August 17, 2010
Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
By Beth DeCristofaro
Thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are haughty of heart, you say, “A god am I! I occupy a godly throne in the heart of the sea!”— And yet you are a man, and not a god, however you may think yourself like a god. (Ezekiel 28:2)
(The disciples asked) … “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
Piety
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen
Study
Somehow we humans keep doing ourselves in. The prophecy from Ezekiel foretells the downfall of a foreign king who was so powerful as to think himself immune from the rules of men. The disciples have just been told that it will be easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. I can sure understand the desire to be above the rules or the chance to make my own rules. But why would anyone want to get a camel through the eye of a needle? The reality is that people do this everyday – make life choices which are self-centered, thoughtless, greedy, even down right mean. And we do it because we feel that we need to be in control or we have the answers or for many other human-centered reasons.
Just as God created us out of an abounding love, God offers us the gift of salvation out of that same love. We can’t save ourselves. We really don’t control much at all. There is an awful lot of meanness in the world. Rather than despairing, however, we can rejoice in the freedom God also gives to us that allows us to accept the gifts of God. And give over to God the control, the meanness, the greed we desire. Then we can act more as if we are God’s saved, loved ones – and love one another - rather than act like we are rulers of our universe.
Amazing how we keep trying to stuff camels through needles’ eyes.
Action
What camel do we keep trying to stuff? What rules are we rewriting for our own benefit? Can we let them go and instead, give thanks and put ourselves at the disposal to the God who was and who is?
