Reflections
for Sunday, September 1, 2013
The readings today challenge us to examine how we think about ourselves.
Do we think that we have the answers to life? Are we able to lead others?
Do we value the opinions others and delight in being held in great esteem?
Do we think that we have the answers to life?
The readings are telling us so clearly: only the humble person can begin
to understand the work of God in our world and in ourselves. Only when we
are still and silent before the mystery of God are we able to begin to see
God at work in our world.
The Book of Sirach, from which comes the first reading, tells us that What
is too sublime for you, seek not, into things beyond your strength search
not. Today so many of us claim to have the answers to the great challenges
of life. This Sirach wants us to know that we are deluding ourselves.
What we need to do is be still before the Holy Scriptures and allow
ourselves to be formed by the Holy Scriptures. Even then, we must be
humble and accept what the Scriptures say. Far too often we want to
explain away what the Scriptures are telling us and put in their place the
insights of the modern world.
The second reading, from the Letter to the Hebrews, tells us that we will
only know the truth if we are willing to listen to Jesus Christ. It is His
blood that will enlighten us. So many today don't believe at all in Jesus
and would like His teaching eliminated. Yet if we want to know the truth,
it can only be found in Him. In order to know Him and hear Him, we must
humble ourselves and listen.
The Gospel today, from Saint Luke, speaks also to this capacity that we
have to take the lowest place. When we take the lowest place, we might
begin to hear the truth and to live the truth. Instead, we are often
blinded by our own way of thinking, by our insisting that we know more than
others and by our insistence to choose truth rather than to be formed by
the truth of Jesus Christ.
At the heart of the Scriptures we find a clear message: accept Jesus
Christ and walk in His ways. Listen to Him and you will be changed. Live
as He did and you will find a truth that you did not have before. Even
stronger than that: listen to His Church and be formed by His Church
because He Himself has left us the Church as His presence in our world.
My sisters and brothers, the question is simple: are we looking for the
truth in Jesus Christ or are we trying to use Jesus Christ to justify what
we want to do?
Let us reflect today on the word of God and ask the Lord to open our hearts
so that it is truly Jesus that we seek, truly Jesus that we follow and
truly Jesus whom we desire in all.
Readings of the day:
First Reading: Sirach 3.17-20, 28-29
Second Reading: Hebrews 12.18-19, 22-24a
Gospel: Luke 14.1, 7-14
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Reflections are available for the following Sundays:
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