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| Pope Francis at Good Friday Service |
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the lord, high and exalted on a throne; and the train of His robe filled the temple. And they (the seraphims) were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory." "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." Isaiah 6:1,3 and 5
This was the position Pope Francis took in praying during a Good Friday service, prostrate before God. There is a kind of prayer sensibility when we prostrate ourselves before God in adoration. We prostrate ourselves because we recognise two truths—our own nothingness and God’s infinite goodness and there is no basis of comparison between man and God.
In the vision of Isaiah, he immediately recognised his true condition in the light of God's glorious presence. Isaiah did not boast of holiness in being given the opportunity to see God. Instead Bishop Solomon (ref 1) observed "There is a severe trembling of a soul that is deeply aware of its sinfulness and its desperate need for God's mercy and forgiveness..".
This humility is an appropriate response against a modern world that has become arrogant and boastful of its accomplishments. Science and technology were touted as crowning glories of man's achievements, so much so that some conclude they have no need of God. But then, from time to time, a natural catastrophe such as the Covid-19 pandemic unleashes itself and exposes our vulnerability.
Let us take advantage of the shutdown stay home order, enforced to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, to slow down and sit back a little. This is the time for a deep spiritual reexamination of ourselves. The theologians call this, Examen, a spiritual examination of the soul in the light of God's penetrating light and truth. Let this not be a cursory but a serious and earnest exercise. In a fast-paced, feel-good, pleasure-seeking world we hardly have time to step back and look into ourselves. We are always on the go and doing things to the extent that we forget who and where we are.
Now being shut in our homes, we have time to be contemplative and sensitive. We can look into ourselves and then beyond ourselves to others and eventually to God. Psalms 139:23-24 'Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting'.
There is a group of international Christians who can come together at such times and still declare, 'Hosanna in the Highest'.
In the vision of Isaiah, he immediately recognised his true condition in the light of God's glorious presence. Isaiah did not boast of holiness in being given the opportunity to see God. Instead Bishop Solomon (ref 1) observed "There is a severe trembling of a soul that is deeply aware of its sinfulness and its desperate need for God's mercy and forgiveness..".
This humility is an appropriate response against a modern world that has become arrogant and boastful of its accomplishments. Science and technology were touted as crowning glories of man's achievements, so much so that some conclude they have no need of God. But then, from time to time, a natural catastrophe such as the Covid-19 pandemic unleashes itself and exposes our vulnerability.
Let us take advantage of the shutdown stay home order, enforced to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, to slow down and sit back a little. This is the time for a deep spiritual reexamination of ourselves. The theologians call this, Examen, a spiritual examination of the soul in the light of God's penetrating light and truth. Let this not be a cursory but a serious and earnest exercise. In a fast-paced, feel-good, pleasure-seeking world we hardly have time to step back and look into ourselves. We are always on the go and doing things to the extent that we forget who and where we are.
Now being shut in our homes, we have time to be contemplative and sensitive. We can look into ourselves and then beyond ourselves to others and eventually to God. Psalms 139:23-24 'Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting'.
There is a group of international Christians who can come together at such times and still declare, 'Hosanna in the Highest'.
Ref 1: Robert Solomon 'The Sermon of Jesus' Armour Publishing Pte Ltd
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