ORDINARY 19 (C)

Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your father is pleased to give you the kingdom. – Luke 12: 32

   Fear of the unknown compels us to be preoccupied with predictability. In many ways God is unpredictable. He is, after all, called the “God of surprises.” Yet our Lord assures us that in one very important way, God is quite predictable: the intensity & awesomeness of His love for each & every one of us. He is perpetually trying to share His kingdom of love with us.

   If this sounds like mere rhetoric, or if God seems distant or absent altogether to us, the problem is not His, but ours. “Eye has not seen & ear has not heard, what God has in store for those who love Him,” says St. Paul, & that is true. What, then, is our problem?

   The first aspect of the problem is our receptivity. God forces no one, so His love is real for us to the degree we are ready for it. There is need for attentiveness & vigilance, & that is where a disciplined prayer life comes in. Like the athlete who trains so as to be able to take advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself on the playing field, we too must strive with determination to overcome the spiritual myopia & distorted thinking that Original Sin has burdened us with.

   This myopia causes us to see life as nothing more than an anxious project of survival, constantly concerned with food, clothing & shelter. The life our Lord offers us does not eliminate that project, but transforms it into something that no thief can steal nor moth can destroy. He relieves us of the anxiety, but only if we remain faithful to the values He wants to impart to us.

   Unfortunately, when we encounter trials & sufferings, like the Israelites on the Exodus, we too readily wish to return to worldly compensations & pleasures. We think the Master is delayed, & act as if we had never been the recipients of His grace – we abuse food & drink & other people. This latter state is worse than if we had never been touched by God.

   The other aspect of the problem is generosity. The most subversive truth is that the Master’s pleasure is not in being served but in serving. He is the Master precisely because this is His desire. The metaphor of the wedding banquet is common to our Lord’s parables because it suggests new life & happiness. This is why there is a tendency to spare no expense on such occasions. Likewise, Jesus makes it clear that if we are to live the Gospel, we must be willing to go generously beyond what is strictly required. We do not do it because we have to but because we want to: that is the imperative of love.

   We too easily indulge our petty preferences, always, of course, under the appearance of good. Trivial selfishness often centers on interpersonal relations: coldness, insensitivity or oversensitivity, insistence on one’s views & ways, unwillingness to be wronged (real or imagined), vanity regarding position or accomplishments, or refusal to be corrected by either peers or superiors. All these things reflect a poverty of spirit that impedes grace. We have been entrusted with a pearl of great price. We cannot afford to be cavalier about what we do with it.  AMEN!