Live in a Manner Worthy of the Call

Live in a Manner Worthy ofthe Call

October 26, 2012

Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love. (Ephesians 4:1-2)

Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face. (Psalms 24:6)

Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain—and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say it is going to be hot—and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time? (Luke 12:54-56)

Piety

Lord, how we all long to see Your face instead of all those political candidates, worthy though they may be. Please help us to keep our eyes and souls and hearts focused on You, no matter who we’re going to vote for.

Study

Challenging words today from Paul—we are to live with “humility and gentleness, with patience…” That’s a tall order in today’s world, where we always feel the need to have our A game on at work, where these virtues don’t seem to count for much.

But you know what? I suspect they didn’t count for much in Jesus’ or Paul’s times either. We see the apostles jockeying for position then just as politicians do today. We see them missing what we believe is Jesus’ obvious redemptive message in favor of their self-interests. We see the Sadducees and Pharisees puffed up and full of pride and knowledge of what is in their physical and intellectual worlds that they are totally clueless about who Jesus is or what he promises.

Since time began, there have been situations that take us away from our better selves, that tempt us to focus on what might happen rather than on the gratitude for the things we have at hand and from God and the beauty of His face and the love it shines on us all. And it will continue to shine, no matter who wins an election or seems to have the upper hand in office or family politics.

Action

We’ve got a little more than a week before Election Day. Consider unplugging from television, the Internet, social media, and print play-by-play of the campaigns on Sunday… and instead spending the day with people who matter to you, as Jesus would.