This time of year, many high school students are anxious whether they will be accepted by the college/university of their choice. I remember getting letters from parents about a son or daughter about to enter college. One wrote this:
“Dear Fr. Kevin, I am delighted that my son will be entering your College this Fall. I am writing to ask that you personally intercede in the selection of his roommate. I want to be sure his roommate doesn’t smoke, drink or use inappropriate language. You see, this is my son’s first time away from home, except for his four years in the Marines.” Now that’s a “helicopter parent.”
Seriously, we wish all our graduating students well as they make important choices about their future.
The word of God today first takes us back to the sixth century before Jesus (the 500s), to a collection of writings in the Book of the prophet Isaiah. In this passage, many Jews have returned to their homeland only to become disillusioned by the harsh realities they had to face. So they proclaimed a national fast to ask for God’s favor.
But the author notes practices like fasting are useless if we treat people unfairly or deny their basic human rights. It’s better, the author says, to practice what we call the corporal works of mercy: feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, and be compassionate. If you do this, to reference today’s scripture, your light will break forth like the dawn.
St. Paul tells the Christian community in Corinth that God’s power is at work within him even though he goes about his ministry in “fear and trembling.” Paul asks us to look for wisdom not just in people of eloquence, but in the Spirit who empowers us to proclaim the good news: God became one of us in Jesus of Nazareth; He is gloriously alive among us; and one day we will become like God and see God as God is. That indeed is our purpose in life: to be in relationship with God forever.
In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus says we are to be “salt of the earth” and “light of the world.” Now salt in and of itself may not seem very useful. But when you add salt to food, it can do wonders. Salt can bring out the natural flavor in food, from filet mignon to popcorn. And salt in our bodies enables our muscles to contract, our blood to circulate, our hearts to beat.
In short, salt enhances, purifies and preserves.
And light can transform a cold night into a warm day. Light enables us to study, to discover, to behold the beauty and the wonders of God’s universe. Light warms, nurtures, sustains, reveals and cheers. Luminosity can enhance a painting, e. g., like Rembrandt’s Night Watch.
We are “salt” when we bring out the best in people: bring out the “flavor” of God in everyone and everything. We are “light” when we illuminate the presence of God all around us in our everyday life.
But how can we bring out the best in people; and how can we illuminate the presence of God all around us? By who we are and what we do with what we have!
Every one of us has gifts or talents that can empower or “build up” other people. It often appears our culture is celebrity-driven. Last Sunday we had the Super Bowl; tonite we have the Academy Awards. But celebrities -- like Bradley Cooper or Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey or Tom Brady -- are not the only people with talent.
All of us have special gifts or talents by virtue of the life-giving waters of baptism. We possess the power to believe, to hope and to love.
And within our Catholic Christian life there are many splendid callings. Parent, teacher or student, doctor or lawyer, businessperson -- whoever you are, you have a specific vocation, a calling, right now: to inspire people to be the the best version of themselves, to give your time and talents to others, to have the courage to stand up for what’s true and right and good, to be men and women of integrity, by striving to be true to that inner voice, our conscience, which seeks to do right thing in all decisions, great and small.
And what makes us a faithful and effective Christian is the Spirit of God within us. Oh, personality can be a blessing. But the Spirit of God works through us as we are. The Spirit illumines our minds to know the way we should behave and strengthens us to behave in that way despite obstacles.
The Spirit gives us “love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and discipline.” What more can we want?
The Spirit of God can make us a means of healing, a channel of grace, an instrument of peace. What a wonderful gift. The gifts or talents we have are not for ourselves but for others, for the common good, for the family in which we live, the profession in which we work, the community in which we find ourselves.
Our gifts let us look beyond ourselves to our life with others. No Christian is an island, to paraphrase the great 17th century English poet John Donne. The Spirit empowers us, as we are, to help others become more human and more godlike in their relationships with other people.
I close with a prayer for all of us that sums up some of these thoughts about meaning and purpose:
Fortunate are the persons,
Who in this life can find,
A purpose that can fill their days
And goals to fill their mind.
For in this world there is a need,
For those who’ll lead the rest,
To rise above the “average’ life,
By giving of their best!
Will you be one, who dares to try
When challenged by the task,
To rise to heights you’ve never seen,
Or is that too much to ask?
May each of us realize that the purpose of life is to matter, to make a difference for the better by giving the best we have in service to one another. And then we will realize, with God’s grace, the best version of ourself.
