Catching Our Spiritual Breath
- davidwperk
- Jan 22, 2024
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Monday, January 22, 2024
The week of the third Sunday after the Epiphany
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:
49The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my little boy dies.’ 50Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. 51As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. . . . 53The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he himself believed, along with his whole household.
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 945)
AM Psalm 41, 52; PM Psalm 44
Gen. 14:(1-7)8-24; Heb. 8:1-13; John 4:43-54
Today we celebrate the Feast of Vincent of Saragossa. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote:
I have faith in all those things that are not yet said.
I want to set free my most holy feelings.
What no one has dared to want.
will be for me impossible to refuse. *
This strophe of Rilke’s poetry brings to mind the Collect for Purity that we offer early in the service of Holy Eucharist: “Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid. . . .” I take that to refer to my holy longings, or as Rilke put it, “my most holy feelings.”
What might those most persistent holy longings be? And, what keeps us from living into them, putting them into action in our lives? Are those internal or external hindrances worth the price we pay in terms of frustration, feelings of guilt or shame, and the sense of emptiness that comes with unfulfilled, recurrent holy longings?
Today’s Gospel brings before us a person with very ambitious holy feelings. He wanted his son to live, and he desired that Jesus act to heal him. He wanted Jesus in his house, touching and praying for his son. But, he did not receive what he asked for. Jesus did not accompany him. Rather, Jesus told him to go home because his son was going to live.
Twice we read that the man believed. First, he did not quibble with Jesus’ word that he return home alone. If in the moment, he did quibble, John’s Gospel does not record it. (I might have quibbled.) He believed Jesus’ word. And, when he returned home, he learned that his son’s fever had broken at the exact time Jesus had told him that his son would live. He and his entire household believed, he for the second time.
Faith is not a static, “once in-a-lifetime” act of trust and commitment. Rather, faith plays a part in our spiritual life akin to breathing in our physical life. Sometimes we breathe more deeply. Faith deepens and grows as an ever-present part of living in dependence on and without sight of the spiritual world. Sometimes, we breathe off the top of our lungs, so to speak; we struggle with faith. But, each experience of setting our hearts on God and seeing mountains move strengthens our capacity to keep setting our hearts on God in seemingly impossible moments. This man’s faith deepened after his son was healed. He breathed even more deeply.
Galatians 5 tells us that the Spirit desires against the flesh (flesh understood as humankind over against God and separate from God). Could our holiest desires be an expression of what the Spirit within desires with us and for us? Even though that holy feeling, that desire, might seem like an impossible reach, this healing story tells us that we are called to reach for and to believe the unbelievable—that our holiest feelings can come to expression in our lives. “Breathe deeply!”, Spirit says.
As Rilke put it:
I have faith in all those things that are not yet said.
I want to set free my most holy feelings.
What no one has dared to want.
will be for me impossible to refuse. *
* Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, ed. and trans. by Robert Bly. Harper, 1981, p. 22-23.)
Collect of the Day, The Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 215)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Vincent of Saragossa, deacon and martyr (died ca 304 CE). http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Vincent.htm
Collect of the Feast of Vincent of Saragossa
Almighty God, whose deacon Vincent, upheld by you, was not terrified by threats nor overcome by torments: Strengthen us to endure all adversity with invincible and steadfast faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for the Renewal of Life
O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 99)
Of the Incarnation
O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 252)
A Prayer for Light
Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100, 257)
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Office Gospel, John 4:43-54
43 When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee 44(for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in the prophet’s own country). 45When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival. 46Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. 47When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’ 49The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my little boy dies.’ 50Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. 51As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. 52So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, ‘Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.’ 53The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he himself believed, along with his whole household. 54Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
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