Scripture references: Dt 18:15-20, Mk 1:21-28
Astonishment! Amazement! Those are feelings many felt when the Vikings beat the Saints in the last 10 seconds of that first playoff game. Having had my heart broken by the Vikings these many years, I was astonished they didn’t choke and lose the game. Astonishment and amazement are feelings that we reserve for only the most extraordinary moments we have in life. We generally use the word “surprise” to describe the ordinary moments in life, e.g. “Joe was surprised he aced the test.”
In the Gospel, today, people of Capernaum were not expecting even a surprise when they went to the synagogue for the Sabbath. However, when they heard Jesus teach they were astonished. It was not only the people of Capernaum who were astonished. The demon, possessing the man in the synagogue, expressed great astonishment as Jesus cast him out of the man. The people witnessing this act of Jesus were spellbound in amazement. Astonishment and amazement are not feelings we can manufacture or force upon ourselves. When we experience these two profound feelings, we find that they occur when we least expect them.
What feeling do you feel when you hold a consecrated host in your hand? How does it feel to know that the God who created you, the God who created heaven and earth, rests gently in your palm? Are you not astonished and amazed? The hymn, Gift of Finest Wheat, expresses this so poetically. “The mystery of your presence Lord, no mortal tongue can tell; whom all the world cannot contain comes in our hearts to dwell.” (© 1997, Archdiocese of Philadelphia, text by Omar Westendorf.)
The words astonishment and amazement aptly expresses our encounters with God. These encounters occur not only at Mass. We encounter the same astonishment when we walk out the door and see a beautiful sunrise greeting us at the beginning of the day, or in the amazement we feel as we lose ourselves in the heavens gazing upon the stars. We encounter the astonishment of God when we look into the eyes of a newborn baby, or gaze into the eyes of the one we love. As we walk into this new week, let us open ourselves to encounters with our God. They will come when we least expect them and we will be astonished and amazed.
