March 29, 2019
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this First Friday in Lent, is, “Dew” - just that short 3 letter word: “dew”.
Mention of dew is made in today’s first reading from Hosea 14: 5, “I will be like the dew for
Israel.”
I was thinking of going with the gospel - especially
because it talks about the theme of the two Great Commandments to love - to use
that for a short homily. But then again
- when I spotted that mention of dew in the first reading, I said to myself, “You’re
due - D U E - to say something about D E W.”
I get that same thought every time I use the 2nd
Eucharistic Prayer - when the priest says, “Make holy, therefore, these gifts,
we pray by sending down your Spirit upon these gifts like the dewfall.”
I always notice that prayer - that mention of dew - and it
often hits me as sounding so sort of different.
I ask, “What is that about?”
Asking God to send down his spirit on us like the
dewfall, that is kind of different. It’s
quite unique
So maybe it will sound a bit different to me in the
future if I do a short homily on it
sometime - like now. We’ll see. Time will tell.
So that’s why I decided to see if I could figure out a
few things about dew.
Dew does not appear in the New Testament - but it does
appear some 42 times in Old Testament:
mainly in Daniel, Judges and here in Hosea.
TASK
So I made it my task last night, to see if I could come
up with a couple of thoughts about dew
for this morning.
FIRST THE REALITY OF DEW WAS WATER
Dew is water.
Without water, there is no life.
Here in Maryland, we often get dew on our car windows in the
morning - and if it’s cold enough, it’s
frost. Frost then is dew that got cold
feet.
Here in Maryland - and many other places, if you walk out
on grass in early morning you’ll get wet
feet and wet shoes.
That’s it. That’s dew
- landing especially on the ground
- on green plants and car windows - silently saying, I’m here.
SECONDLY: PRESENCE OF GOD
Dew - in Jewish theology - is like the presence of God.
Dew comes silently.
We hear rain - but dew is absolute silent - settling
everywhere.
Carl Sandburg in his poem called “Fog” talks about fog
coming over the city - quietly - like little cat’s feet.
Like waking up in the morning and walking outside to get
the paper - we discover our feet got wet - may we feel the presence of God on
our feet every morning - like the dew.
THIRDLY: THE RESURRECTION
In Jewish theology,
the dew tells us that there is resurrection.
If there is only dust - dirt - and no water, there is no
possibility of new life.
God made us of the dirt - the dust of the earth - along
with water.
When there is dew on the earth - where so many are buried - there is the possibility of
new life. Dew tells us about earth
rising. Plants and the earth and the dessert can only bloom if there is bloom.
