Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
A chance encounter at the hospital recently stirred up an old fire in my heart. This person and I were sharing the lessons of our faith journey and we landed square in the middle of a discussion about salvation. The conversation seemed to be growing in a tone I feel completely uncomfortable with. As a chaplain for all faiths I work very hard to be interdenominational in my ministry. As I am a Catholic chaplain at a Catholic hospital, it is impossible to completely set aside who I am. So when someone even implicitly challenges me that Catholics are not saved, one hits a nerve in me. This is especially true if the person was raised a Catholic. Instead of taking it as a challenge, I pivoted and moved to see the next patient.
Challenges can from so many directions sometimes they can be disarming. For a child, honoring our father and mother means needing to have respect for our parents authority. As parent respecting a child can sometimes leave you breathless, when they do something you did not expect. The toughest thing to hear from a parent or from a child is the response “No.” This “no” often seems like an act of disobedience that conflicts with our personal desires or goals.
As believers, we learn that our desires do not always equate to God’s desire for us. It is in these moments when we need to let the Lord’s desire for us penetrate our hearts. This is an act of obedience that we are being invited into constantly. Ironically, this submission to God totally makes us freer. Imagine a person trying to play a flute with the bow of a violin. It does not work. When the violinist pulls the bow across the same violin he has played for years, they can make beautiful music. So too it is with us. Do we keep the instrument in good shape? Do we keep it tuned and ready to be played at all times?
Lord help us to consider how we might better serve You today. Use us as instruments Lord, so that we reflect to others through the way we think, talk and act that we are the faithful disciples who are ready to enter the narrow gate. Amen!
- Deacon Michael Montgomery