Monday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Growing up, whenever I was asked what my favorite class in school was I usually responded by saying, “It’s probably a tie. I like math and gym.” This may have been a very odd combination, but it summed up my personality fairly well throughout childhood. Today I can still trace back many of my personality traits to these early interests in school. Perhaps you were the same way or can recognize things about yourself that can be traced back to the classes you liked when you were young? Even in my spiritual life these personality traits shine forth, sometimes acting to my advantage while other times presenting significant challenges.
I loved math class because the answers were quantifiable and almost always objective. I felt that it was often reassuring to be able to assign an objective value to something, to categorize it and, if possible, measure its significance. But sometimes this just cannot be done. Today’s Gospel from Luke describes the actions of a rich man whose land produces a bountiful harvest. He tears down smaller barns and builds larger ones in order to create more space to store his harvest. In this example, the sizes of the barns could be measured, the significance of the harvest could be weighed, and the worth of his riches could conceivably be calculated. However, today’s first reading from Ephesians speaks about a different kind of wealth- the riches of God’s grace, which cannot be quantified or calculated. Instead, as St. Paul describes, these riches are immeasurable!
I loved gym class because I loved to be active- to move, to exercise, to play, and to compete. With respect to my spiritual life, these characteristics excite me to live out my faith and joyfully train for the spiritual challenges which present themselves throughout my life. St. Paul again reminds us today that we have been “created in Christ Jesus for good works” and that we should live in these works. As disciples, we are called to respond with action to God’s grace, to exercise our Catholic faith, and to move in the Spirit such that we may think like Jesus, talk like Jesus and act like Jesus. However, sometimes we try to quantify our own goodness, our own value or self worth solely in terms of our actions. This is what St. Paul warns us against today. Even our own good works by which we live out our faith are gifts from God. I know this can sometimes pose a challenge to my analytical mind which desires to measure, to estimate, to categorize and quantify my spiritual progress with real world numbers, if possible. So where do we find our value and self worth?
As disciples, we find our value and self worth in God’s immeasurable love for each of us! We are valuable to God. St. Paul describes God in today’s first reading as “rich in mercy” and he continues with these beautiful words: “because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions.” This is immeasurable love! And because of this love, I am brought to life with Christ and am able to love like He love. So, as Catholics and as disciples, we know that we do not earn grace, we live grace.
In his Confessions, St. Augustine writes the following about God: “you are never in need yet you rejoice in your gains, never avaricious yet you demand profits. You allow us to pay you more than you demand, and so you become our debtor, yet which of us possesses anything that does not already belong to you? You owe us nothing, yet you pay your debts; you write off our debts to you, yet you lose nothing thereby.” Today, may we rejoice in God’s immeasurable riches- His grace, mercy, and love, and yet offer to Him all that we have to give through our lives. Amen.
Ryan J. Mahle