PRAYER
Dear and Beloved God, in the words of St. Patrick, I pray that this day my heart will fill your love and bring Christ first and foremost to those I meet.
“Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,Christ on my right, Christ on my left,Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise…”
STUDY
http://www.usccb.org/nab/071706.shtml
These readings are harsh, violent, disturbing. We read Jesus’ speaking in what are seemingly Old Testament words. The Old Testament God not only rained fire down on Sodom but refused the sacrifices of its citizens. Hardly fair, we say, hardly loving.
But Jesus’ words spring from a tradition in which prophets want those who hear to sit up and take notice. God says: don’t even bother with love based on deception or empty ritual. God does not want our mouths to tout devotion while our minds and hearts are elsewhere. God asks us to put God first; that we place our minds, hearts and actions toward God. And God wants our hearts and our actions to be guided by compassion and morals not just external rituals.
We humans need other humans. God made us this way. So choosing Jesus over family might indeed feel like sundering ourselves as if by a sword. It is also difficult to separate ourselves from false gods – even if they start out as the necessities of life - which are quickly but temporarily satisfying. The choice might, indeed, hurt. Jesus turns this on its head: “whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
In putting Jesus first, we open ourselves to a love which flows eternally and abundantly from God, given to us in Jesus, proceeds through us and in the Spirit enriches the love which we have for our families and our world. This outpouring love informs our actions in the world. Jesus then promises: “whoever receives you receives me." Far from sundering, Jesus unites us into a bond of true fealty and love.
Jesus recognizes the difficulty of putting Him first. Jesus calls it taking up of a cross. In accepting the cross we seem to deny what humans actually want. But Jesus knows that what we think we want is not what we truly want – just as what the Israelites thought they wanted was so off base. As we look deeper in faith, hope and love through genuine piety, study and action, we can move beyond our own wants to God’s will. We find ourselves receiving “his reward."
ACTION
Pay attention to the decisions which I make today. Is it Christ within me deciding or is it a false god? Do I choose clothes from responsible manufacturers who do not run sweat shops? Do I speak my mind lovingly when faced with racial or ethnic slurs and jokes? Do I stop and consider rather than judge the irritating person in my life before I begin my complaining about him/her? Do I reflect on the consequences that my government is imposing on noncombatants in Iraq before I begin my diatribe about enemies? Do I model the loving kindness of Jesus to my colleagues and my children?
Pause. Put Christ first.
DeColores
Beth DeCristofaro
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