Serve Completely and Sincerely

August 17, 2007

Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

“I gave you a land which you had not tilled and cities which you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant. “Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve him completely and sincerely. Joshua 24:13-14

“Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator “made them male and female” and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” Matthew 19:4-6

Piety

Let us pray: God in heaven, you are the all powerful friend to the nations and people of this world. Grant that we may stay in the favor of your sight despite the near occasions to sin. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/081707.shtml

Despite our sin and brokenness, look how generous God is. Joshua details the kinds of gifts the Lord heaped upon his people. “I gave you a land which you had not tilled and cities which you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”

What gifts do you have in abundance? House, yard, furnishings, cars, retirement accounts, investments? What have you inherited through no hard work on your own? This is how our Lord showers such gifts upon us in modern days.

Why then must we fear such a generous and loving God? My sense is that we should fear falling out of favor with such a God. The Lord delivers everything for our favor. Lest this benefactor move away, we must do all we can to stay in His good Grace. Therefore, we fear making human missteps along the way which separate us from a God who wants to draw closer to us.

God remains generous despite our hard-hearted ways. Matthew points to one example – divorce – where public law/earthly law became distorted from natural law. Rather than taking the easy way out of different situations, Jesus gives a tough prescription for life and then advises, “Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”

The secret is to serve him sincerely and completely.

Action

Have you updated the value of your portfolio or retirement accounts in Quicken of Microsoft Money this week? Have you anxiously downloaded the latest prices for your stock or mutual fund investments?

Is the rising value of such accounts actually like an inheritance? We do not really “do” anything. We park our money with one institution and then watch as it grows. But everything that goes up, may eventually come down. Everything is a circle.

Have you updated your investments in the Kingdom of God? Can you afford to park anywhere and not do anything to grow closer to God. A stool built only on the legs of Piety and Study will fall over without the support of Action.

As you cough at the shrinking value of investments in your personal accounts, maybe now is when you should consider giving more to charity. Like the widow who gave out of her last mite, can you give out of the substance? Can you give to charity 5 percent of your savings or investments?

If you can, then what organization do you select for your generosity? God is indiscriminate with loving and forgiving others. If people seek our love and forgiveness, then we must love and forgive. It’s that simple.