What Is First And Last?

September 18: Thursday of Week 23 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 28; Luke 7:36-50

What is Jesus saying to us as stewards of his kingship? (To support Reaching Jesus... Step Five).

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“For I handed on to you as of first importance…” (1 Corinthians 15:3).

In all that we “hand on”—to our children, to those we live and work and recreate with, to the next generation—what for us is “of first importance”?

Let’s look deeper into our relationship with others, even if it’s scary. What is “of first importance” in making us “family”? Common genes? Common growing-up experiences? A common heritage of world-view, principles and values? Of relationship with God?

Do you “drop out” of the family only when you “renounce your inheritance” in the financial sense? Or when you break with the beliefs and value-system of your family, which means you will not pass these down to your children? What will make your children a stranger to their relatives? What will make their ancestors strangers to them?

Few parents “disown” their children. But how many young adults unthinkingly “disown” their parents, grandparents and other relatives? Besides property, what is the “ownership” we have in others’ lives? What is “of first importance” in any relationship, family or other?

If we renounce our family’s religious past, and our family’s religious expectations for the future (as in atheism), what real relationship do we have with our family in the present?

Is there a “stewardship” of family heritage? If so, what is “of first importance”?

PRAY: “Let the house of Israel say, ‘His mercy endures forever.’”

PRACTICE: Think deeply about your relationships. What makes them real?