The more I look at our culture the more I wonder if Attention Deficit is not a disorder but a cultural characteristic. So many of the problems we face domestically and internationally can not be fixed in a day, a month, a year or a decade. The solutions will take generations.
I dare say all of us know name David from the Bible but how many know the name Naomi. Naomi in the first reading during a famine leaves her hometown, Bethlehem. They dwell among the Moabites and her two sons marry Moabite not Jewish women. Her husband and her sons die. She decides to return home. One daugher-in-law goes back to her Moabite people and Gods. One daughter-in-law returns with her to Bethlehem. Her name is Ruth. Ruth marries Boaz. Their son was Obed. He had a son named Jesse. Jesse was the father of David. And we know the rest of the story.
The courage of Naomi and her husband to emigrate to a foreign land. Her willingness to allow her sons to marry pagan women. Her love for Ruth that caused Ruth to proclaim:
For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Four generations later lead to David who eventually led to Jesus. It began and came to completion in Bethlehem.
Patience, Endurance, and most of all Faith. Faith which is absolute confidence and trust.
Today's first reading is a reminder of the great women who were also part of the plan.
Today do we have the patience? Are we willing to endure? Can we choose to trust God completely with our lives ?
