Things are a bit scattershot this morning. I'm not sure there is a running theme through these reflections, so I put them out there as discrete sections.
Enough with the woe is me! Be thankful of the progress you’ve made, be honest about what is lacking and ask for the grace to continue.
Salesians measure our progress in the spiritual life by how promptly we respond to performing acts of charity, or how quickly we perceive a need and go about alleviating it. The truest measure is not necessarily how we respond in extraordinary situations, but how promptly and diligently we go about fulfilling our regular everyday responsibilities. Progress is not measured in how much consolation we feel in prayer but rather that we persist in praying, especially when we're "not getting anything out of it." Progress is neither measured in how good performing acts of charity make us feel. Doing paperwork, supervising the parking lot at dismissal or cleaning the lavatories generally do not inspire great feelings of joy and enthusiasm. But if done out of love, without thinking about it, can be signs of progress in following Christ.
Discouragement is a constant danger. We may want to race ahead, but grow tired. We may look back and count the months or years, lamenting at the defects we feel should have been overcome by now. The odds are, you've made more progress than you think. The fact that you are seeing the shortcomings so clearly is itself a sign God is purifying your vision and telling you what direction you should be going in.
So, no self pity allowed. Just thank God for His gifts to you, and keep on following His prompts.
(See the daily readings for Wednesday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time)
The world in its present form is passing away.
...for you will be satisfied
...for you will laugh.
The first reading and Gospel passage for today are not meant to compliment each other, as is the case on Sundays. I do see a connection though.
Paul is giving advise to the community of Corinth, basically telling them not to make any new life commitments, be faithful to the ones you have already entered into and be ready for change. Some commentators say he's basing his advise on the belief that the Lord was returning soon. As one of my theology professors used to say when challenging an established scholarly opinion, "I'm not some big time Scripture scholar afraid of losing my reputation." So, while I'm not going to reject that interpretation out of hand, I think there might be another motive for Paul's advise.
Paul had been around Asia Minor and the Mediterranean a bit. He knew the church in Jerusalem was suffering persecution. He had to jump town in the middle of the night more than once, I'm guessing, go without food and shelter, received opposition from inside and outside the community. He knew that the life of an believer could be uncertain. The world as he knew it is passing away all the time. It's better, then, not to get comfortable, but be open to where the Lord is leading us.
Jesus is opening His Sermon on the Plain with the Beatitudes as recorded by Luke. He is pointing out that those who seem to be privileged now will experience a reversal, sometimes in this life, and certainly in the next. It’s not that material things are bad, or technology evil or money wicked. It's that making idols of these things is the problem. They mask the reality that God is the only permanent thing in a universe of ever shifting tides.
Fulton Sheen over fifty years ago and Pope Francis more recently have noted that we are at the end of one epoch and the beginning of another. (As Francis put it, "We are not in an era of change but in a change of era"). What this new era will be like, we can only guess. What is certain is we are called to love in Jesus' name now.
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