![\"Total](\"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Eclipse_1999.jpg\")
After Mass this Sunday I\u2019m going to drive south to the Camas Prairie in Idaho,
\nwhere my wife Brenda is already visiting her mother.
\nAs any conscientious husband will tell you,
\nyou don\u2019t need a reason to visit your mother-in-law,
\nbut this weekend we do in fact have a particular reason for visiting:
\nwe\u2019re going to watch the eclipse.<\/p>\n
We want to go see the eclipse
\nnot only because it\u2019s such an unusual natural phenomenon,
\nbut also because natural events like this
\ncan help us understand the supernatural world.<\/p>\n
The timing of this eclipse in particular
\ncan help us unpack today\u2019s scripture readings,
\nespecially in light of what has been going on in our world lately.<\/p>\n
An eclipse can be a frightening thing
\nfor those who don\u2019t understand it.
\nIn ancient times,
\nwhenever there was an eclipse of the sun
\npeople were terrified.
\nThey didn’t know what was happening.
\nAll of a sudden in the middle of the day the entire world goes dark.<\/p>\n
Ancient cultures tried to explain eclipses by saying
\nthe sun was being devoured by a giant frog, or wolves, or a dragon.
\nThe ancient Greeks believed an eclipse was the sign of angry gods.
\nImagine what it would feel like to have the world suddenly go dark,
\nand to not know the reason why.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a great science fiction story by Isaac Asimov called \u201cNightfall\u201d
\nthat tells the story of a planet that exists in a system with six stars,
\nso that it\u2019s always daylight there.
\nThe people have never known what it is to live in darkness,
\nto see the night sky.
\nBut every two thousand years, the stars align in such a way
\nthat a hidden moon eclipses them all at the same time.<\/p>\n
Night falls for the first time in a hundred generations,
\nand the people who have never known that kind of darkness panic.
\nThey need light, they want light,
\nand so they begin setting fire to everything,
\nand their civilization crumbles as everyone goes insane with fear.
\nIn this story, the cycle repeats over and over again,
\nevery two thousand years.<\/p>\n
Now, we in the scientific era know that an eclipse is simply
\nthe passing of the moon in front of the sun.
\nWe know that it will end.
\nIt\u2019s a darkness, yes, but it\u2019s a darkness that is only temporary.
\nThere is no need for us to fear angry gods or the crumbling of civilization.<\/p>\n
And that is an image of the way that our faith
\nhelps us to handle the dark things that go in our world today.
\nAnd there is darkness in the world today.<\/p>\n
Just this past week
\nwe have witnessed racist demonstrations
\nand acts of violence\u2014
\nhateful, hateful attitudes and actions
\nthat are completely counter to Christianity.
\nIn today\u2019s first reading we hear,
\n\u201cMy house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.\u201d
\nAll peoples.
\nBut the darkness of prejudice still casts its shadow on our world.<\/p>\n
And we\u2019ve heard the rhetoric of violence over North Korea,
\nand threats of nuclear war.
\nHave we learned nothing
\nin these decades since
\nWorld War I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War,
\nall of the conflicts we have lived through over the last 100 years?<\/p>\n
So yes, there is indeed darkness in the world today.<\/p>\n
But what the eclipse can help us to remember
\nis that this darkness is only temporary.
\nWe don\u2019t need to panic like those people in the story \u201cNightfall,\u201d
\nsetting fire to everything and burning down their civilization.
\nOur society does not need to crumble in the face of this darkness
\nthat we\u2019re seeing right now.<\/p>\n
For just as we live in the scientific era, Just as science tells us that the sun is still there, But the darkness clouds our vision, But today\u2019s gospel reminds us She has a daughter who is tormented by a demon. \u2028So there is great darkness in her life, But she approaches Jesus anyway. So what are her options? But what does she do instead? Until finally Jesus rewards her persistent faith Calm, intelligent, persistence, grounded in faith, This is the way of Christian action. Whether it\u2019s the darkness of prejudice and violence In the face of such evils as racism, hatred, and violence, We may feel powerless, We can pray a family rosary for peace, But above all we can remember that this darkness only temporary, Look at the darkness that the early Christians faced, After all, whom do we worship? We worship God become man, crucified. That\u2019s not what the apostles were looking for, What they didn\u2019t realize until the end is that they got a conqueror, On the third day he rose again in glory. So when the world turns dark on Monday morning for a few hours, Perhaps during the few hours that the eclipse lasts, And as the sun re-emerges once again
\nwe even more importantly also live in the Christian era.
\nThis is the year 2017 A.D., anno domini<\/em>, in the Year of Our Lord.<\/p>\n
\neven though it gets dark during an eclipse,
\nour faith tells us that God is always present,
\neven during dark times.
