30th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Ex 22: 20-26; 1 Thes 1: 5c – 10; Mt 22: 34-40
Deacon Larry Brockman
Years ago, my wife posted a picture in our front powder room. The picture is an artistic rendering of a beautiful natural site, augmented with a quote from Pierre Tielhard de Chardin. It says: “For you, as for everyone, there is only one road that can lead to God; and that is fidelity to remain constantly true to yourself; to what you feel is highest in you. Do not worry about the rest. The road will open before you as you go.”
Today, we are told what it means to align our hearts with God. That’s really the same thing as being true to yourself. I say that because God created each and every one of us in his image and likeness; and chose talents, inclinations, and limitations for each of us. The challenge in life is to find out who we really are- the person God intended us to be and as Chardin says, to be true to that, as we walk through life.
It seems to me that this is a three-step process, and that the steps are covered by our scriptures today. First, notice that Paul compliments the Thessalonians for receiving the word of God, even in the midst of affliction, with great joy, and imitating Paul and his companions for all to see. So we have to listen to the word of God to find our who we really are intended to be; and then follow it. Yet, we may know all the right things to say and do; but if our actions don’t follow our hearts; then we are not being true to who we really are.
Jesus makes it very explicit in the Gospel that love of God is important. The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, and the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. So, we must first make loving the word of God a priority. That means taking the word of God for what it truly means, not just what it says on the surface.
Just as an example, let’s talk about keeping holy the Sabbath. That doesn’t just mean going to Mass; but keeping the Sabbath holy. What does it mean to you to keep the Sabbath holy? What is genuinely holy and sacred in your life- your relationship with God; with your family; with your friends? Or is it something else?
Now our first reading gives some explicit examples about living the word of God in our hearts. But it does so from the Old Testament perspective. We are to treat foreigners with the same dignity and love as we treat our families and close friends; the same with widows and orphans. The cultural norms of the ancients were particularly hard on these three categories because of the lack of status of foreigners, abandoned women and children. In the ancient cultures, generosity to these three categories was rare for tribal sentiments and rules abounded. People very strongly identified with their tribe. Outsiders, women and orphans were suspect, second class, subject to scrutiny. Some of the religions of today retain this tribal flavor to them. For Christians, it is not to be so. For however a person becomes present to us, we are called upon to respect them and love them as a neighbor. We are called upon to respond to that urge within us to do the right thing. We are all called to listen to God with our hearts.
When we respond out of conviction and feeling, we are being true to ourselves. Trusting in God, we share of ourselves knowing that we will not have to worry about the rest. The road will open before us as we go.
