The Christian way of life is not just better than the ways of the world because of the eternal consequences of our actions, it is also the best way to live life in this world. It is not better because it provides some kind of immediate pleasure, or even because it is the most useful way to live. The Christian way of life is the most meaningful way to live, the Christian way of life is a path of true wisdom. Our core principle of “quality education” speaks to the value we place on wisdom. Wisdom, on the one hand, is about knowing the most important truths about life: we are made for happiness, and that happiness can only be achieved in a personal reciprocal relationship with a good equal or superior to ourselves. Only another person can bring us to the full development of our minds and hearts, and nothing less than another person could be worthy of the gift of ourselves. Human wisdom teaches us that this other person is what we consider to be a true friend. Practically, that wisdom also guides us into developing and maintaining true human friendships. Practically, that wisdom leads us to become virtuous.
Thursday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Vigilance is one of the twelve virtues of Lasallian teachers – that means your Lasallian educators are paying special attention to your welfare: keeping you safe and watching out for you. It is a virtue that even those of us who are not educators must develop and some day will be our responsibility. You will notice in today’s first reading how vigilant St. Paul is about the new Christians in Thessalonica that have been entrusted to his care. His vigilance is especially expressed in prayer: “Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith.” St. Paul basically says that it would kill him if the Thessalonians lost their faith: “For we now live, if you stand firm in the Lord.”
Monday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Christian conversion is a process by which we welcome the grace of God. A grace that liberates us from sin and hopelessness, but challenges us to change our hearts and lives. The first reading to the Thessalonians reminds us that the Gospel is not just a message with an important meaning, it is also the power of God to change us. Listening to God’s Word comes first, but the desire and consent to be transformed by that Word unleashes the power that it contains.
In today’s Gospel Jesus corrects a practice that had come to be established among the Pharisees. Similar to when we switch words so as not to give offense – we say darn instead of damn – there was the thought that if you swore by something in the sanctuary instead of the altar you would not give offense to God. Rather than correct the scrupulousness or legalism, Jesus corrects the much deeper attitude. Misunderstanding the relationship between the gift and the altar is akin to misunderstanding the importance of our hearts in our act of worship and sacrifice. When we pray, we place our intentions upon the altar of our hearts. When we fast, we make that offering to God upon the altar of our hearts. Our hearts play a more important role in our offering than what is offered itself. When Christ is offered in the Eucharistic sacrifice, it isn’t complete until we receive His Body and Blood and offer it to the Father on the altar of our hearts.