How Much More

How Much More

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2013 C

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

Still Abraham went on, “Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?”  The LORD answered, “I will not destroy it, for the sake of the twenty.”  But he still persisted: “Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time.  What if there are at least ten there?”  He replied, “For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it.”  Genesis 18:30-32

You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.  And even when you were dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross.  Colossians 2:12-14

What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?  Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?  If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”  Luke 11:11-13

Piety

Piety is a state of being with the Lord.  The Contemplative in Action has made life into a prayer.  Piety is the simplicity of doing everything for the Lord.  Prayer is the conscious awareness of making holy the name of God by our lives.  When the Apostles asked the Lord to teach them how to pray, the “Our Father” was what he gave them.  The “Our Father” is the greatest teaching on prayer the world has ever known.  It makes of prayer the active work of bringing about the kingdom of God in our lives.  It opens our heart to doing everything for the Lord.  Heaven and earth meet as the work of our lives makes heaven out of earth.

Study

Our study is the how of the daily bread that we are asking for.  We look at our world which contains all that we could ever ask for as the gift of God to us.  We ask for what we already have.  Our study teaches us how to ask.  Awake or asleep the Lord is gifting us with his love that surrounds us in all of life about us.  Our study takes us into the simplicity of God’s love for us.  God does love without missing a beat on what love is all about.  Because God is love, all that comes from God in each moment is his love.  We feed on God’s love in Christ to become Christ for one another.  We are buried with Christ in our Baptism to rise with him in his Resurrection.  We live the resurrection of Christ by our goodness.  He is our foothold in heaven even as we by our all too often feeble efforts are his presence in a special way here on earth.  Christ teaches us how to be his forgiveness here on earth.

Action

We are constantly asking the Lord to forgive us our trespasses because every sin is a stepping on the love of Christ.  We open ourselves to forgiveness by the very way we forgive each other for being less than Christ.  We are meant to be the love of Christ for each other.  In Christ we have our being.  In our love for one another, Christ has his life in us.  How we live our lives with each other in harmony and happiness is the truth of how well we accept Christ in each other.  We do not have to be consciously aware that we are the love of Christ.  Wherever there is love, God is there.  This is the teaching of St.  John, the beloved Apostle.  We pray our best when we are the love of Christ for one another.  Prayer goes from words into action when we give people the freedom to be themselves.  We love best when we live our lives for the sake of each other.  Altruistic love is the making of the needs of another our need.  We love Christ in what we do for our neighbor.  Our prayer becomes action when we do our best to be loving people.