Wednesday of the
Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
(Job 9:1-12.14-16; Luke 9:57-62)
Perhaps we think we do God a favor by praying every day. We may think that God somehow needs our support. Job’s understanding of God in today’s first
reading more truly hits the spot. God is
utterly beyond us so that anything we do either individually or collectively can
hardly faze Him. Yet God has made our lives
important. He created us with a certain
likeness to Himself so that we might in know and love Him. More marvelous still, He sent us His Son to
clarify our knowledge and purify our love.
Today’s gospel indicates the upshot of Christ’s
revelation. The presence of the Kingdom
-- which is to say the presence of God -- relativizes all other concerns. Even care for our parents, to whom we owe the
most in this world, is subordinate to service of the Kingdom. Jesus also suggests that giving priority to
God can challenge our peace. We may find
ourselves like him without a home to call our own.
Then how do we deal with the exigencies of life? What are we supposed to do when we cannot
attend Mass because we are called to work on Sunday? What if we see someone on the side of the
road obviously needing help but have other obligations to keep? Such situations enable our love of God to
mature. Often we can find alternative
ways to fulfill all our obligations. We
may not be able to attend Mass in the morning but perhaps in the evening. Alternatively we can pray for the person in
need. We have to realize that we cannot
do everything but we always can do something (usually more than most people
think) to love God as only He deserves.
