God's Covenant

While at the Sea of Galilee, Fr Damian took the picture above, which seems to fit in nicely with today's first reading:

 God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
“See, I am now establishing my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
and with every living creature that was with you:
all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals
that were with you and came out of the ark.
I will establish my covenant with you,
that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed
by the waters of a flood;
there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth.”
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.
When I bring clouds over the earth,
and the bow appears in the clouds,
I will recall the covenant I have made
between me and you and all living beings,
so that the waters shall never again become a flood
to destroy all mortal beings.”

Fr Damian seems to be enjoying himself by the sea!

A Winter Sign

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, and supposedly we're in for six more weeks of winter weather.

I don't pay much attention to the Groundhog Day forecasts. All I know is when there's snow on the ground and the temperature is below zero, spring seems far away.

I grumbled when I got out of bed Wednesday because it was a snow day for many people but not me. Morning TV broadcasters were polling each other: who is suffering from "winter fatigue?" Somehow they seemed cheery about the question.

I bundled up, brushed the snow off the car and headed for work. I "offered up" to God my foray into the cold, because what else could I do? I didn't like going out, but since I didn't have a choice I thought I might as well make it a sacrifice for Him.

I drove just a few blocks and saw a colorful arc in the sky. I thought it was a rainbow, but it probably was a sun dog or other rainbow-like image made from ice crystals. It was in the eastern sky, near the rising sun, shining through the lingering gray clouds from the exiting snowstorm. My camera was on the passenger seat next to me, so I tried to snap a few shots at stoplights. Rainbows, and maybe sun dogs, seem like delicate things, often fading away in minutes. I wanted to capture the brilliant arc while it lasted.

But to my surprise, the arc stayed with me throughout my 25-minute drive through the snow. I wanted to get a better picture when I stepped out of the car after arriving at my destination, but it disappeared right at that moment.

Seeing a rainbow, or anything that resembles one, has a way of reviving my spirit. One author and scholar described a rainbow as "one of the most spectacular light shows observed on earth."

Since rainbows often appear on the tail of storms, as did Wednesday's sun dog, maybe they are God's way to give us a spark of hope and beauty as we deal with a storm's aftermath.

Maybe that's a faint reflection of how Noah and his family felt when God gave them a rainbow as a sign of His promise. Whenever I'm with my kids and we see a rainbow, I tell them it's our Lord's message to us, too, that He always keeps His promises.

During Wednesday's cold and snow, I was reassured by the thought of His faithfulness, even in the long "winters" of our lives, when His presence, like the spring, can seem so far away. Yet He is always with us. And sometimes when we're discouraged, He'll remind us with the glimmer of little rainbows in our lives.

And like the rainbow of color that stayed with me for the entire journey Wednesday, God shines through the clouds for us, until we arrive safely to Him, our eternal destination.

Inspired by the Year of Faith, Susan Szalewski began writing weekly columns for us. Although that year is over, we liked them so well that we asked her to keep writing. Thankfully, she said yes. So watch for these on Thursdays and see the Year of Faith Blog here.