Serving God in Freedom
Ask yourself...
In one sentence, what am I living for? Would I
call this my “ministry”? Am I willing to sacrifice everything else for it? Am I
conscious of it all day long?
Consider this...
This week the Responsorial Psalm says four things that give us a summary of the
Mass prayers and readings— “You are my inheritance, O Lord” (Psalm 16; see verses 1-11).
1. God is my all, my “inheritance,” my
“portion,” my “fullness of joy.” I
have no good apart from God. Nothing can lure me away from him. The Entrance Antiphon invites us to express
this: “All nations, clap your hands.
Shout with a voice of joy to God.” He has given us himself; he has given us
All. The Prayer After Communion
identifies this fullness with the “grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”: “Lord, may
this sacrifice and communion give us a share
in your life….”
2. God is my refuge, my security. I “shall
not be disturbed” or “undergo corruption.” Nothing can frighten me away from
God or single-minded service to him.
3. God is my counsel, my guide, who calls me
to “walk in the light of Christ.” We
ask him in the Opening Prayer(s): “Free us from darkness and keep us in the
radiance of your truth.” More than that, we say “Form our lives in your truth.”
4. God is always present. But I need to consciously “keep the Lord ever before
me… at my right hand” and “walk in the light of Christ” (Opening Prayer).
The fruit
of these four truths, if I absorb them, is single-minded
service in ministry to others. In the Opening
Prayer we ask God not only to “Form our lives in your truth,” but also “our hearts
in your love.” “In the Prayer Over the Gifts we ask: “May this
Eucharist help us to serve you
faithfully.” The Prayer After Communion
associates divine life with ministry to others: “Lord, may this sacrifice and
communion give us a share in your life
and help us bring your love to the
world.”
These four truths, and the single-minded service
to God in ministry that follows from them, are the themes of the Scripture readings
today.
You are my
All
1Kings 19:
16-21 tells
us in dramatic terms that when God calls to his service, nothing should delay
us, much less impede us. When Elisha, called by Elijah, asked to say goodbye to
his father and mother first, Elijah’s response was, “Forget I ever called you!”
He was making a point.
Elijah was simply reminding Elisha of the First
Commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart… soul… strength… and mind.” Psalm 16 accepts this in
an acknowledgment that God is All: “You
are my inheritance, O Lord… I have no good apart from you.” 1
We are all “idolaters” in the measure that we
dedicate ourselves to anything or anyone — or allow ourselves to be allured or
threatened into serving anything or anyone — in a way that is independent of
our service to God.
It is a denial of what we know God is if we seek
any pleasure, joy, fulfillment or happiness in any created person or thing
independently of God — prescinding from God, without including God — the way we
would if God did not exist.
The truth is, God is all that does exist
absolutely. And everything else exists only insofar as God imparts to it some
similitude of his own Being, breathing it into existence and sustaining it by
his power, being within it the Being that keeps it in being.
And so, to perceive, acknowledge, recognize or
desire the goodness of any created being without perceiving the presence and
goodness of God within it is to perceive falsely and to love mistakenly.
This is the true meaning and reality of
idolatry.
You are my
refuge
In Luke
9: 51-62 Jesus echoes Elijah. He warns those who would follow him that they
must give up all attachment to shelter and security, and break the bonds of
social obligation and even of sacred family ties.
To one who said, “I will
follow you wherever you go,” Jesus answered: “Foxes have holes, and birds of
the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
To another, who said,
“Lord, first let me go and bury my father,” Jesus replied, “Let the dead bury
their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
Another said, “I will
follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus
answered, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the
kingdom of God.”
This is radical. But the truth is, to follow
Jesus is to accept death, as he did: “When the days drew near for him to be
taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Where he goes, we must follow,
as Thomas told his fellow disciples: “Let us also go, that we may die with
him.” To accept Baptism is to die in Christ and to rise with him to live as his
body on earth — or better, to “become
Christ” and let him live in us and through us. We say with St. Paul: “It is
no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” 2
To say this is to declare ourselves emancipated
from every obligation that is not included in fidelity to God. It is to “set
our face” on God’s service, on fulfilling Christ’s mission on earth, with no
backward or sideward glances. Fearing nothing. Distracted by nothing. Desiring
only to “serve you faithfully” and “bring your love to the world” (Mass
prayers).
You are my
light
In Galatians
5: 1-18 Paul reminds us, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” He freed us
from sin, death and enslavement to the fears and desires of our culture so that
we could claim this freedom, believe in it and live by it.
But we have to remember to do this — always and everywhere. We need to walk
consciously in the light given to us. “Stand firm,” Paul exhorts us, “and do
not submit again to a yoke of slavery!” We must not submit to the idols of our
culture by letting any goals, standards, laws or elements of lifestyle imposed
on us by others diminish in any degree whatsoever our freedom to serve God
without restriction. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone…. The
LORD your God you shall fear; him you shall serve” — him alone. God is our All,
God is our refuge. Nothing outside of God can allure us or threaten us. We are
free. To submit to the slavery of conformism to the attitudes and values of our
peer group is idolatry. And idolaters we are, all of us, and will be, in some
measure and degree, until we grow to the “perfection of love” that the second
Vatican Council proclaimed as the goal of every Christian life. 3
What are our idols? An idol is anything we allow
to influence the course of our lives or the expenditure of our resources and
energies independently of intentional service to God.
It is idolatry to dedicate ourselves to good
human values without integrating them into our service to God. Most of the
Greek and Roman idols were symbols of good human values. For example: Pluto,
god of prosperity; Vulcan, god of technology; Mercury, god of speed, Bacchus,
god of joyful celebration. These are all good.
We think that because we do not erect statues as
symbolic personifications of these values — technology, art, affluence,
productivity, and progress — and burn incense before them, we do not serve them
as our gods — though we let them determine our lifestyle. This is naiveté.
What do we sacrifice to our gods? That is, what
do we give up because of our devotion
to sports, education, success, social acceptance, fun and games, physical
fitness and appearance, sex, pleasing family and friends, even religious
devotions that are less demanding than God? These are all good values. But when
they are not seen or sought as part of our total, unlimited service to God they
are idols.
What do we sacrifice to them? — time? energy? family life? opportunities
for spiritual growth? Eucharist?
engagement in parish ministries?
To what do we give preference over bearing witness to Christ by a prophetic
lifestyle? Over ministering to
others? Working to establish the reign of
God on earth? These are our idols.
To be free
we must remember. We have to walk
consciously in God’s light, aware of who and where and what he is. “You are my inheritance, O Lord.” You
alone.
Insight
What idols must I renounce in order to be free?
Initiative:
Give God’s life:
Be alert to the priorities that guide your
choices. Call them into question.
Footnotes:
1Luke 10:27.
2Galatians 2:20; John
11:16.
3Deuteronomy 6: 4,13. “It is evident to everyone
that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the
perfection of charity” (The Church
no. 40, p 67). “Every Catholic must therefore aim at Christian perfection (cf James 1:4; Romans 12:1-2)…” (Decree on
Ecumenism no. 4).
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