Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Scripture

Sometimes it seems disadvantageous to be a Christian. Have you ever had the experience of trying to do something that you knew was right, only to suffer for your efforts? Have you ever made a sacrifice, knowing it was the loving thing to do, only to find yourself forced to endure more challenges as a result?

 In today’s first reading from the prophet Malachi, we hear the comparison of two groups of people. The one group are those who fear the Lord, and the other group are those who have come to celebrate worldly success as an end in itself. The latter group notices that the evil prosper, and they describe the proud as blessed. It may sound to us a bit like what has been called the “prosperity gospel.” This is a theology wherein people believe that God grants material wealth to those who believe in him. But such a strange theology certainly does not go well with this passage from Malachi. Rather, this reading gives us the impression that those who are faithful sometimes suffer; they even take penitential suffering upon themselves. They persist in following the Lord, even when that path is difficult.
 
Persistence is also a theme of the gospel reading. Jesus uses the comparison of a persistent child to explain that God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Those who have persistent children will understand this comparison quite easily; whereas we often give things to our children “just to keep them quiet” or “just to get them to stop bugging me,” God gives us gifts because he knows they are good for us.
 
God wants to give us the Holy Spirit. But he also wants us to ask for it. Persistence in the Christian life is as much about desire as anything else. When we have a passionate desire for something, we find ourselves willing to make great sacrifices for it. Hence we save up our money for a big trip, or we go on a diet out of a desire to lose weight. This is also true in relationships; when we are in love, we make sacrifices for that person.
 
We are in love with God, and we desire life with God. Persistence ought to come naturally to us as Christians because we are not willing to give up on this desire. Like those who fear God in the first reading, we put God above material success and we follow his law even when it entails great sacrifice on our part.
 
But the truly good news is that this will be rewarded. Malachi tells us that those who serve God will receive God’s compassion, and the “sun of justice with its healing rays” (Mal 3:20b). Likewise, the gospel from Luke tells us that those who ask will receive, those who seek will find, and those who knock will have the door opened to them. If we desire God, we will persist in our commitment to God. And if we persist, we will be rewarded.
 
Let us pray that God continue to strengthen in us our desire for Him. Let us pray that he strengthen us in our persistence along the Christian path. And let us pray that he will heed our prayers, and reward us in the end. And so we pray, "Come, Holy Spirit!"
 
- Maria Morrow