Overview:

Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

A Reflection for Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

I will not destroy Ephraim again;
For I am God and not man,
the Holy One present among you;
I will not let the flames consume you. (Hs 11:9)

Find today’s readings here.

I am not the only person in the world to experience hardship or bemoan that the world is ending. In fact, my hardships are pretty light compared to those of a large percentage of the world’s population. I have a nice apartment, money, love, education, all those things. But the world can still feel like it is falling apart at the seams, like maybe the end times are coming sooner than we think. 

Three days ago was my first birthday without my mom, and I was looking back through my stuff and found the birthday card she had written for me last year. “Just one more year and we get to celebrate your birthday together, on the same continent again!” But now her birthday and mine have passed without her being present. Pretty world-ending to me, I think. 

My dad is visiting me now, but the flight that was supposed to bring him to me was canceled and he wasn’t here on my birthday itself like we had planned. Weather prevented him from being here on a day that is tough, I think, for both of us to bear without her. 

That same thunderstorm knocked out my grandma’s power, and she texted me, all casual, that her food in the freezer was thawing, she was learning to live without air conditioning again and her phone was at 10 percent. She was nonchalant, but I wasn’t. What can I do from 4,000 miles away? She has diabetes medication in the fridge and the power wouldn’t come back on for at least another day, three days after it went out! 

All these problems led to a strong feeling of hopelessness this week. Two of these problems can be remedied: my dad being here, my grandma having power; the third obviously will not be fixed. 

God promises us that he will not destroy the world again, no matter how we turn back or how bad it seems. Even though we turn from him again and again, he who loved us first, with a parent’s everlasting and all-forgiving love for his child, will always rescue us. Anticipating the end with fear and despondency, or thinking that this must be the end, does nothing to help us. Only trust, like that of a child for her parent, can get us through the difficult moments. 

How many times did the Israelites turn away from God? Even Peter turned his back at such a critical moment. Yet God still trusted all these with the most important thing, his flock who are his children. When we lose faith or turn away, God is still there, and remembering that fact will help us to offer our suffering up and trust wholly in him.

Jill Rice is a 2022-23 O’Hare Fellow at America. She is now the SEO and Analytics Associate at America. She graduated from Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus and majored in classical languages and comparative literature.