June 28, 2009
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.
For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, And there is not a destructive drug among them nor any domain of the nether world on earth, for justice is undying. Wisdom 1:14-15
For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich. not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality your surplus at the present time should supply their needs, so that their surplus may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. 2 Corinthians 8:9, 13-14
“Do not be afraid; just have faith.” Mark 5:36
Piety
Christ became poor by becoming one of us. He emptied himself of his Godness so that we might become rich by imitating him when we emptied ourselves of our riches that we might become poor like Christ. Christ gave a permanent dignity to the one willing to become poor for the sake of others in sharing the poverty of Christ by being willing to empty oneself out for the needs of the poor of our world. In the poverty of Christ our poverty becomes the riches of heaven in the likeness to Christ our freely embraced poverty brings. The invitation of Christ to the rich young man is all too easily forgotten by our wealth mad world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Poverty that brings likeness to Christ and piety that bring oneness with Christ are too easily overlooked in our world today.
Study
The dilemma of the spiritual journey is simple. If I could give as much glory to God by riches or poverty, would I choose poverty rather than riches if both were equal so that I could be more like the Christ who did just that? God loved us so much that he sent his only son to be one with us so that he could make up in the person of Christ’s own human body all the sinfulness of our human nature. John 3:16-18 tells it straight. God so loved us that he gave us his Son. The question for all of us is. “Do I love God so much that I would be a perfect embodiment of his son?” Would I be willing to live his love for all my brothers and sisters of the human race so that God would know how much I love him in the degree of oneness I have with his son? God formed us to be the image of his own nature in our willingness to love each other as God has loved us in his son. We are called to imitate Christ so that by our poverty we might become rich with the love of God. God does not love us more by what we do. God’s love is everlasting. God is love and he could never love less. The paradox of Christianity is that we can only have what we give away. We accept God’s love in the love we share with one another. God’s love lives in us in our sharing it with one another.
Action
We need to come to Christ like Jairus, one of the synagogue officials, who pleaded for the life of his daughter. Our actions bring us the touch of Christ. He will not force himself upon us. He is open to our asking. The greatest thing we can do in our apostolic life is pray for each other. We need to ask for the touch of Christ on our lives. He looks on those he touches with a healing love. The desire of our heart for the needs of the world is the cry of the Spirit of the Lord that God listening to God answers. Our apostolic work needs to be charged with the spirit of Christ that the touches of Christ by our prayer bring us. The woman of our Gospel is alike to us in all the times we sneak up on Christ without the spark of our love for Christ. She wanted her healing badly. She recognized the power of Christ’s love. She came to Christ in her need. She learned how to be open and received the gift of her healing and her love for Christ was sparked in the answer to the great sadness of her life. Our world needs us to approach Christ openly in our needs so that the world can learn how to respond to God’s presence in one’s life. Our study and our actions need to be fed by our prayer so that we can live the freedom of the children of God. We are called to be Christ for one another. No one is too much a child for the life giving love of Christ that is in our hearts to be shared. Our Lord Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel of this Sunday. The Lord not only is telling us to arise from our sleep but to bring the power of his love by living our lives in his name. Our piety, enlightened by our study is brought into action by our prayer. We can only save our lives by losing them in Christ for the sake of each other. Our faith in Christ will save our world.
