Tuesday, August 20, 2013

We Are Called

"You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you:  Only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. "  Roughly eight centuries before Christ gave us this week's Gospel messages we were given these words from the prophet Micah in Micah 6:8.  For this Sunday's Mass the music director at our parish chose "We Are Called" as one of the songs during the liturgy.  This is one of my favorite songs and it references this verse from the Book of Micah.  I rarely get through singing the words of this song without crying, no matter how many times I hear it.  I can feel the burning flame of the Holy Spirit in my heart as we sing "We are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God".  Such a fitting song to set our hearts ablaze this Sunday, as the Gospel reading from Luke 12:49-53 began with the words "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!"

Monday's gospel reading was Matthew 19:16-22, "The Rich Young Man".  As was foretold in Micah, Christ again spells out what is expected of us as Christians.  We are asked to put service over possessions and walk with Christ.  The young man in the gospel account goes away sad at the thought of giving up all he had to follow Jesus.  Is he exceptionally shallow or materialistic?  Sadly, no.  He is just like most of us.  We grow so attached to our "things" that we can't let go of them.  We can be so possessive of them that we allow them to come between us and family, us and service, us and Christ.

The more we have and the more comfortable we become, the easier it can be to just forget about God.  We don't even necessarily consciously choose to shut Him out, we just get lost in our luxury, our friends, our entertainment.  We forget that we need Him.  I once read somewhere that Satan gloats in the fact that when times get hard humans will turn their backs on God and blame Him for their troubles or for not mitigating them.  This happens to be sure, but I think what is even more common is that we slowly drift from Him without realizing it, like the tide slowly dragging us from where we began on shore.  We don't perceive how far we've gone until we are in trouble.  We seem to be doing fine without Him, enjoying the comforts of our life that we believe we have earned for ourselves; lost in the pursuit of material goods, entertainment and companionship.    In Deuteronomy 7:11 Moses warned his people, "Be careful not to forget the Lord, your God , by neglecting his commandments and decrees and statutes...lest, when you have eaten your fill, and have built fine houses and lived in them and have increased your herd, your silver and gold, and all your property, you then become haughty of heart and unmindful of the Lord, your God,".

When we are so content with the way things are it is hard to turn and focus on those who have less; to leave behind our own comfort to serve them. Did you ever notice that so many people who end up serving others deep down in the trenches, in the places where most of us prefer not to go, have come from those places themselves?   They are addiction counselors who have fought addiction in their own lives, children of mentally ill parents who grow up to become psychologists, poor children who grow up to be social workers, immigrants who return to their home country to share their education and training in the hope of making a difference.   I don't believe that God wants us to suffer, but what a blessing we become when we turn our difficulties in life into assets and the training ground we use to teach us how to relate to and serve others.  What an act of love it is, how pleasing it must be to our Lord when we offer these acts up to Him.

As Micah said, we have been told to do right, love what is good and walk humbly with God.  It is such a simple formula but so difficult to follow when you mix in the frailty of our human nature; the complexities that we layer into our lives.  We may long to be good, pray for the strength to be better, even strive for it, yet fail again and again.  We can take heart that the Lord's mercy is a bottomless fountain in which we can refresh ourselves.  We must not despair or fatigue of our efforts.  The Lord knows our hearts and ultimately we will succeed with the grace of the Holy Spirit.  When in Matthew 19:25 the disciples even despaired of being saved, Christ said to them "For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible." This is one of my favorite verses in the bible and the one I recall most often.  It constantly provides me with the perspective I need to not despair in vain over the difficulties I face in my daily life.

In Luke's gospel on Sunday Christ told us that the way would not be easy; that He did not come to bring peace but division.  We know, because He told us, that He offers us an internal peace unsurpassed if we place our faith in Him.  That message is juxtaposed against His unsettling message from last Sunday of bringing division not peace. Yes, we will have internal peace but those who are of this world will not always understand our intentions, our giving over of our lives to Christ.  It can cause friction with co-workers, friends, family and as we see lately, our government.  Yet, we must continue to trust the Lord's will for us and follow His commands regardless of the strife it may cause in our relationships.  In Luke 6:46 Christ asks, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord', but do not do what I command?...the one who listens but does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed."  Let us not be washed away by complacency.  Let not our fire be damped out.  May the Holy Spirit enkindle in us an inextinguishable flame that ignites us into action and lights our way on this journey with Christ.



2 comments:

  1. It is true that many are called. But in a world which has become so materialistic it is difficult for many to answer that call.

    God bless.

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  2. Difficult but not impossible. Again I point to Christ's words in Luke, "...for God all things are possible." It falls upon all of us as Christians to pray for each other; that we may have the strength through faith and the grace of the Holy Spirit to answer the gentle tugging we feel on our hearts to take those first steps along The Way. I offer the following prayer as a suggestion:

    Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.

    V. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.
    R. And you shall renew the face of the earth.

    Let us pray. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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