LITURGY
AND LIFE
By
Marie-Louise Ternier-Gommers
With
Jesus and commitment, it’s an all or nothing deal
13th Sunday in Ordinary
Time
June 27, 2010
1 Kings 19:16, 19-21
Psalm 16
Galatians 5:1, 13-18
Luke 9:51-62
In a few short teenage years
I went from being a skeptic in faith to making a radical commitment
to Christ. My parents had raised us as good Sunday Catholics and could
not understand my initial rebellion to our practice of attending Sunday
mass. To my defiant comments they pleaded in response: “Could
you not give just that one hour a week in church? Besides, as the oldest
in the family you need to give your brothers a good example.”
I didn’t know what
to say to that until I encountered Christ Jesus in the depth of my own
heart and desired fervently to give over my whole life to living in
his service. Then my eyes were opened and I knew that discipleship was
not about “just one hour in church” but about every minute
of every day of my life. Again, my parents pleaded that they didn’t
quite mean it that way either and now I was going overboard on religion
. . .
This was nearly 40 years
ago. To my parents’ credit, they were no exception. Hard-working,
dutiful Sunday Catholics and dedicated to the proper and loving raising
of their children, my parents never grasped the radical implications
of discipleship with Jesus. They couldn’t, for no one helped them
understand what following Jesus was asking of them except for showing
up in church at the right time and getting your kids “done.”
My parents were caught up
in getting ahead in the world, improving their lot from the hardship
they had known in their own childhood. In all fairness these were noble
goals, compatible with the goals of honouring the dead with a respectful
burial and compatible with saying goodbye to family when setting out
on a long journey. Yet, in today’s Gospel, Jesus has sharp words
for both these excuses.
Excuses, yes. Not that these
activities are wrong in themselves, but they conceal a divided heart.
And with Jesus it is truly an all or nothing deal. Following him is
to change radically how we live, what we see and hear, much like Elisha
destroying all that made up his former life and thus freeing himself
to follow the prophet Elijah.
But here in our 21st century
western world, Christian discipleship has been trumped by another force
that captures our good Christian hearts and minds — material comfort,
individualism and wealth. Without being objectively evil, our affluent
lifestyle nevertheless has a subtle power to blind us to the radical
demands of Jesus. Material wealth, individualism and comfort collude
to form a particular yoke of slavery, dulling us to Jesus’ radical
claim on our lives, thus closing the door to lasting freedom, peace
and justice even when we sit in church every Sunday.
As St. Francis discovered
already almost 1,000 years ago, the curse is not in poverty, it is in
wealth. The curse is in power, which hardens and poisons the human heart
until it feels like a dried-up well. Every Sunday Jesus enters our very
bodies and souls through the eucharist, and yet often we return home
from mass with a heart still cluttered with grudges and self-centredness,
judgments and resentments. More than ever, G.K. Chesterton’s words
ring true: Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has
been found difficult and not tried.
Imitating Jesus requires an uncluttered heart free for extravagant loving from cradle to grave, along with a profound reverence and love for all creation, both for the natural environment and for all people. How radically do we live this communion? For example, do we use clean water whenever we feel like it, unaware of the waste and of the fact that half the world’s population — sisters and brothers made in God’s image and likeness — lives in unsanitary conditions without access to clean water?
Does our pro-life stand include
concrete commitments to assist single mothers and low-income families?
Do we happily buy fresh produce year-round, unaware that those who grow
and harvest it for us do not earn a living wage? Do we snuggle up in
our cozy homes, forgetting the despair of sisters and brothers who have
nowhere to lay their children to sleep? Do we indulge in the use of
household appliances and gas-guzzling vehicles, seemingly oblivious
to our complicity in global ecological damage? Do we bless our troops
to “fight for peace” in foreign lands, conveniently ignoring
Jesus’ call to non-violent peacemaking?
To avoid misunderstanding,
these things are not wrong or evil in themselves — well, most
of them aren’t. The problem arises when certain lifestyle choices
and values trump Jesus’ uncompromising claim on our heart. Even
the most committed among us live with a divided heart.
No wonder St. Paul warns
us in today’s passage from Galatians not to use our freedom as
an opportunity for self-indulgence. The whole law is summed up in one
commandment, says Paul, and that is “You shall love your neighbour
as yourself.” Do we in fact love ourselves in healthy enough ways
so as to recognize our neighbour in need?
Last month our local bishop
invited all the faithful in the diocese to gather for a special prayer
service addressing the current clergy sexual abuse crisis. The bishop
issued the invitation with the intent to activate the power of the Body
of Christ, a communion of believers not bound by time and space but
intricately woven together by a Christ-like love and fidelity to one
another. As Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, if one member
suffers, all suffer. Why then did most of us ignore the bishop’s
urgent call and simply choose our private activities over the prayer
service?
It is an all or nothing deal
with Jesus. If we can risk giving ourselves to him, we will not be disappointed.
As St. Francis discovered, giving our heart and mind, wealth and comfort
to Jesus will lead to the only trustworthy, life-giving and lasting
freedom we will find in this life. The Gospel liberates in ways none
of the world’s ways have the power to do. Would that we all may
aspire to and taste that freedom.
Ternier-Gommers, married and mother of three adult children, is an award-winning author and retreat leader. She is active with an ecumenical network of women in ministry, works in pastoral ministry at St. Augustine Parish in Humboldt, and is a freelance writer.
 |
|