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Butterfly Mystery
"The days are coming, says the Lord our God, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. Deep within you, I will plant my Law, writing it in your hearts. Then I will be your God, and you shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbor to try to teach neighbor, or friend to say to friend, 'Learn to know God!' No, you will all know me, the least no less than the greatest-it is I, your God, who speaks-since I will forgive your iniquity and never again call your sin to mind." (Jeremiah 31:33-34)
"During his life on earth, Jesus offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the One who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard." (Ephesians 5:7)
" unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24-25)
I'd like to share with you an experience of a Lenten journey. During the weeks of lent we, Judi and I, usually use a weekly reflection to help us move toward Easter. This year we decided to use a series of photographs showing the life-cycle of the monarch butterfly-we both had gathered the caterpillars, and, at times, the eggs, during the summer and watched the whole process. All the while Judi captured some of this on film.
The monarch begins life as a teeny-tiny egg barely visible to the human eye. After about five days it hatches into a caterpillar about the size of the small letter "i" on a typewriter. Then it eats and eats and eats until it is about 1½ "-2" long and round like a pencil. As I reflected on this caterpillar picture during the first week, I realized that we spend lots of time "filling" ourselves-reading books, reflecting on the Scriptures, seeking spiritual guidance from others, living every day life, etc., etc., all very good necessary things.
Then the time for going into the chrysalis-a major death! If you have ever watched a caterpillar do this, it is almost too painful to watch. It attaches itself to a leaf, a branch, or in our situation, on the cover of the jar. It attaches in the form of a "J" and, after much gyration and struggle appears to unzip itself and turn inside out. It feels almost excruciating. When we have to make changes in our own lives-just considering the change, sensing a call to conversion, can also seem excruciating. The change may be as "simple" as a change of attitude, but oh, how difficult it can be. What kinds of changes do you and I have to consider for your lives? To what kind of conversion are we called? Do we allow ourselves the opportunity for God to work within us or do we struggle to do everything ourselves? Sometimes the best thing we can do, is to do nothing-just as it appears the chrysalis does, just hanging for ten to twenty days before the butterfly emerges.
Do we allow the action of God to take place within us, as is stated in the reading from Jeremiah today: "The days are coming, says the Lord our God, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. Deep within you I will plant my Law, writing it in your hearts. Then I will be your God, and you shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbor to try to teach neighbor, or friend to say to friend, 'Learn to know God!' No, you will all know me, the least no less than the greatest-it is I your God who speaks-since I will forgive your iniquity and never again call your sin to mind." ( Jer. 31:33-34) Do we allow God to plant the Law, to plant the Word within us, to move us into the chrysalis state-that waiting stage, to be converted?
Do we, can we allow ourselves to be led through the process of conversion in the chrysalis of our life? Do we pray, both aloud and silently, during this waiting time that we may discover the working of God in our lives as the writer to the Ephesians tells us Jesus did? "During his life on earth, Jesus offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the One who had the power to save him from death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard." (Eph. 5:7)
Next week we move into celebrating, remembering the great Paschal mystery of the death-resurrection of Jesus. We celebrate the emergence of the butterfly from the chrysalis. When Judi and I watch the butterfly emerging, we usually sit in silent awe as the mystery unfolds-literally, the butterfly emerges, unfolds its wings, pumps them up, dries them off before flying away. As we watch this emerging we almost whisper, "the butterfly is coming out," then, "the butterfly is coming out, THE BUTTERFLY IS COMING OUT!" Easter is that silent, awe-filled experience of Jesus rising to new life. And we hear the witnesses to the resurrection, saying first, in awe, "he is risen," then, "he is risen, HE IS RISEN, ALLELUIA!"
From now on, whenever we see a butterfly, may it always remind us of this mystery.
So, my friends, "unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Or to paraphrase: "unless the caterpillar becomes a chrysalis, it shall never become a butterfly."
