The readings today are a powerful reminder that as Christians we cannot be people who sit on the fence. We have to throw all our chips on the table. There are too many out there who want to believe that all they have to do is claim the title, “I am a Christian,” without claiming the cross that comes with it. The Psalm itself is clear in its meaning and expectation from God:
“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?”
We have to be a people different than those who do not know Christ. He reminds us in His teachings in the Gospel today that we are expected to choose Christ first and foremost. It means I have to pick up my cross and do as he did. Being Christian is not just a statement. It is not just a one-time confession and a mountaintop experience. It is a constant state of conversion in which we move closer to God, become more like His Son, and through the grace of the Sacraments be transformed into little Christs.
What should that look like? Justice. The Prophet said:
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.
One would think we had learned our lesson by now. We still are learning. Slowly. That’s what it takes to be a Saint though. I have to become a worker for justice. One who defends those without a voice. One who finds what is wrong, and fixes it. A person who looks for those who have none, and tries to help them. Being Catholic isn’t just a Sunday thing, it’s a life thing. It means continually learning to love as Jesus loved. Loving every single person, and trying to make the world more like the Kingdom we pray to come every day at Mass.
A reflection on the Readings for Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time