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Yes, it’s “back-to-school time.” Our own St. Raphael School reopens Monday, focusing on faith, academics and community. Many other schools also reopen soon. How many parents are excited about school reopening?
And now, a brief two-part quiz.
Part one:
• What movie won the Oscar for best picture this year? (CODA - Children of Deaf Adults -- actually an inspiring movie)
Now try part two:
• Think of one teacher who made a difference for the better in your life, and
• One friend or mentor who helped you learn something worthwhile.
The point: we often forget “headlines” but we remember people in our lives who truly affirm our own purpose and meaning each day.
We find many heroes and heroines in scripture. The word of God takes us back to the wisdom literature of ancient Israel. Think about some common-sense wisdom. “A penny saved is a penny earned.” Government should heed that. Or “A stitch in time saves nine.” Check your gas tank before you drive across the Howard Frankland bridge. And “Haste makes waste.” If the pros and cons were weighed more carefully, we might not have so many messes.
The author remembers the first Passover meal, when the Hebrews celebrated their liberation from oppressors in ancient Egypt. That same provident God, always faithful to us, eventually sends the Messiah who will usher in God’s kingdom of peace and justice and freedom. Note how the author counted his blessings, and so too should we count ours.
The letter to the Hebrews brings us Abraham and Sarah. I am inspired how they trusted God completely as they traveled to a foreign land they didn’t know, through deserts and villages full of strangers, and believing that Sarah would have a child. Abraham and Sarah are models of faith, trusting always in an all-good God, despite facing uncertainties in their daily lives.
In the Gospel, Jesus says that we are to be like servants who await their master’s return, ready to welcome him when he knocks. Be alert; be prepared. Focus on what matters—eternal life with God. Yes, we will be accountable for the person we have become with the time and talent God gives us.
I like to imagine that God entrusts to each one of us a lump of clay if you will, to sculpt a disciple of Jesus with the time and talents we have. To be a disciple is to be fundamentally a person of faith, someone who trusts God throughout the opportunities and disappointments of life, someone who desires to do what God wants even if we can’t always precisely figure things out. Remember: it’s the desire that’s important.
The letter to the Hebrews especially invites us to reflect upon the dimensions of our own faith. Faith is a gift from God whereby we enter into a right relationship with God, a relationship that we nurture through prayer and through the Eucharist. Faith is the acceptance of God’s promises as true and a commitment to live accordingly. Faith also includes the essential truths we profess every Sunday in our 4th century Nicene Creed.
Just as there can be various stages in our moral development, so too there can be stages in our faith development. We either grow into our relationship with God, or we fall out of that.
The relationship compels us to share the gift of our faith with others, to be missionary disciples of Jesus. A professor once challenged students to share their faith with someone else. The images that sprang to those students’ minds were revival tents, televangelists, Jehovah’s Witnesses ringing doorbells. The students definitely weren’t into those things.
Many of us share our faith with others in ways we may not realize. Parents and grandparents teach the virtues of prayer, generosity, fairness, honesty, and service. So do teachers when they do their best to develop habits of heart and skills of mind that enable students to be good citizens. So do medical professionals when they calm patients with care and encouragement. And, so do citizens who urge elected officials to vote for legislation that will promote human dignity and the common good.
We especially share our faith when we do our best to stand up for what is right and true and good. Never forget that the only “gospel” some people may ever see is ourselves.
Yes, today's word of God invites each of us to be a person of faith. How? By trusting always in God's unconditional love for us, his unconditional forgiveness and acceptance of us. By trying to do the best we can each day. Don’t live a life of regrets. Every day, we have so many little opportunities to be alert, to do good for others.
So, carpe diem! Let your faith compel you to seize every opportunity every day to do good for others.
