Wednesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Alleluia, alleluia. Whoever keeps the word of Christ, the love of God is truly perfected in him. Alleluia, alleluia. So sings our Gospel acclamation today. The Word is alive and powerful! Our heavenly Father wants to transform us by Christ’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit, who is perfect Love itself. Today I hope to encourage you that the living Word is alive in you and its power to transform is available to you.
Writing to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul reminds them that he exhorted, encouraged, and insisted, “that you walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.” Walk in a manner worthy of God, how in the world do we do that, fallen and sinful humans that we are?! I think many if not most of us feel quite unworthy. We’re painfully aware of the times that we fail and fall. You may be saying to yourself, I can never measure up; I try to follow God, but I feel like for every step forward, I take two steps back.
Paul provides us the answer, the key to walking worthily. He thanks God that the Thessalonians, “in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.” Over the years I’ve observed that many Christians believe that the Bible is the Word of God, but they don’t believe it’s alive and at work in them. It’s one thing to affirm, yes, the Bible is not the word of men, it is the Word of God, but it’s another thing to truly believe that the scriptures are truly God’s Word AND that this powerful, living Word is able to change lives, able to change MY life. “. . . the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.” Do you believe that statement is true for you? We walk worthily only by the power of God within us.
Our Gospel acclamation comes from St John’s first epistle. He also gives us an important clue to what it means to walk in a manner worthy of the Kingdom of God. “Whoever keeps the word of Christ, the love of God is truly perfected in him” (emphasis added). I think we often focus on our frailty and failures when it comes to following Christ because we confuse holiness with “perfection,” or being holy with “being good.” It’s true that we can never measure up if we’re striving to be perfectly obedient in a pharisaical sort of way. But true holiness means that the love of God is being perfected in us. Combining St Paul’s and St John’s messages, I suggest that as we become more and more open and receptive to God’s Word and ask the Holy Spirit to transform us by the Word, that little by little and day by day the love of God will be perfected in us. This is what it means to “walk worthily.”
I often hear people say things like, “the Bible is so hard to understand,” or “I read the Bible and pray, but I don’t get anything out of it,” or “I listen for God’s voice in his Word, but I don’t hear anything.” If that’s you, I encourage you to keep after it and don’t give up. God is faithful and as you continue to practice reading God’s Word and listening, you will begin to experience God more. As you read God’s Word, allow it to read you! Ask God for the graces to understand the scriptures better, trust that God wants to work in you to form you in the Word and to transform your life. It’s a gradual process, but you’ll be amazed at the results if you persevere. You might use today’s Gospel acclamation to form your prayer, something like this: “Heavenly Father, I want to be a person who keeps the word of Christ. Please perfect your love in me by the power of your Word, through the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
It’s important that we allow the Word of Christ to transform our intellect and our will as well as our hearts – this is so vital to being able to “walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his Kingdom and glory.” The Christian life can be difficult! It’s hard to submit our will to the Father’s. We want what we want and so sometimes our sinful and selfish desires take over and influence our choices and actions. Jesus knows that following him is not easy. That’s why he gave us his Word, both in the scriptures and the teaching of the Church and sent us the Holy Spirit. We walk out our Christian life, not in our own feeble power and effort but by the power of Christ’s Word and the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not leave us to struggle alone! He is with us; the Holy Trinity is with us.
May God bless each one of us today to keep the word of Christ so that God’s love may be perfected in us. Amen, alleluia!
-Elizabeth Wells