Saturday of first week in ordinary time, Jan.13,2007

Scripture: Hebrews 4:12-16. Psalm 19:8-10,15. Mark 2:13-17 Yesterday, Burt, a friend of mine who has the same nickname but spells it with a u reminded me that Psalm 95 belongs to the Jewish community as an inspired Psalm and that what I as a Christian read from and into it is primarily a part of the Jewish heritage. I loved his response and realize that we can pray together to the same Creator, our loving God. Thanks, Burt! All of us who are believers know that God sees through us with a persistent and penetrating look. No one can escape this and it is through our awareness and our conscience that we realize we have a loving Creator. Our selection from Hebrews is about the word of God which is just as sharp and penetrating as the look of God. It is effective, cuts through even the marrow of our bones and right through the mind, spirit and soul. We cannot escape that type of a love-glance. And like it or not we are quite fortunate that this is the way we were created. St. Augustine's famous saying comes to mind, "Our hearts were made for you , O God, and they will not rest till they rest in You." Than strikes a cord with the "rest" theme that was present in Psalm 95 and was key to the interpretation of Hebrews the day before yesterday. Recently, I have read a poem by Francis Thompson called the "Hound of Heaven". God, so to speak, hounds us, follows us, stalks us until we realize we cannot run away from God's love. We then can listen and follow the advice of our writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews:"So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and favor and to find help in time of need." Then as we turn to the pericope (short passage) from Mark for today, we see that a person named Levi becomes aware of the call of God through Jesus. He leaves his lucrative tax-collecting and has a banquet for Jesus at which other marginal people are present. The "Hound of Heaven" is at work again. Levi then discovers his true identity and probably is one of the greatest proclaimers of the Good News about Jesus. It seems he is the apostle Matthew in Luke's Gospel (see Luke 5:27,29). I imagine he belonged to the tribe that served in the Temple or the priesthood of Israel. As we glance behind ourselves today maybe we will see or feel the presence of the Hound of Heaven. Amen.