August 21, 2010
Saturday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
“…but spirit lifted me up and brought me to the inner court. And I saw that the temple was filled with the glory of the LORD. Then I heard someone speaking to me from the temple, while the man stood beside me. The voice said to me: Son of man, this is where my throne shall be, this is where I will set the soles of my feet; here I will dwell among the Israelites forever.” Ezekiel 43:5-7b
Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23:10-12
Piety
Help us to realize that we have but one Master and that it is you Lord, not our self, our boss, our IPhone or our Facebook account. Help me to observe all that Jesus taught in order to set Him at the center of my universe. Amen.
Study
Many of the stories in the Bible function both as literal stories about the people of ancient Israel and as metaphorical stories about how we must approach life today. In Ezekiel, the story of the vision in the temple had meaning both about the hoped for restoration of Israel just as the dry bones of yesterday’s first reading did.
However, Ezekiel and Matthew also convey the need for our personal relationship with God on the individual. Today, the facet of that relationship which is stressed is humility. Yesterday’s Gospel stressed that we must engage our total person (heart, soul, mind) in this relationship. Today, as the Spirit breathes life into our humanity, we are reminded that this relationship is with all people – so we should not overemphasize our importance over anyone else.
God connects Himself to the community and to the individual. However, Jesus reminds us that God remains the sole master. While we must have a relationship that personally engages us with the Lord, we also must remain humble in our hearts, soul and mind.
Action
Ego. It’s a pretty easy trap to fall into. In this connected world where everything is about consuming – products, information, affinity – it is pretty easy to think that we are at the center of the universe. We have to be just as careful about not overloading on information as well as not overloading on our own self-importance or self-image.
In the August 20, 2010 Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan writes about overloading: “A lot of people seem here but not here. They're pecking away on a piece of plastic; they've withdrawn from the immediate reality around them and set up temporary camp in a reality that exists in their heads. It involves their own music, their own conversation, whether written or oral.”
She goes on to quote Seneca, the Roman philosopher and politician and prolific writer. She just as easily could have quoted from Jesus or Matthew. I imagine that Jesus might have made a similar observation today.
The Crackberry and I-phone obsessed have taken their e-seat on the chair of Steven Jobs or Bill Gates. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they check e-mail and voice mail and Twitter and Facebook but they do not practice being truly present and connected to the people in society around them. They trip over the homeless man, the blind woman and the unemployed person looking for a job. They lay up a guilt trip on those around them but they will not lift a finger to help others. The only finger that they lift is to type another note on their little plastic, glass and metal anchor. All their work is performed to be seen online as they widen their network of Facebook friends and lengthen their Twitter followers.
Noonan also refers to William Powers and his book "Hamlet's BlackBerry" about how to build a good and balanced life in the digital age. He provides practical solutions to the conflicting impulses of our implied need to be connected to our family, friends, high school, colleagues, and fellow fans of whatever sports teams we fancy and our need for quiet time and space apart to allow us to be truly present to the here and now. One piece of timely advice: “Concentrate on your higher, more serious purpose. Enrich your own experience. Don't be a slave to technology.”
Noonan concludes her WSJ column that this is good advice for all of us. “Focus on central things, quiet the mind, unplug a little, or a lot. And watch out for those crowds, both the ones that cause BlackBerry jams and the ones that unsettle, that attempt to stampede you into going along, or following. Step back, or aside. Think what you think, not what they think. Everyone is trying to push. Don't be pushed.”
