Hide not your face from me July 31

Prayer

Lord, hide not your face from me. Help me to cling to you so that I will never feel the need to hide my face from you or trip on my own stubbornness. Help me leaven my workplace, my home, my neighborhood with joy that you give to me. May my faith, small as a mustard seed, bear fruit as you will. And may I rejoice in all your works today.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/073106.shtml

The Lord said to me…”So will I allow the pride of Judah to rot…they did not listen…” (Jeremiah)

…you have forgotten God who gave you birth.. (Deuteronomy)

…The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed…the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.”(Matthew)

Today is the feast of Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. His life is an illustration of the lessons in these readings. Can our lives be also?

As a young man, Ignatius was a bit of a dandy at court. He gambled, dressed as a soldier and had a taste for the ladies. When called upon to defend Spain in war, he was severely wounded and in his convalescence he found that these pastimes were not fulfilling. He was empty. But he began to read the lives of the saints and from there, eventually he dedicated his life to God. Directed by the Pope he founded an order committed to education which has influenced the lives of thousands and fashioned holy people, some of whom have been martyred because of their love of God.

Ignatius, left to himself, might have become an important nobleman. But, in the end, like the buried loincloth, he would have been rotten, good for nothing. It was in stepping outside of himself, giving up the pride of a courtier and remembering God that he turned his face toward the God who gave (him) birth. Ignatius grudgingly accepted the book of saints’ lives (he had asked for romances) out of boredom. At the time his faith was perhaps only the size of a mustard seed. But he accepted the commands of God and his faith became the largest of all.

What a fickle race they are! Times haven’t changed much since the recording of the book of Deuteronomy. But just as an entire batch of wheat flour rises into the deliciousness of a bread loaf with the addition of a little active yeast, so too can our faith – small as a mustard seed – save our lives and those around us. God works through each person willing to cling to God. Easy? No. But just as in yesterday’s gospel Jesus fed 5,000 hungry people, God does not leave us to this path alone. We have to turn ourselves to God again and again. God is with us always.

God has been reaching out to us since our Creation. God doesn’t want to hide from us – God sent Jesus even after the chosen people lost their way again. Ignatius could have selected the easy way of being a courtier. Instead he accepted the difficult challenge of putting aside his own pride; he sought God in all things. In our Cursillo groups we can help each other root out our fickleness. We can encourage each other to plant and tend our seeds of faith through the tough times that come with being human. Let’s be yeast rather than lumps of boring dough.


Action

Do something for someone else today that is “outside” your own interest. Step out of your comfort zone, act out of the mustard seed of your faith and reach out to do for someone else.

De Colores,

Beth De Cristofaro