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Fifteenth Sunday of the Year
11 July 2010
Praise be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!
Dear Friends in Christ,
How many cousins can I hate and still be welcome at the family reunion? We may think that no one with a loving heart and a generous spirit would ever think of asking such a cynical question, but consider the many ways in which we are tempted to ask just that question in different words. How many doctrines of the Faith can I reject and still be a Catholic? How many Sunday Masses can I miss before I have to go to confession? What is the minimum I have to do to get my children baptized or married at the parish church? How little can I contribute and still be considered an active parishioner? How late can I arrive for the sacred liturgy and still fulfill my Sunday obligation? All of these and many other such questions reveal a spirit of minimalism that suggests we have never really heard the Gospel or understood our religion as a relationship of love with the living God in Christ.
In the opening words of his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul sings a great hymn of praise which should stir our hearts to wonder and gratitude: “Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens. God chose us in him before the world began to be holy and blameless in his sight. He predestined us to be his adopted sons through Jesus Christ, such was his will and pleasure, that all might praise the glorious favor he has bestowed on us in his beloved. In him and through his blood, we have been redeemed, and ours sins forgiven, so immeasurably generous is God’s favor to us. God has given us the wisdom to understand fully the mystery, the plan he was pleased to decree in Christ. A plan to be carried out in Christ, in the fullness of time, to bring all things into one in him, in the heaven and on earth.” (Ephesians 1:3-10)
Once we understand the extraordinary and saving truth of the Gospel, how could we ever be minimalists again? We were chosen before the foundation of the world to be holy! And this holiness is a free gift from our blessed Savior with whom we are called to share everlasting glory by grace through faith. What, then, should be our response? “In him, we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory.” (cf Ephesians 1:11)
To live for the praise of God’s glory! This is what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in such a life of praise there can be no minimalism or cynicism. Instead, our hearts must overflow with joy to live in full communion with the Lord Jesus and his Church, and in the search for that full communion we should be prepared to sacrifice everything for the sake of the immeasurable generosity of God in Christ.
Father Newman