Reflection for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2024

Sunday, September 1, 2024

To Do or Not to Do?

Isn’t it remarkable that we adults, as well as children, can hear an instruction or rule, remember it, and later, just not follow it?  Home from college one fine spring day, my cheerful younger brother was driving me on an errand, and sprang a quick quiz as we neared a corner.   “What do we do when the light is red?” he innocently asked.  I replied, “We stop, of course,” not knowing where this line of questioning would lead. “What do we do when the light is green?”, he continued.”  “We go!” “And when it is yellow?” With a chuckle, he answered it himself.

When Moses gave the Lord’s statutes and decrees to the Israelites (Deuteronomy Ch. 4), he instructed them to observe them, “that you may live.” and to “give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations.”  What a gift from the Lord!  How great it would be if I could give that witness myself by always being faithful.  The communities I belong to would be more faithful, too! Certainly, I could make more effort to “slow down at the yellow light,” because I know the Holy Spirit gives me warnings, like those rumble strips on the road, when the vehicle starts to veer outside of the lane.

Moses knew that we have a God so close to us that we can call upon Him whenever we need Him.   New life, spirit, and encouragement can always be mine for the asking, but my choice has to be to pause and take the time to acknowledge the needs.  Some have said that humility is the foundation virtue and that seems to apply here.  Humility is truth but I have to desire it.  I must carefully look for and watch the signs along the road, and the lights that signal.

Saint James (Ch. 1) encourages his readers to trust in the perfect gift “from above, coming down from the Father of lights”, the “word of truth” planted in us, that we should humbly welcome.  It does take time to digest a word of truth, but that spiritual food is always available.  Time spent with the word of God will also strengthen my decision-making. Some memorization of short passages gives me quotations that come to mind when I need advice. Sometimes I just open the Bible to get a little taste, a verse or two, of what the Lord wants to feed me that moment.  I know many of you, dear Friends, do get your strength from a faithful reading of the Scriptures.

James added that this word of truth “is able to save your souls.” He taught that pure and undefiled religion – which we want– is to keep oneself “unstained by the world”.  We want to keep our souls unstained, and our loved ones’, too, by His power.  Sometimes it means to avoid harmful outside influences, but Jesus wasn’t talking about dietetic laws.  When Jesus taught that what stains or defiles a person is what comes from the inside, it tells me to look inside (Mark Ch. 7).  What fuels the choices that I make?

You probably know the story of the young man who said he felt there were two animals fighting inside him – one mild, loving and thoughtful, and the other wild, angry, and dangerous.  “How do I know which one will win?”, he asked the wise man?  “The one you feed,” he replied, “the one you feed.”

How will you invite the Lord this week to guide your steps and to help you slow down at the yellow lights?  We can all use fresh ideas!

Thank you for your prayers.  We pray for you every day.  May His Spirit give you the wisdom to choose His will always and rejoice in the peace that it brings.