" God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now establish my covenant with you, and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that was with you [in the ark]-- the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals. . every living creature on earth.. . . This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you, and every living creature with you. I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living ccreatures of every kind on earth." [Genesis 9: 8-16].
In this story from Genesis, God becomes distraught and angry at how the first humans on earth became wicked and disobedient. To save Noah, the only righteous man, God tells Noah to build an ark, and to go on board with all the creatures on earth.
Then, God floods the earth, wiping out all iniquity. When the flood clears, God promises that He will never again flood the earth. He sets a rainbow above the clouds as a sign of this covenant.
I was surprised to read this Scripture this week, for a Mass during Lent. I always thought of Lent as a dark, deep place. Lent is a desert, a gloomy cave, a hidden recess inside me, cradling the depths of despair. I dread Lent. I do not want to go into that place inhabited by my dark side.
I have written before in this space of my experiences of Lent. During March 2007, a dear family friend died of cancer. Then a week or so later, my best girlfriend, who had been battling leukemia, found out that the cancer had returned. Two weeks later, my father died suddenly.
During Lent of 2008, my best girlfriend died, a young mother with a husband and two children. This is the kind of experience when life feels so painful and so fruitless and so very unjust! You wonder where God is?
In late winter 2009, my mother-in-law died of cancer, which she had been battling for only two months. Then, just as Lent 2009 began, my own mother went to sleep one night and passed away.
During Lent of 2011 and 2011, I have been concentrating on emotional and spiritual healing from my past traumas. This Lent, I am battling some serious health issues, also a legacy from my past.
So, what is YOUR Lent? And what color is your Lent? Do you feel as if you are drowning in a sea of gray? Do you see on the horizon only that sickening green-gray sky, that warns of a tumultuous storm? Or ominous thunder clouds and terrifying lightning?
In this Scripture, God promises us rainbows after the storm! I have actually witnessed this new promise myself! The first time, I thought it was a mere coincidence. My husband and I had traveled out West for a cousin's wedding. When I left work for my trip, I had just uncovered a major fraud on some of my customers, carried out by a client. A firestorm was brewing and I would be on vacation. Sure enough, when I arrived at our first destination, at a lodge at the base of a mountain, the messages were already starting to pile up for me in voice mail.
I barely slept that night. My husband was annoyed, urging me to forget this crisis and enjoy our trip. The next morning, I retrieved a message that my company had been sued-- even though I had discovered the fraud!
I went downstairs to check out at the desk and bring our bags to the car. I stepped out into the fresh mountain air and discovered a hug rainbow, stretching over the mountains! The arc of color seemed to go on forever. I asked, "God? Is that You? Will everything be okay?"
About ten years later, we had bought a house and I had become a mother. I was not working because I was home caring for our baby. My husband was working hard, in a bad economy, to support us. We were packing for an expensive trip down South to visit in-laws, when we discovered a leak in the basement. A call to the plumber confirmed our worst fears. We might have to rework the plumbing and the main line into the house. That could cost over $10,000!! That was certainly money we did not have.
Once again, I became distraught and could not look forward to our trip. I was anxious and down when we arrived on the ground. As we began driving down the highway to my in-law's, to make matters worse, it began to pour rain. Once there, we took the bags inside and said our greetings.
I decided that a walk might do me good. The rain was letting up. I went outside, and as I was tying my sneakers, I looked up to see the hugest rainbow I have EVER seen. It began behind the house and stretched out over the entire residential development. My son, my husband and my in-laws all came out to witness it.
I started to believe that God really can send me rainbows! I felt as if God had "made everything new". [Revelation 21-5]. I said, excitedly, "This is the day the Lord has made!' [Psalm 118].
We all have to face our Lent. We cannot ignore those dark times. The only way around the Lent in our lives is through it. In my case, my seasons of Lent have sometimes eased, to the point where I have almost forgotten them. In other cases, my seasons of Lent have left permanent damage.
Jesus proves in the Gospel of Mark that we must at times enter the desert. Mark 1: 12 says, "The Spirit sent Jesus out into the desert and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him." I become scared and despairing at this image of Jesus battling Satan. I fear even more the battles with my own demons. Will I prevail? Will I sink into a lonely abyss.
But Jesus was not alone! He was with the Spirit and the wild animals, and the angels comforted him. Neither are we alone.
And at the end of our travails is a shimmering rainbow! That is God's promise. He will never let us down. That rainbow is the Easter, the Resurrection, at the end of the long, painful night of Lent. How good it will feel to witness it!
[Related postings: My Lent, March 12, 2011].
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