AllSaintsSundayA, November 2, 2014,
Sullivan Park Care Center, by Sr Annette Fricke, OP
A friend of
mine from high school writes, “What kind of world do we live in? Kids killing
each other at school, terrorists shooting little girls for wanting to get an education,
parents torturing their children, men and women threatening to kill each other
via texting, random shootings everywhere, child abductions, killing military
folks while they are in uniform, police using extreme and abusive force on
suspects, people sitting at tables while dining who are all on their phones not
talking to each other, people of all ages bashing and bullying each other on
social media, and just in general, people being rude and inconsiderate to each
other......etc, etc, etc........sigh. My prayer today: Dear Creator of
everything, Fill us with kindness towards each other and the world we live in.
Help us to be gentle with each other, speak quietly, with peaceful intention.
Help us to see others through your eyes of no judgment, with longing to put
others before our own needs. Help us to live with humility. Help us to be
strong enough to not always be right. We pray through your glorious name, Amen.” Though extremely disappointing and
humiliating, it is all too accurate a picture of the worst behavior that humans
have and continue to display. This is not anything new, but the media has
brought it forward for our every moment viewing by continuing to run the same
incidents throughout the entire day.
The world the
earthly Jesus lived in and ours are thousands of years apart. We are strongly influenced by a global media
in which we are made aware of what’s taking place in every corner of the world.
Jesus’ world was a tiny corner of walking distances, yet what he had to say
about human nature stands to this day.
We have still to learn what it means to practice humility, rather than
hypocrisy before others. There is no morally superior country, as many would
say about the US, for all countries are guilty of mistreating and murdering its
people. We can have the best teachers
and yet the flaws will eventually be seen; once again we lose our faith in
humanity. Many folks cite the reason
that they no longer attend church is because of all the hypocrites there. Truth be told, we are all hypocrites, every
last one of us. I suspect in some ways it’s
like this: God puts out in creation all the resources and readily available
food and says to us, “Help your selves.”
Some take that sentence literally and help only themselves, not
others. Others will help others by
teaching them, but not observing that which they teach. Still others live by jealousy—jealous that
someone else has what they want, so they seek to obtain it either by stealing,
working for it, or asking where they can get it. And then there are those who
simply want attention, attention of any sort.
It doesn’t matter if it is positive or negative attention. They just want to know that they are not
forgotten, because they feel weak or somehow less than others. They become withdrawn from God and others.
The Psalmist writes of the poor, “Keep them alive and deliver them not unto
their foes.” Their foes are those who have the perceived power around them.
Likewise, according to Augustine, the most powerful of our society are usually
guilty of the sin of pride. He has this
to say about pride: Pride is a perverted imitation of God because it hates a
fellowship of equality under God, and seeks to impose its own domination on
others, in the place of God’s rule. This
is a prominent idea expressed in the gospel text read today. Jesus’ direction is direct and simple. He says we are to follow the teaching of the
Pharisees, but not what they do. Follow
what they teach, but not their behavior. Many of us as children have heard the
paradoxical phrase, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
As a child, many behaviors of our older teachers and parents remain
hidden until we are older. Some of us
were also taught about the lives of the saints in much the same way---that they
could do no wrong. But the reality is
that saints are sinners and sinners are saints.
We are all a mixture of good and bad, misbehaved and properly behaved,
full of ourselves and completely selfless.
We are all of this and every gradient in between. We all have our own brand of sinning, our own
way of living our lives in this world where sin and brokenness is ever before
us.
Today is All
Saints Sunday, technically the day after All Saints Day and in the Catholic
Church, today is All Souls Day. They are
essentially the same feast although the Catholics made a separate feast for the
recognized, canonized saints and us ordinary folks. How we honor this day can vary. Some people will attend worship today and
will hear the names of all in the parish that have died over the past year and
a bell will be rung for each of them.
Some will remember those who died by partaking in the Eucharist or Holy
Communion because they believe that they are closest to those in heaven when
they do that. They believe that they
have fellowship with those who now see Jesus face to face. Some recall their friends and relatives when they
look into the faces of those still living who are directly related to those who
have died. Others will have these
moments when they drive by a house where they lived or re-visit where they
worshipped with that person. Still other
people will think about the relatives who died when they see their young
relatives embarking on an entry to a prestigious college, something never even
dreamed of a couple generations ago. And
some will donate altar flowers in memory of those who brought them into this
world year after year. In whatever way
you remember the past generations, think especially on those who guided you and
planted the seed of faith in your heart.
Thank God for those who steered you in the right direction, not my
coercion, but gentle guiding, allowing you to form your own beliefs and your
own set of values. Thank God for those
in your life, who taught you humility; especially be thankful for those who
demonstrated it enough that you were able to see the light of Christ in their
spiritual journey.
For all of
our faults, our misdeeds, our indiscretions, our fumbles in life, in spite of
all our ugliness whether physical or emotional, forgive us Lord. Forgive us, renew us, and heal us by your
grace, dear Lord. Dear Lord and Father
of us all, remind us of your continued love for us day by day and moment by
moment. Fill us with your Holy Spirit so
that we may remain faithful to you just as you are faithful to us. And finally, may we rest in the knowledge that
you have given to each of us the gifts and talents to support one another, not
tear each other down. Refresh our
memories that you are always there to embrace us in your loving arms. Do not abandon us to our own devices, for we
are nothing without you. Deliver us from
our foes. Help us choose humility over
hypocrisy. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment