has many reasons for choosing the readings they do.  Each couple is at a unique point in their lives in terms of their understanding of their faith and their understanding of themselves.  The choice of readings was guided by both for me and Sherry 20+ years ago when we planned our wedding.  We were just two people of an age we now refer to as "kids" (22 at the time we were married) who had attended mass regularly, had some exposure to what was called CCD at the time (Sherry having more than me), and had been involved in the campus ministry while in college.  At Jackie and Patrick's wedding (at a slightly later point in their lives with a different background in exposure to and working with their faith) the choices were clearly inspired by their understanding of themselves and their faith.  And, as I am clearly one who thinks about how the words I am hearing from the Bible relate to the current day (myself or, in this case, those whose wedding is being celebrated) I projected from the readings onto my own life experiences and the lives of the two beautiful individuals getting married.

The first reading was Micah 6:6-8

With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow before God most high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old? 

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with myriad streams of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my crime,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 

You have been told, O mortal, what is good,
and what the LORD requires of you:
Only to do justice and to love goodness,
and to walk humbly with your God.

I have never known Jackie and Patrick to be anything but humble.  Quiet--not necessarily.  Shy--definitely not.  But wonderful examples of humility before everyone and focused so much on the lives of others.  Giving not to be noticed but because it is right and it all comes from their hearts.

The second reading was from the letter to the Hebrews (12:1-3)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us 

while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. 

Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

As I heard this one, I looked around at the packed chapel on Loyola's campus (where Jackie and Patrick had met, gotten engaged, and were getting married) where they were surrounded by a cloud of witnesses as two people whose eyes are truly fixed on Jesus.  Running races (both figuratively and literally) is something they do a lot and endurance (whether the opposition of sinners as mentioned in the reading or, more, in a running race) is an important part of their lives.

Finally, the Gospel reading was Luke 24: 13-35, the story of the Road to Emmaus.  I won't copy and paste the whole thing (it is a long reading) but there is a link above.  It mentions that the disciples were walking a distance of seven miles when they came upon the person they did not recognize as Jesus at first.  In the reading, they ended up walking seven miles to Emmaus and seven miles back--14 miles or just over the distance of a half marathon.  Yes, my brain actually went to thinking about how it was like an "out and back" course that the two disciples ended up walking.  What else did I think about?  Jackie conducts many of the orientations for community members who want to be new participants in Back on My Feet.  I remember that she told us to try to remember to say hello to as many people as possible when out on our runs.  Just to be polite.  Just to try to brighten people's day.  Whether the person was homeless, outside a shelter of some sort, at a bus stop, or at Health Care for the Homeless.  There are many popular stories about how a person might come to meet Jesus or someone representative of the qualities of Jesus in a modern setting and overlook that person.  This is where I connected the story.  When we are out running with Back on My Feet, we never know who we will meet on the road.  We never know what type of difference we might make for the people we meet or what type of difference they may make for us.  We never know who might be able to demonstrate for us and share with us the grace of God.  In fact, we never know anywhere in our lives when we will come upon a sign from God or the second coming of Jesus himself.  Yet we should always be open to it.  And the disciples, once they realized that they had seen Jesus, did the second half of their "course" quickly and shared all the news when they returned.  Again, so closely similar to the experience of many runners who share stories about what they saw, who they experienced, and how they felt when they get back from a run.  And this relates to Jackie and Patrick not only because a half marathon distance is something with which they both are familiar but also because I know that they live their lives in a way that shows they are always open to receiving God's grace.  To welcoming a stranger.  To extending hospitality to a stranger.  To listening.  To relating.  And to sharing stories of the little things and most important things in life.

Their three readings were well chosen for them.  And their three readings served as a reminder for me. Of how incredible my two friends are.  And of the importance of living a life of humility, perseverance, and openness to the grace of God every day.  

Part of Wisdom is Humility: Sirach 7:4-5

Today I want to reflect briefly on verses that I was inspired to explore by the pace that I almost always seem to end up running when I out with a certain set of friends. The pace, a relatively quick one (at least for what is labeled as a "long, slow distance run")--7:45 per mile. The verses are from Sirach (from the Apocrypha) chapter 7, verses 4 and 5.

What are these verses:

Do not seek from God authority or from the king a place of honor.
Do not parade your righteousness before the LORD, and before the king do not flaunt your wisdom.

The two verses provide four simple reminders against pride.

In some ways, it is good for me to tie these to the fact that I run a little more quickly than maybe I should some weeks.  Some may wonder--in fact, sometimes even I wonder--whether I am doing it for pride.  Am I running at that pace to show how I can keep up with others?  Am I running at that pace to show that I am as good as or better than others?  Or, am I running that pace just because it is the pace at which I feel comfortable running with friends while I am not out to prove anything?  Am I running at a pace to show that what God has given me is somehow better than others or am I running at a pace that celebrates what God has given me along with recognizing what others have, wherever each person might believe their abilities come from.  I know what the preferred answer is and I try to live that out.  And f course, pride is not only about running.  

Teaching Sunday school?  I have no preconception that I know my religion better than most or am more faithful to God or an more perfect religiously than others.  I am simply a person who is willing to share my time and my effort with the children of my parish so that we all can learn something.

Playing in the worship band?   I have no illusions that I am a great musician.  Again, just someone who enjoys playing.  I enjoy sharing my gift so that others may connect with God in a way that they find useful.  

My career success?  I won't deny that there have been times when I have let pride in.  I won't say that I should not value my accomplishments.  But at the end of the day, I work very hard not to let it go to my head as pride.  I am an imperfect colleague and mentor in so many ways.  And my career should be about using my gifts to help others (through public health in general, through the products of my research, through my teaching and advising) by sharing ideas and allowing others to give them consideration rather than by imposing my will on others.

