Spiritual Freeloaders

August 27: Wednesday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

2 Thessalonians 3:6-10, 16-18; Psalm 128:1-2, 4-5; Matthew 23:27-32

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

Spiritual Freeloaders

 “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10

Paul had the rank of a bishop. But in Thessalonica he earned his own living by moonlighting, making tents. This tells us, not what bishops should do today, but how every Christian should think. There are no freeloaders. And no work is “beneath” anybody.

There is a “clergy joke” meant to express the exact opposite of how priests should think: “These hands were made for chalices, not calluses.” Pope Francis, asked about clerical dress, said, “The problem is not whether you wear a cassock, but rather if you roll up its sleeves to work for the good of others.”

Every Christian is consecrated at Baptism to minister. A paraphrase of Paul could be: “Anyone unwilling to minister as Christ should not eat the Bread of Christ.” We would never actually refuse Communion to the “spiritual freeloaders.” But Paul’s words indict all who won’t contribute to the liturgy by singing and greeting others, or to the life of the community by listening intently (intentionally) to the word of God as disciples, making decisions about how to live it out in a “prophetic” lifestyle, and expressing their faith, hope and love in physical words and actions as a “priests in the Priest.” Or who won’t take responsibility as “stewards of Christ’s kingship” for transforming the Church and the world.

Clergy and laity are equally obliged to minister.

PRAY: “Lord, send me into your vineyard.”

PRACTICE: Minister to everyone everywhere.