Walk in Him

September 11, 2007

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

So, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:6-8

A great crowd…came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all. Luke 6:17-19

Piety

(A Christian Prayer from Luke 6: 27-36 for the Anniversary of September 11)

To you who hear Jesus commands, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person, who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same…But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Amen.

Study

September 11 does not always have to be a remembrance of death and destruction, terror and fear, an eye for an eye. Instead, this can be a day we look upward in celebration of resurrection and new life.

Despite the evil that we will encountered in the world so profoundly six years ago, St. Paul advises us to keep our lives focused on Christ so that we will not stray. He knows that “empty, seductive philosophy” will try to captivate us like it did the hijackers who expected to be greeted in heaven by vestal virgins. Yet like Isaac and Ishmael shared a father, we share with our Islamic brothers the patriarch Abraham, the common thread in the founding of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

So how do we avoid the pull, attraction and temptation of the world and its easy philosophies?

Jesus worked hard to stay rooted in his divine union with the Father. Throughout the Good News, we witness Jesus in prayers at critical times in his life and ministry. In today’s reading, he gathers new strength in prayer-union with the Father before going back out to recruit and send his Apostles into the world. So, Jesus recharges his battery by going up to the mountains to be alone in prayer with the Father.

What happens when we encounter or confront forces in the world? Maybe a little of our nature dies each day that we are seduced by the forces of the world just like Jesus dies on the cross.

St. Paul has us consider what was actually crucified on Good Friday? We know that Jesus’ human body was destroyed. But as the world attempted to kill the Savior, instead, thanks to his union with the Father throughout life and in the Garden and even while nailed to that tree, Jesus changed everything. We thought he was being killed. Instead, St. Paul teaches us today that Jesus put our sins on that cross and nailed them there, hanging until they could attract us no more.

What brings us back to life from an event like the attacks of September 11, 2001? Not an eye-for-an-eye revenge that bombs our enemies like Afghanistan back to the Stone Age. Look at the response of the Amish to the assailant who rampaged through a schoolhouse of innocent children. When they encountered the evil in the world, the Amish in Pennsylvania offered forgiveness just as Jesus was the source of forgiveness to the thief who went with him to paradise.

Action

Today, let us walk with Jesus in forgiveness and reconciliation. Let us retreat in prayer so that we can gather strength needed for the next time we encounter the world.

When we are dead, Jesus will bring us back to life by removing all of the claims made by our sins on our souls by “nailing it to the cross.” Jesus alone gives us the surge of love and charity needed to despoil the principalities and the powers, “leading them away in triumph” by His actions. So, let us place the transgression made to us, by us and for us aside so Jesus can nail these to the cross and free us in Baptism all over again.

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