Unshaken

Friday, August 22, 2025

Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)

Unshaken

Ruth said to Naomi, her mother in law, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!

For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,

your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

In Unshaken, one of five novellas in Francine Rivers’ The Lineage of Grace, both Naomi and Ruth must stand up to the authority of family and tradition to move forward to what God has planned for them. Of course there’s a difference between going against these powerful influences just for the sake of rebelling, which is often what we want to do, and seeking within yourself the seeds of what God has planted so that you can water them rather than doing the “right thing” for others.

Each week I receive a poem from Joe Zarantonello, host and retreat leader at Loose Leaf Hollow in the shadow of Thomas Merton’s former home, the Abbey of Gethsemane. Joe is playful in his poetry, and I appreciated this week’s offering:

Conjectures of a Reckless Dancer

I was loved as long as I maintained the image

of “The Golden Boy”—but what about

the man that’s been walking for decades

in shoes that were way too small?

 

What about the old man who’s decided

to walk barefoot at midnight

into the Garden of Good and Evil?

 

Will they love me then?

Will you love me then?

 

Will I ever love “The We Inside of Me”

that’s driven and drawn,

that’s reckless

and dancing with God, while

the music plays and until all the bandages fall away?

To dance with God generally means I dance to his tune, not to my own. Ruth leads the way on this one. She loved to dance with Naomi, and then to dance with God, and tomorrow to dance with Boaz. In this lovely evolution of partners, she becomes a joyful part of the lineage of Jesus, or as Ms. Rivers calls it, the “lineage of grace,” five women on Matthew’s family tree of Jesus: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary.

These women were not pillars of society. They did not belong to country (or any other kind of) clubs. That God worked his messiah magic through them redefines what is right and proper. Without family redefined, there is no messiah. The salvation of the world depends upon this redefined notion of family that celebrates the inclusion of a foreign enemy (Tamar), a prostitute and spy (Rahab), an immigrant widow (Ruth), an adulteress (Bathsheba), and finally Mary, today called Queen but that appellation was a long time in coming. In Nazareth, as her baby began to show, she had to leave town for awhile and then again, with Joseph. Even in Bethlehem Jesus’ impending birth opened no doors.

Naomi returned with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab.

They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Few doors were opening for Naomi, either, but her daughter-in-law Ruth pressed on. In her book, Francine describe Ruth’s faith, hope and love as she and Naomi were walking themselves back to Bethlehem:

Naomi spoke dismally. “If we aren’t robbed and –“

“Don’t!” Ruth said with a sob. She rose and went to Naomi, kneeling down and taking her mother-in-law’s hand. “Don’t even think of such things, Mother. If you do, we’re defeated. Think about what’s on the other side of the mountains: Bethlehem. Our home.

“If we dwell on all the things that could go wrong, we’ll be too afraid to take another step. Please. Tell me about the Lord again, Mother. Tell me how He fed thousands of people in the desert. Tell me how He brought water from a rock. And pray.” She wept softly. “Pray He has mercy upon us.”

Naomi winced, her expression filled with regret. She touched Ruth’s face. “Sometimes I forget.” Her eyes were still awash with tears. “I think about what I’ve lost instead of thinking about what I have.”

Moses knew from experience how quickly we forget. His Israelites forgot God’s help in ages past, then complained about the present and predicted doom and disaster for the future. This was not OK, so God told his people to …

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

Remembering the goodness of God comes easier for some than for others. Naomi had lost her husband and two sons, and she was living in a foreign land. Remembering the goodness did not come naturally to her. She needed Ruth, who knew little of these laws of Moses, to help her look up. (Story to be continued)

Teach me your paths, my God, and guide me in your truth.

(Ruth 1, Psalm 146, Psalm 25, Matthew 22)

(posted at www.davesandel.net)

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