Aliens in America: Day 4
Author: Andrew Comiskey
October 17, 2024
Water from the Rock
'As aliens, live in reverent fear.' (1 Pet. 1:17)
It is hard to be a Christian in this season: challenged by a host of fallen or, at best, confusing church leaders, faithful saints seem weary and cast down. The political sphere mirrors our morass. ‘Awful’ Trump and ‘Empty’ Harris (so opines Peggy Noonan) vie for our votes and tempt us to dread an unhappy four years ahead.
As lector at morning Mass, I read the opening of Ecclesiastes: ‘All things are vanity!...All speech is labored; there is nothing one can say…Nothing new under the sun. Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!” has already existed in the ages that preceded us.’
Nothing new under the sun, in truth. My only consolation from the text? Church and state have been through worse. I rose to receive the Host then helped the priest share Jesus with others. I was shocked to experience a rising in my spirit.
The Spirit of Father and Son welled up in this son. In a flash, I remembered the essence of Peter’s first letter to aliens like us: strike the Rock! Stir up the gift of God in you! Remember your ‘new birth,’ your ‘living hope’, ‘your inheritance’ in Christ Resurrected ‘that can never spoil, perish, or fade…’ (1 Pet.1:3-6).
I thought of the free gift of Divine Mercy—Christ Crucified and Raised—that Jesus offered the Samaritan woman (Jn. 4:14); the Host leapt in me like water from a fountain, and I thought: ‘Mercies new, every day’ (Lam. 3:22-23). Yeah, nothing new under the sun, except for His mercies, ever new and primed to dissolve heaviness and fortify this alien.
Like you and Peter’s readers, ‘I am suffering grief in a host of trials’ (1 Pet. 1:6), including my concern for this country and her presidential candidates. Like Peter’s readers, we can strike the rock of our stony hearts and gather as the Rock. Together we can avail ourselves to the One who makes us new. Again.
We are not unlike the Israelites who grumbled and complained due to hardship (Ex. 17) ––the failures of others, our own, the drone of soundbites, both awful and empty. Moses struck the rock and provided for them. May our lament lead us to the Rock Who is higher than us, ever flowing with Divine Mercy to quench and center us anew.
Let’s not forget our unchanging Hope. Amid the vanities of mere humans, as awful and empty as us, we need Jesus more than ever. And we can lift up two human beings—Trump and Harris—who need His mercy more than ever.
‘Jesus, would You reveal to us all Your Divine Mercy, especially Trump and Harris? What they face daily is beyond us, and we ask that Your love would sustain them. We need You in order to love You faithfully. Forgive us; we get plugged into the bad news and forego Your good. Be our foundation, protection, and nourishment in these days. Be the Rock for Harris and Trump.’
‘Jesus, You are the King and we are first citizens of Your Kingdom. Would you free us for You in this election season, not to hide but to shine? You’ve always asked nothing less from Your elect whom You have made ‘strangers in a strange land’ (Ex. 2:22). Here we are, a people who don’t know what to do but who look and listen to our King.
“Father of all holiness,
guide our hearts to You.
Keep in the light of Your Truth
all those You have freed from the darkness of unbelief.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son.”’
Amen
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