If God is for us, who can be against us? He did not spare his own Son but handed him
over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen
ones? It is God who acquits us. Romans 8:31b-33
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and
stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children
together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling! Luke 13:34
Piety
Father, hear thy children’s
call. We know what you ask of us – the same
that you asked of Micah and Moses, Peter and Paul. Jesus, teach us to walk humbly with you
despite the temptations to wander off that path. Holy Spirit, guide our steps on the way of
peace so we do not put any other ideal at the center of our lives. Amen.
Study
In some ways, what the
readings say to us today may be hard to understand on a literal and a
metaphorical level. However, when paired
with some more familiar readings, the messages today – what they say and why
they matter – build on not just what Luke and Paul write elsewhere, but also
upon what we have learned about the faith from many sources.
If God is for us, who can
be against us? Who will condemn us? Paul
knows that there are many enemies out there who will physically arrest and
condemn Christians. However, he refuses
to let the prisons and punishments meted out by mortals. Shake his
optimism.
Paul also knows, too, what
John writes as one of the essential truths of the faith that justifies us: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17
If the Lord is our
shepherd, Paul will not be afraid because he knows that Jesus was not afraid to
walk into Jerusalem knowing that arrest awaited him. However, when Paul writes, “we conquer
overwhelmingly thanks to God’s power to save,” there is a certain irony. Paul writes these lines from Corinth before
he departs for Jerusalem. There, he will
be arrested and when he gets to Rome, he will be in chains.
Action
Are you unwilling? Probably not.
However, are you conflicted between what the Lord asks and what society
expects and what the world entices?
Probably. I know that I am.
Yesterday, one of the people
I follow on Twitter posted (Tweeted) this:
Pope Francis @Pontifex29 Oct:
If money and material things become the center of our lives, they seize
us and make us slaves.
In his 140-character-teaching-moment,
Pope Francis warns not to make money and material things the center of our
lives. Instead, as Paul writes, make God
the center and we will conquer the rest overwhelmingly.
One way I have tried to control on
the role of money and material items is to live within our financial
means. Our credit union offers a debit card that we use instead of a credit card. Shifting from using credit
cards that rack up debt, to using debit cards which are paid out of what we
already have, we can avoid getting further into debt to the banks and credit
card companies.
If we are only spending
what we have, then maybe that watch or pair of shoes will seem less important
knowing we have to pay for it today and not be tempted to get it now and pay
for it with whatever we may have to spend tomorrow. Does this make money and material things less central? I hope so.
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