Wednesday, October 3, 2018


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.