Preached by Sister Cecelia
Holy Wisdom ChurchLast week I heard of a professional athlete who had a round medal engraved with these words: First God, Second Ron, Third self. He wore it always as a reminder of how to live. He explained that Ron was a nephew but symbolized all others.
First, God.
Second, neighbor.
Third, self.
It is pretty clear that following Christ entails self-denial. What kind of denial to ourselves is our task to discover. It is a lifelong challenge. We’ve often been told that Christ does not ask of us anything he has not been willing to accept or do himself. Jesus continually said “yes” to God and “no” to himself when a choice was demanded.
When making our own choices, do we intuit what is right and wrong, or do we depend on others to indicate what is right and wrong? What is good, better, and best; and what is mediocre, bad, and worse? For whom or what is it good or bad—ourself, our neighbor, our country, the world?
Throughout the ages, humans have looked to their leaders—be they kings, prophets, or religious leaders—for directions on how to live as they should, to be on the safe side. Humans generally like to be safe, but not always. When Jesus said “yes” to what he saw God was asking of him, he definitely was not being on the safe side.
Jesus prayed, listened, and then responded. When we realize that Jesus—our God—is with/in us, we pray to be able to respond as He did. We ask to be able to line up our will with the will of God. As Saint Paul has said, “It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.”
How often the directive to “love God above all and love our neighbor as ourselves” is repeated in the Scriptures we call our own. How often have we found ourselves behaving more like the rich young man who was directed to give all his riches to the poor and to come and follow Christ? That man went away sad because that was just too much to ask of him. Our own desires outweigh what we think God might be asking of us. The history of many of the saints shows that their enthusiasm about following Christ sometimes led them to extremes. In later life, they frequently apologized to their bodies for having mistreated them when they were younger. Attempts to be and do more than Christ did is a temptation to pride rather than to love.
Most of us are energized by being confronted by unusual challenges; we rise to the occasion. It is daily fidelity to our prime values that prepares us to deal creatively with unusual situations. We become saints not by waiting for an opportunity to display heroic virtue but by responding creatively to the niggling demands that come our way every day. God does not often ask us for heroic deeds, but rather steadfast perseverance in loving our neighbor as ourselves. It follows that we must love ourselves before we can know how to love our neighbor.
Loving God above all will inevitably cause us to be thankful for all we have received. Looking at the awesomeness of creation and our ability to give thanks for it ensures that we see the need to care for it whenever we can. These same scriptures show us, too, what loving our neighbor entails. Understanding what we as individuals can do in carrying out these two commandments takes reflection.
It is so easy to get caught up with all that is going on around us. We get caught up with friends and families, with our own health issues, with the war news, with fires, floods, and famine that taking the time to feed our minds, to reflect, to give thanks takes effort. It takes planning to find the time.
Do not worry about being safe. Be assured that even if we do not make the right or correct choices, God will make right what we do as long as our intention is to do what is right, which is: the will of God on earth as it is in heaven.
Give thanks for all the joys and sufferings that turn our hearts and minds to God.
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