\nOur faith offers us peace, the peace of Christ,
\nthe peace of knowing that all this darkness will someday pass away.<\/p>\n
\nand we have a hard time believing in that peace.
\nWe have a hard time trusting.
\nAnd so we often react in ways that increase the darkness
\nrather than banish it.<\/p>\n
\nof the way we Christians are called on
\nto respond to darkness.
\nWe see this in the form of the woman
\nwho speaks with Jesus.
\nIt\u2019s not often that anyone upstages Jesus,
\nbut the Canaanite woman in today\u2019s gospel comes awfully close.
\nShe shows us the way to respond to darkness.<\/p>\n
\nand she is about as powerless as it gets in that society,
\nnot only a woman, but a foreign woman.<\/p>\n
\nAnd at first Jesus doesn\u2019t respond to her.
\nWe don\u2019t know why, exactly;
\nscripture scholars offer several reasons,
\nbut the point is that she\u2019s not getting the answer she needs.<\/p>\n
\nShe could walk away, resigned to her daughter\u2019s fate.
\nShe could try and push Jesus around,
\nmaybe even pull out a knife and threaten him.<\/p>\n
\nShe persists.
\nShe brings her need to Jesus again and again,
\nfully believing that he can do what she asks,
\ncountering his words with her own arguments:
\n\u201c\u2026even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nand even compliments her on it.<\/p>\n
\nthat\u2019s what we learn from the Canaanite woman.
\nWe don\u2019t need to sit back and let the darkness overcome us,
\nand let whatever happens happen.
\nAs Christians we\u2019re called to do something,
\njust as this woman did something.
\nShe didn\u2019t throw her hands up
\nand let her daughter succumb to the darkness that surrounded her.
\nShe did something about it.
\nBut it was also the way she did it.
\nShe trusted in Jesus,
\ncalling him \u201cLord,\u201d
\ncalling him \u201cSon of David,\u201d
\nasking for mercy.<\/p>\n
\nIt is action, and it is persistent
\nbut it is also calm and intelligent,
\ngrounded in trust and prayer.<\/p>\n
\nor the darkness of personal loss, separation, or depression,
\nour Christian faith gives us hope,
\nand it also calls us to action.
\nThe gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to work
\nat banishing the darkness.<\/p>\n
\nwe are called to work and pray for peace.<\/p>\n
\nbut the Canaanite woman did not let that stop her,
\nand neither should we let it stop us.<\/p>\n
\nor participate in some of the prayer vigils taking place.
\nWe can call out prejudice and hatred for what it is,
\nwe can speak the truth in love.
\nWe can do an examination of conscience,
\nasking ourselves how we might be contributing to the darkness
\neither by remaining silent,
\nor acting out of prejudice,
\nor responding with violence ourselves.<\/p>\n
\nand we can trust in our brother Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
\nthe persecutions they underwent, the violence they endured
\nat the hands of the Roman emperors.
\nHow did they respond?
\nIn the same way their savior responded.
\nThey responded by speaking the truth in love,
\neven if if meant going to their deaths.<\/p>\n
\nDo we worship a man with a sword in one hand
\nand a shield in the other,
\nstanding on top of his foes, crushing them?
\nNo, we worship the Son of God who trusted in his Father
\nand surrendered to the cross.
\nLook at any crucifix, at the Son of God,
\nnails through his hands,
\nnails through his feet,
\na crown of thorns on his head.<\/p>\n
\nScandalous, unbelievable!
\nHow could anyone possibly accomplish anything
\nby simply giving themselves up without a fight,
\nby simply turning themselves over to the violence
\nof the government?<\/p>\n
\nthat\u2019s not what the rest of Jesus\u2019 followers were expecting.
\nThey wanted a fighting man, they wanted a conqueror.<\/p>\n
\nbut a conqueror who was victorious through death.
\nBecause the darkness that overcame Jesus on the cross
\nwas simply an eclipse, a temporary shadow.<\/p>\n
\nGenerations of darkness were overcome by that one act,
\nthat one sacrificial act of Christ, the Son of God.<\/p>\n
\nlet that be a reminder to each of us
\nthat the darkness that goes on in our lives each day,
\nin our nation, in our world,
\nis only temporary, no matter how long it lasts.<\/p>\n
\nas the darkness descends,
\nno matter where we are,
\nwe can stop what we\u2019re doing and pray for peace,
\nfor an end to violence and prejudice.
\nWe can pray for civility, for justice.<\/p>\n
\nfrom out of the shadow of the eclipse,
\nwe can be consoled with the truth
\nthat the light of Christ will prevail,
\nthat in fact it has already prevailed,
\nand that our ultimate destiny is an eternal life
\nin which there is no darkness, no eclipses, only light.<\/p>\n