Word to the Wise
Thursday, February 16, 2017 - Thursday in the 6th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 9:1-13 and ]THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2017 THURSDAY IN THE SIXTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [Genesis 9:1-13 and Mark 8:27-33] God added: "This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come, of the covenant between me and you and every living creature with you: I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth." [Genesis] I once saw a "Peanuts" cartoon that showed Lucy and her little brother, Linus, standing at a plate glass window watching a pouring rain outside. Lucy says: "Look at that rain! I wonder what would happen if it rained again for forty days and nights?" Linus solemnly replies: "That can't happen!" Lucy scowls down at him: "How do you know?" Linus replies, "God promised never to destroy the world by flood again, and the rainbow was the sign of the promise. Genesis 9:13!" Lucy looks at him and says, "You have no idea what a burden you have lifted from my shoulders!" Linus smugly replies" "Sound theology has a way of doing that." The rainbow remains a universal sign of promise even for those who are not religious. Judy Garland singing, "Somewhere over the rainbow," brings tears to some eyes. Genesis says that God created all things and that includes the rainbow. Furthermore the rainbow would remain a sign of God's promise to be with us. Many different causes have adopted the rainbow as a symbol. It appears on commercial products as well. If we keep in mind God's meaning, then the rainbow can always lift a burden from our shoulders. That's sound theology! AMEN