Oldies...But Goodies

Oldies... but goodies!

June 17 - 11^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The note of growth is very obvious in today's liturgy. We find it in the First Reading which anticipates - so to speak - the words of the Master in the Gospel. In years past we could probably have identified with the  words "majestic cedar" and have pointed proudly to the impressive Catholic Church Today we have to eat humble pie and identify to a large extent with the "withered tree." It is a difficult time for all of us but the Divine Master has not changed nor has he lost his power. All we have to do is return to him The problem for millions is to do just that. Every day we must pray for those who have left the Church and, unfortunately, may die in that situation leaving grave doubts about their eternal destiny.

The Responsorial Psalm responds to the positive element in the Reading. An interesting line is " They shall bear fruit even in old age." Perhaps we don't appreciate growing old. It is, of course, a time of physical and mental decline but spiritually it is really - or should be- the time of the harvest, the time when all those prayers and sufferings over the years are there to be presented to the Lord. This should be our dominant  thought as the years pile up: the spirit has no age and if we could see ourselves as God sees us we might be pleasantly surprised!

The Second Reading confirms the thought in the Psalm.The body is not to be despised but rather esteemed as the instrument through which we serve the Lord. St. Paul says: " We walk by faith, not by sight." It is  sometimes difficult to decide if we have accomplished anything spiritually or have just gone blindly from day  to day. Certainly, in the Institute, if we live our commitment, each day is spent in the best possible way and that is the great consolation of membership and the great reason why we should constantly try to share our gift with others.

In the Gospel, the Master follows his usual method: he takes examples from his hearers' everyday lives. We  human beings have energy and talents and God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves. So - to speak of the Church ( and the Institute) - we must "scatter seed on the land" but then trust in the Lord to make it grow. So our work to promote the Institute should be preceded by prayer, accompanied by prayer as we make this contact or that, and then followed by prayer. Moreover we should continually "sow." There is a tendency to get discouraged - very understandable but not very apostolic. All we have to do is SOW.  What happens after that is mostly out of our control. But . . . let's CONTINUE SOWING! We are not contemplatives but sons and daughters of St.Paul who traveled all over as much of his world as he could reach.. And, like our divine Master, he was not very successful at the time. But look what happened. His  churches" have all disappeared except in the island of Malta, but his Letters will be read and admired till the end of the world.

~ Concord June 2012