Only Love Works
Monday:
Twelfth Week of the Year: June 20, 2016
Year II: 2Kings: 17: 5-18; Psalm
60:3-13; Matthew 7: 1-5
The Responsorial Psalm encourages us to pray with hope even when our
own sins have caused our problems: “Help
us with your right hand, O Lord, and answer us” (Psalm 60).
2Kings
17: 5-18
shows us what happens when we don’t follow “the manufacturer’s instructions.”
God’s People are invaded, defeated, and reduced to slaves. “This happened
because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God.” God’s laws are
the “operator’s manual” for sharing human life on this planet. To ignore them
invites disaster.
The wars, the terrorism, the
violence in our streets that we experience are not a punishment from God. But God’s word assures us again and again that
they are the natural consequences of our refusal to live as he taught us — both
as individuals and as a nation. We suffer the consequences of global poverty
and social unrest which themselves are consequences of our failure, both now
and in the past, to live authentically as Christians. But God will still help
us if we turn to him: “Help us with your
right hand, O Lord, and answer us.”
In Matthew 7: 1-5 Jesus warns us that we may be looking at the wrong
sins. “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the
log in your own eye?” All sin is damaging, but some sins devastate society —
and those are the ones we seem least concerned about. At least, they never seem
to come up when we confess our sins; certainly not in the Sacrament of
Reconciliation! How do we minister as
Christians to the poor, the imprisoned? Do we address the causes of poverty? Of war? Are we complacent about just locking
people in cages instead of converting the whole prison system to serious
rehabilitation? Are we willing accomplices in the official revenge our state
takes against those children of God who are judged guilty by fallible juries of
killing other children of God? Do we applaud their execution? Does God their
Father applaud when we execute his children?
God does not promise that
ordinary morality will save the world. But Christian morality can — if like
Jesus we dedicate ourselves to ministering
to all people with the love of God himself. The truth is, only love works.
Jesus died to convince us of this. When we “die to ourselves” to live as Christ
and let Christ live in us, the world will be transformed. Do we believe the
prayer we were taught to say? “Send forth your Spirit, Lord, and our hearts will be regenerated. And you will
renew the face of the earth!” If we
“take the log out of our own eye” and live
out our Baptism, we will “see clearly” what else needs to be done.
Initiative:
Give God’s life: Be a “priest in the Priest.” Minister with love to all
people and encourage love in everything.
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