September 15, 2013

Bulletin September 15, 2013
24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Exodus 32: 7-11, 13-14; 1 Timothy 1: 12-17; Luke 15:1-32
So what is God like? In the Gospel the people are really attracted to Jesus, especially the “tax collectors and sinners”; the Pharisees and scribes are complaining about this. ‘ Just look at the people whom He associates with? They are a no good bunch...they certainly aren’t loved by God or worthy of heaven because God has punished them and put them in the social condition they are in because of their sins...there is no hope for them, they are doomed...and this certainly can’t be the Messiah because ‘we know what the Messiah will be like’. They certainly feel that they ‘know it all’ about God. And Jesus continues to tell them and me and all people over and over what God is like.
Today’s theme in Luke is obvious; God knows all and knows those who are in need and those who ‘have lost their way’. And God loves them and God loves me and every single person. These three ‘mini parables’ tell of searching too; searching for that which is lost: a sheep, a coin and a son. I’m sitting here thinking of the times that I have been lost and the times that I have been searching. Initially, I thought there were only a few; but now I’m thinking that my whole life is one of searching, especially for my God and my way to God. What does this tell me?
It tells me that the Spirit is leading me closer and closer to find and hang on to the value and the beauty of God. It tells me that God has a value all to Himself and that a relationship with Him is of utmost importance. As a result, I search continually in my daily life. I pray to maintain some sort of connectedness. I make retreats and read Scripture and spiritual writers to encounter Him through the wisdom of others and very sacred works. And I see God in beauty. This is a very plain and simple statement, but like all statements of this kind, it is hugely deep in its meaning and application. God is beauty: I see God in nature; I see Him in people; I see Him in children; and I see Him in extremely old people; I see Him in people I love and I see Him so many times in so many surprising people and situations. That’s why I continue to search ... for God’s beauty and love.
Fr. Anthony Kadavil in Teaching and Preaching Resources expresses it in this way: “And we also search for Him by gathering in this holy place week after week to encounter Him in Word, Sacrament, and in each other. We strive to seek Him and recognize Him in everyone we meet, but especially in the poor, the lonely, the sick, and the forgotten. And we continue to ponder our lives and ask the big questions ---who are we, who is God, and what does all of this mean? Yes, searching for God is a huge part of what it means to live a life of faith.”
But as I reflect on this and re-read the/mini parables’ I realize that this is not so much about my searching for anything but instead they give me this ‘searching’ from God’s perspective; He is searching far more than me or anyone else. The bottom line is that I am that important to God, each person is, that God is constantly searching for me to fill me with what I need to survive and to pick me up and comfort me and bring me ‘back to the fold.’ Now why does God do this? I can only see one answer for this: Fr. Kadavil says that God does this, “because we are incredibly precious to Him.” I like this; I also like the expression that I have used for years that God is ‘absolutely crazy in love with me...with us.” With all my bad points, with all of me that I want to get rid of, with all the parts of me that I can’t stand, with all sins, I am precious in the eyes of God. Now in light of this, and all the initiative that God takes in loving me and caring for me, what am I to do. It sounds so simplistic, but I have to let God just plain love me. I have said frequently that the two hardest things for a human person to do is to 1) let someone love them without ‘me’ having to do something in return..’.just because they got me a unexpected Christmas gift doesn’t mean that I have to go out and get and ‘unexpected Christmas gift for them’. 2) AND MOST ESPECIALLY, I have to give God the opportunity to just plain love me without me doing anything. This is what the Shepherd did in the first mini parable; this is what the father is doing to the Prodigal Son.
Father Kadavil says it so beautifully to me, “And so part of faithfully living the spiritual life, and in a particular way, embracing our calling as disciples, is about making absolutely sure that we are giving God every possible opportunity to ‘get’ to us, making sure that we are not wandering off on our own when we need to stay put and let God find us, let God help us, let God heal us, and let God rescue us from whatever it is that is putting our spiritual life in danger. And we do that by making sure that we remain out in the open --- not hiding behind our egos or our fears or our misplaced desires or our ignorance or whatever it may be that is making it difficult for God to do what He longs to do --- find us, pick us up, and lead us to safety ---the safety of His love, the safety of His arms the safety of His saving acts for the sake of the whole world.”
So putting this so very bluntly, I have to let God find me...He loves me that much. Am I willing to do this?
So I reflect on:

• Sin’s role according to Fr. David Knight in Living God’s Word, “The reason we do not understand sinning as dying is that we do not understand grace as life, or being in grace as being alive. We think ‘being in grace’ means being in God’s favor, and that losing grace means losing God’s favor. We think sins just make God mad at us. The truth is, every sin kills us—kills the light of God in us; kills the love of God in us; kills the life of God in us—completely or partially. Every time we choose to sin even a little bit, we choose to be a little less alive, a little less able to see, a little less able to love. And every time we repent of sin (that is, truly repent, truly ‘change our minds’ about what we have done), God brings back to life in us what we have killed.”
  
• Do I share my ‘famous’ lost story and show how God was there helping, leading, loving caring?
  
• I take time with St. Augustine’s words, “God is nearer to me than I am to myself, more intimate to me than my inmost being.” So do I let God be God or am I afraid of being loved by love?
  
• Sacred Space 2013 adds a wonderful thought, “I may be downcast and disheartened when I know myself to be a sinner. Let me listen today for the voice of God, who rejoices at my repentance.”