{"id":2731,"date":"2018-08-27T00:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-08-27T04:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2731"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:45:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:45:22","slug":"august-27-there-is-good-news-mark-115","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2018\/08\/27\/august-27-there-is-good-news-mark-115\/","title":{"rendered":"August 27 – “There is good news” — Mark 1:15"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, \u00a0August 27 \u00a0\u201ccommitted to being surprised\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I pray from Mark or Matthew or Luke (the three\u00a0\u201csynoptic gospels\u201d),\u00a0 it helps me to treat the\u00a0evangelist like a poet, to allow the surprise buried in the text to stop me in my tracks, \u00a0like a strong poem does.<\/p>\n

When I wrote this poem based on Mark 1:15 about the time I took a job here in 1980, I found the challenges facing the university daunting. \u00a0 Sayings like this one: \u201cRepent and believe the good news\u201d began to get my attention, like a strong poem should. \u00a0 The teaching of Ignatius, that I ask to grow in “intimate\u00a0knowledge of our Lord who has become human . . .” (in Latin\u00a0\u201cintima\u00a0cognitio\u201d) \u00a0began to challenge me; \u00a0to become human means, among other things, being born in some particular place with its own history. \u00a0Jesus, my history told me, was born in one of the world\u2019s meanest, poorest, and most violent places\u00a0\u2014 the Roman Empire\u2019s grinding police state where crucifixion of people who opposed that state became horrors up and down that small country (e.g., as many as 2000 rebel fighters during one period in the early childhood of the boy Jesus). \u00a0Sometimes it took a day or two for a strong man to suffocate to death; \u00a0crucifixion was intended to\u00a0intimidate and subdue opposition.<\/p>\n

For me that became the surprise of taking the saying of the young man Jesus,\u00a0\u201cRepent and believe the good news\u201d as meant seriously. \u00a0What could the poet mean? \u00a0 And that led me, little by little, to notice that where I was born \u00a0(Marinette, WI, 1939) was a much less frightening place than where Jesus was born. \u00a0More, for\u00a0example, like the lives of immigrant children torn\u00a0away from their mothers and fathers at U.S. borders the past few months. \u00a0It helps, when I read this saying from Mark 1:15, to be open to deep, shocking, life-giving surprise, like every strong poem. \u00a0Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses.<\/p>\n

Not everything about my Catholic faith makes me proud; but this teaching and men and women who have tried to live it often stops me in my tracks, \u00a0like any strong poem\u00a0should.<\/p>\n

Have a blest week,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post \u00a0<\/strong>“Repent and believe the good news.” \u00a0 {Mk 1:15}<\/p>\n

Is our main repenting, perhaps, made of believing good\u00a0news,
\nthat there is news,
\nsomething new,
\nand it is good?<\/p>\n

That what we already know is not all there is,
\nthat we must approach the presence of God
\nknowing we will be surprised,
\ncommitted to being surprised
\nand so to living in a surprise-able way?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, \u00a0August 27 \u00a0\u201ccommitted to being surprised\u201d When I pray from Mark or Matthew or Luke (the three\u00a0\u201csynoptic gospels\u201d),\u00a0 it helps me to treat the\u00a0evangelist like a poet, to allow the surprise buried in the text to stop me in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2732,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions\/2732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}