My time in the kitchen?  Doesn't make me better than anyone else.  My family needs food.  I have shared kitchen work with my wife and kids.  I have taught my kids.  But it doesn't make me any better than anyone else.  Again, I can value and share the fact that I love to bake without pride that makes me an unbearable person to deal with.  (At least I hope so.)

My place in my family as a father and husband?  Again, I have to recognize that is it not about my pride.  I try to behave in ways that show that family is not about me only.  I know that intellectually.  It is easy enough to write.  Acting that way is not always easy.  

The two verses thus provide me with reminders of the importance of humility and the downfalls of pride for having positive relationships with others.  Reminders that I should attempt to use my success to build up and encourage others rather than make others feel  uncomfortable or put off.  It never ceases to amaze me how much wisdom we can find in the ancient texts.  How that wisdom still applies today.  And how I can connect to it through my running and other aspects of my day to day life in ways that I never appreciated sitting through mass and CCD as a kid.  

Poetry of Numbers

Yesterday, I met some of my new advisees for this academic year.  One of them, in her application materials had mentioned her focus on numbers.  As she pointed out in conversation with me, it should not seem like a surprise that a health economics student would have a focus on numbers.  And, I would have to agree, but (nor surprisingly), I think there is something more.  

I think that there are some economists who focus much more on the models rather than on the numbers or the intuition rather than the numbers.  And there are plenty of people who have no interest in economics who think about numbers all the time.  Who notice numbers.  Who take an interest in numbers.  Who see the numbers all around them (in patterns and find a rhythm) and think about the meaning of numbers.  So, I'm not saying that I question my new advisee's conclusion that a love of numbers in a health economics student should not be a surprise. I'm just (as I often do) thinking a little more broadly and trying to (to use a buzz-phrase) think outside the box a bit.

I almost think about it as the "poetry of numbers".  I used the phrase casually in conversation yesterday and then took some time to ponder it.  Then, I decided to look up a definition of poetry.  I went to the website poetry.org for a definition.  Here is a quote from the "What is Poetry?" page of that website telling us that poetry:

is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ from ordinary prose.

How can we relate this to numbers when it talks about language and semantic content?  I think it is actually quite straightforward if we continue to think outside the box a bit.  My graduate school advisor, Dr. Catherine McLaughlin, when we spoke about foreign language requirements for degrees would suggest (and this is a paraphrase rather than a verbatim quote) that there was an implicit rather than explicit foreign language requirement in the economics program at Michigan.  The requirement was to know math, and "speaking math" was like a foreign language.  Now, "speaking math" involves a lot of symbolic representation and logic as well as numbers, but it certainly involves a lot of numbers.  I think that the poetry of numbers comes from noticing them all around us and thinking about the patterns and rhythm of numbers, thinking about the meaning, thinking about the symbolism.

Some people just see numbers as a means to an end.  Others, or at least I, see numbers as something that in and of themselves have meaning.  I'm not talking about numerology.  I'm just saying that I enjoy thinking about numbers all the time and thinking about what each means to me.

Learning about numbers can involve a rhythm.  At the school my children have attended (at least through eighth grade for the oldest), they use rhythms to learn multiplication.  Marching and stamping out the beat and emphasizing when a multiple of the number in question is reached.  "One, two, THREE, four, five SIX, seven, eight, NINE."  There, is not simple prose.  There is an artistic and symbolic beauty to that.  

I can even relate it to my spirituality.  There are many numbers in the Bible that have all sorts of meaning.  Forty days of rain for Noah and forty days in the desert for Jesus.  Coincidence that those should be the same?  Twelve apostles.  Forgiveness not seven but seven times seventy-seven time (Matthew 18).  There are plenty of times when seven is used in the Bible.  Other numbers that I think of immediately from stories in the Bible like five loaves and two fish to feed 5,000 men. Numbers were all around.  Numbers that make it easy to remember stories and to reconnect to stories.

And what started my numbers and spirituality connection in my blogging...a pattern of numbers.  A bib number that read "1313", that I read as "thirteen thirteen".  The many times I have looked for something in the pattern of numbers I see in my running and my life.  My latest (although I have not written about it yet) being what seems to be an inevitable pace to achieve despite all attempts to slow it down when I run with several of my running friends...7:45 per mile.  How will I interpret that?  What meaning will I find?  In "prose" it is a time--seven minutes, forty-five seconds.  In that case, we just read it and don't think any more about it.  But in poetry, it could take on a meaning of its own and have symbolism.  As I think about where I would find a spiritual meaning, for the few Biblical books that have 45 verses in a single chapter it could be read as one verse--Chapter 7 verse 45.  However, if I play with it and ask what it might symbolize, it could be 74:5 (perhaps from a Psalm).  Alternatively, it could be 7:4-5.  In fact, I will write about Chapter 7 verses 4 and 5 from the Book of Sirach--specific to the Catholic Bible--about humility).   

So, the pattern comes from my life.  The pattern can even be thought of as a rhythm--especially when it comes to running.  The repetition of the same time--almost like a mantra.  The rhythm of feet running a 7:45 mile is much different than the rhythm of feet running a 6:05 mile or a 9:05 mile.  The meaning touches my soul.  Patterns, rhythms, meaning and symbolism.  Isn't that poetry?  The poetry of numbers is a reality for me in my running and spiritual lives. To make reference to the title of my old blog, the poetry of numbers is something that helps to provide a context for part of my physical and spiritual well-being.