Amen
Author Unknown
Submitted by Richard
"The days are coming, says the Lord our God, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. Deep within you, I will plant my Law, writing it in your hearts. Then I will be your God, and you shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbor to try to teach neighbor, or friend to say to friend, 'Learn to know God!' No, you will all know me, the least no less than the greatest-it is I, your God, who speaks-since I will forgive your iniquity and never again call your sin to mind." (Jeremiah 31:33-34)
"During his life on earth, Jesus offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the One who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard." (Ephesians 5:7)
" unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24-25)
I'd like to share with you an experience of a Lenten journey. During the weeks of lent we, Judi and I, usually use a weekly reflection to help us move toward Easter. This year we decided to use a series of photographs showing the life-cycle of the monarch butterfly-we both had gathered the caterpillars, and, at times, the eggs, during the summer and watched the whole process. All the while Judi captured some of this on film.
The monarch begins life as a teeny-tiny egg barely visible to the human eye. After about five days it hatches into a caterpillar about the size of the small letter "i" on a typewriter. Then it eats and eats and eats until it is about 1½ "-2" long and round like a pencil. As I reflected on this caterpillar picture during the first week, I realized that we spend lots of time "filling" ourselves-reading books, reflecting on the Scriptures, seeking spiritual guidance from others, living every day life, etc., etc., all very good necessary things.
Then the time for going into the chrysalis-a major death! If you have ever watched a caterpillar do this, it is almost too painful to watch. It attaches itself to a leaf, a branch, or in our situation, on the cover of the jar. It attaches in the form of a "J" and, after much gyration and struggle appears to unzip itself and turn inside out. It feels almost excruciating. When we have to make changes in our own lives-just considering the change, sensing a call to conversion, can also seem excruciating. The change may be as "simple" as a change of attitude, but oh, how difficult it can be. What kinds of changes do you and I have to consider for your lives? To what kind of conversion are we called? Do we allow ourselves the opportunity for God to work within us or do we struggle to do everything ourselves? Sometimes the best thing we can do, is to do nothing-just as it appears the chrysalis does, just hanging for ten to twenty days before the butterfly emerges.
Do we allow the action of God to take place within us, as is stated in the reading from Jeremiah today: "The days are coming, says the Lord our God, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. Deep within you I will plant my Law, writing it in your hearts. Then I will be your God, and you shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbor to try to teach neighbor, or friend to say to friend, 'Learn to know God!' No, you will all know me, the least no less than the greatest-it is I your God who speaks-since I will forgive your iniquity and never again call your sin to mind." ( Jer. 31:33-34) Do we allow God to plant the Law, to plant the Word within us, to move us into the chrysalis state-that waiting stage, to be converted?
Do we, can we allow ourselves to be led through the process of conversion in the chrysalis of our life? Do we pray, both aloud and silently, during this waiting time that we may discover the working of God in our lives as the writer to the Ephesians tells us Jesus did? "During his life on earth, Jesus offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the One who had the power to save him from death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard." (Eph. 5:7)
Next week we move into celebrating, remembering the great Paschal mystery of the death-resurrection of Jesus. We celebrate the emergence of the butterfly from the chrysalis. When Judi and I watch the butterfly emerging, we usually sit in silent awe as the mystery unfolds-literally, the butterfly emerges, unfolds its wings, pumps them up, dries them off before flying away. As we watch this emerging we almost whisper, "the butterfly is coming out," then, "the butterfly is coming out, THE BUTTERFLY IS COMING OUT!" Easter is that silent, awe-filled experience of Jesus rising to new life. And we hear the witnesses to the resurrection, saying first, in awe, "he is risen," then, "he is risen, HE IS RISEN, ALLELUIA!"
From now on, whenever we see a butterfly, may it always remind us of this mystery.
So, my friends, "unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Or to paraphrase: "unless the caterpillar becomes a chrysalis, it shall never become a butterfly."
Amen
Author Unknown
Submitted by Richard
