The prophet Jeremiah offers us a powerful message about how close God is to us. He wants us to cling to him like clothing – not just any clothing, but like an undergarment. Even though we may be as close to him as clothing, we have to be aware of when we become too soiled to be worn. It is completely normal for clothes to be washed and worn again when they are clean – as long as clothes are dirty they are not fit to be worn. If an item of clothing goes too long without being washed, it may indeed rot – then it can no longer be cleaned and it is “good for nothing.” What is the water in which we must be cleansed as the garment of the Lord? This water is certainly grace, and it is the Word of God. To wash in the Word is to listen to the Word and obey it. Jesus tells Peter, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me” and “You are clean because of the Word I spoke to you.”(cf. Jn 13-15) We cannot be clean without listening and following God’s Word daily – even if we try to do well on our own, we will always end up getting soiled.
Friday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
What does it mean to be pastors after the heart of God? We can see how God distributes His Word in today’s Gospel. He continues sowing the seed no matter what the condition of the soil is. It can be very tempting to stop sowing the seed of the Word of God if we look at what has come of our sowing. We see people fall away, we see people sleeping during Mass, we hear people completely misunderstand and misinterpret the Scriptures. Among all of this we also encounter the good soil that, by the fruit they bear, put us to shame. To be a pastor after the heart of God, it would seem that we must continue sowing no matter what. We could find different seeds that would grow better in bad soil, we could simply avoid scattering the seed where we think (or even know) that it will not stand a chance to grow or bear fruit. We know, if we are according to the heart of God, that His Word is truth and life and power. We know that even when it appears to have failed, it is never the fault of the Word itself. Let us continue sowing the True Word without relying upon the results for our motivation.
Thursday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
It is important to recall from time to time the importance of our baptism. Baptism removes spiritual blindness – if we’ve been baptized, we have received the gift of faith. Having blindness removed is one thing, using the eyes of our heart requires the willingness to see God, to see things from his perspective, and to look at reality with wisdom. Sometimes, especially at the beginning of our journey of faith, we may doubt that our Baptism actually did anything – we could have the impression that we are still blind. It is quite possible and even normal to go through periods of dryness and/or confusion. Sometimes the clarity we want is not the clarity we need. Sometimes the key to spiritual growth is not learning something new or gaining some new insight – sometimes it is simply continuing to trust God even when we can’t see that he’s doing anything or that our trust is paying off. We are always looking for results, something to measure, some kind of discernible progress. The spiritual life is not something we can measure, it is a relationship with someone who is invisible and loves us beyond measure. Friendship is like that: we don’t become friends with people in order to become better or progress in life, although that certainly can happen. Friendship deepens with the sharing of life – God would like us to share life with Him and listen to what He has to say.