Give So To Receive
May 29, 2012
Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
by Beth DeCristofaro
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. (Matthew 10:29-30)
Piety
Lord,
grant that I may see you more clearly in the outcasts of this world,
love you more dearly in the poor and the rejected, and follow you more
nearly by responding to the needs of your deprived sisters and brothers.
(sacredspace.ie)
Study
Years
ago, right after college, I spent a year as a volunteer teacher at
Santa Barbara elementary school in Dededo, Guam. It was a year of self
discovery as a Catholic young adult and as a person in new surroundings.
It was not a case of giving up everything because I had rent provided,
roommates from the states and very generous parishioners that made sure
their young teachers stayed out of trouble and had enough food to eat!
At that time it was figuring out what it meant to follow Christ, as I was able.
Who
do I know who has truly given up everything to follow Christ? Not
many. How about you? The lures of a consumer world distract. And the
need to provide for family - or to survive if you are poor - dictate
that we must be active in worldly business. For most of us it calls for
constant awareness of priorities and our inner gyroscope. Are we
following the Christ of love or are we striking out on our own?
We don't need to wait for the age to come for our promised rewards. In the
silence of our own being, the joy of Christ's presence tells us where
we stand rooted.
Action
Jesus
said that the poor would always be with us. In this reading he affirms
giving up all to follow the Word. He also clearly gave the poor and
oppressed into our safekeeping. As we monitor our internal gyroscope,
what does God's presence tell us? Do we form community with those
different from ourselves or stay in a comfort zone of our own making?
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