20th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Aug. 18, 2019
CollectNativity, Washington, D.C.
“O God, you have prepared for those who love you
good things which no eye can see …” (Collect).
Things appears 3 times in the Collect that we prayed a
few minutes ago. The prayer reminds us
that God has prepared “good things” for us.
It urges us to love God “in all things and above all things.”
We know that when God created the universe, he
created it good; everything God made is good—even if we may be tempted to curse
mosquitoes, Canada geese, or the Atlanta Braves. The book of Genesis in the Bible’s very 1st
chapter tells us that everything is good, before adding that God found human
beings “very good” (1:31).
Yet all these good things, all of beautiful
creation, all the magnificent people we know, our beloved country—are secondary
to God. We pray that we may love God not
only “in all things” but “above all things.”
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Jeremiah by Enrico Glicenstein
By Hamaxides - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57998657
|
It was such love that landed the prophet Jeremiah
in the mud at the bottom of a cistern (38:6).
He was a most reluctant prophet, reluctant because he knew he’d meet
vicious opposition and even violence when he preached God’s message. He loved God enuf to preach anyway; loved God
above all things, even his own safety, even his own life.
The 1st generations of Christians, like those
addressed in the Letter to the Hebrews, also loved God above all things, even
in the face of violent persecution. The
author urges them, “Let us … persevere in running the race that lies before us
while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,” who “endured the cross” but has been
glorified by God, as we hope to be if we give our love to God above all
things—all persons, all material goods, all power, prestige, pleasure or
self-centeredness (Heb 12:1-4).
Jesus, too, cautions us about divisions within our
families (Luke 12:49-53). He’s not
talking about the sort of family issues that lead people to write to Dear Abby
or other advice columnists, but the divisions that result when people must
choose between God and family wishes, which sometimes we must do; between
conscience and what everyone else wants.
The Collect reminded us that God’s “promises
surpass every human desire.” God
promises us eternal life, and that he can deliver on his promise is evidenced
in the resurrection of Jesus, as well as in that Marian feast we just
celebrated, her bodily assumption to the side of Jesus in heaven. God promises us deliverance from all pain and
sorrow and fretting; we pray at every Mass to be “delivered from all
anxiety.” He promises to deliver us,
finally, from any kind of danger to body or soul, even from death, but only by
way of the cross in Jesus’ footsteps.
If God promises all that and can fulfill what he’s
promised—“the good things which no eye can see” in this life—why would we want
to listen to the allurements of the world and its empty, unsatisfying promises
about wealth, sex, power, fame, fleeting affections, or temporary comforts?
May God “fill our hearts,” as we prayed, “with the
warmth of [his] love”—and may we, filled with that love, live it and share it.
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