Attaining the spiritual attitude of a child after having grown up in our world requires grace. Our heavenly Father is, even now, Fathering us into eternal life. This new birth already started at our Baptism, and will be completed at our death. Dying to this world is part of being born again, but it doesn’t mean that we are to become cold and callous – stoic. The Love of God mysteriously breaks down our attachment to this world while at the same time making us care more than ever for each other and for God. The wise of this world recognize so much vanity but fail to recognize the revelation of the Father. Worldly wisdom is like a hard leather shoe, worn by the mind as it journeys towards meaning. This shoe on the one hand protects the mind from vain pursuits, but on the other hand makes it lose sensitivity to grace. We have to remove our shoes in the presence of God – becoming vulnerable and childlike again – because we cannot ultimately protect our minds from the apparent vanity of death. Faith gives us immediate access to the Father. The time we spend with Him each day, barefoot and childlike, refreshes our soul with that life which is beyond death. The more we are filled with that life, the less we need to wear shoes or protect our mind with vain wisdom – the less we have to consider daily death and loss as anything other than detachment from what is passing away.
Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
We generally equate false idols with the pleasant things we put before the one true God. Indeed, the word “worship” is generally a synonym for “love,” the experience of which is understood to be inherently pleasant. However, we must also consider that things or people that cause strong negative emotions can also become idols. What we fear the most, what causes us to experience strong anxiety, can also be considered an idol. In today’s readings, we see how God wants to liberate us from becoming slaves to fear. One of the reasons God allows us to suffer in our bodies – even the looming fate of death itself – is so that we progressively discover our true freedom, the freedom of our soul. When we bend and submit to things or people out of fear of suffering or punishment they become an idol and we become their slave. Joseph understood from his time imprisoned in Egypt how God was liberating him from slavery to fear. He understood this so well, that he wanted his brothers to experience the same freedom and not turn their fear into an idol.
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
CHRYSOSTOM:
Whatever they may do, do not cease doing them good. Your reward will be greater. When you are vilified, if you quit doing good, you signify that you are seeking the praise of others, not the praise of God.
For this reason Christ was sent to teach us that he came simply to do good. He did not wait for the sick to come to him. He himself hurried to them, bearing them a twofold blessing: the gospel of the reign of God and the healing of their diseases. And for this he went everywhere, not overlooking the slightest village.