One Origin

One Origin

October 7, 2012

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 2012 B

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

When he brought her to the man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called 'woman, ' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."  That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.   Genesis 2:22-24

He "for a little while" was made "lower than the angels, " that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.  For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering.  Hebrews 2:9-10

"Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these.  Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it."  Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.   Mark 10:14-16

Piety

Piety is our togetherness with the Lord.  Our loneliness can be for a human companion of life.  It can be for a community.  It can be for God.  Loneliness in its deepest meaning is the emptiness that only God can fill.  We were born out of the love of God for the love of God.  Piety assuages the existential loneliness of life with a healthy dose of God’s love that is seen, experienced and lived with our acts of piety and the expression of the love of God that Church can be for us.  There is the truth that no one is an island.  We are all part of the togetherness of God’s love that has its expression in the Mystical Body of Christ that we are all a part of by virtue of our humanness.  God calls us with his Son to our dignity as members of the human race who find their deepest meaning of life in Christ.   Christ is the fulfillment of each of us and the fullness of our lives is found as we grow closer and closer to Christ.

Study

We study how to be closer to Christ.  He is the Word of life and our awareness of what he says gives us insight into our destiny and the plan of God.  He opens us up to the plan of God by the attraction we feel in our hearts for his way of doing things.  We have his love in each other.  Our willingness of share our lives with many create community.  Our attraction to another person can grow into the wherewith all of what makes marriage possible.  As we discover the one we would want to spend the rest of our lives with we discover who God would give us as a companion of life.  There are many possibilities of a life mate and it is the years that are spent with one possibility that grows a friendship into what God blesses in the commitment of oneness in Christ that is a marriage.  Marriage is the statement that we are willing to spend the rest of our lives with this one person.  Marriage reflects the permanency of God’s love for us.

Action

Loneliness is a reaction to being by ourselves.  We do not have to be alone to be lonely.  One can be alone in a crowd.  Companions are the result of giving our lives for the sake of another.  Two people becoming one in a marriage is what and how the humanness of Christ has a major presence in the Church.  We work at creating a marriage even as we must work to create community.  Church is the expression of bringing Christ into the equation of life.  When we work at making Christ real in our lives we do the things of community.  Community fulfills the most basic drive of animals to be close to one another.  When animals group together in a big field, we see the instinct for closeness in its most basic level at work.  We gather around each other.  How close we are to one another depends on the welcome put out for those who are apart.  It is true that no one has to be an island because there is room for everyone who comes along to be part of our journey.  The goal of life is reached in how the journey is shared.  The child is a wonderful example of how welcome we all are in the invitation of Christ.   We see Christ giving a welcome to the youngsters in our gospel of today.  Christ would allow the children to be part of his love.  He allows and welcomes us to be part of his love.  Christ will always come to our loneliness if we invite him.  Love keeps one open to all.  Christ is the embodiment of the Love of the Father for all of us.