Sunday
July 2, 2017 / 13th Sunday
Title: “Hope. Hospitality. Honesty”
Readings: [•
2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a • Psalm 89 • Romans 6:3-4, 8-11 • Matthew 10:37-42 • ]
[__00__] In
the Gospel, Jesus touches on what his disciples will experience, and what are
the conditions of discipleship of following him. He touches on
►HOPE ►HOSPITALITY ►HONESTY
[__01__] Recently, a high school senior appeared at
EWR Newark airport and at the doorstep of my mother and father in New Jersey.
This was their granddaughter and my brother’s eldest child who is about to
start her 4th year, senior year, of high school in the autumn.
She was visiting New York, New Jersey,
and Massachusetts with her parents and siblings and was visiting because she is
applying to college.
[__02__] When
we apply to, or go to God for help, we also expect to be heard.
In the Gospel, Jesus touches on what
his disciples will experience, and what are the conditions of discipleship of
following him. He touches on
►HOPE ►HOSPITALITY ►HONESTY
[__03__] 1st
. HOPE. What is your hope? I can tell
you the hope of this particular high-school senior – my brother’s daughter – is
an acceptance with decent financial aid at Barnard College of Columbia
University in New York. At this point, there is no substitute for this hope.
Sometimes, we put our hope in some
definite and predetermined outcome or result.
“I must make the soccer team.”
“I must get into Columbia or … ”
“I must make a certain amount of
money.”
None of these is a bad result. Each is
good.
Yet, our true hope is in someone even
greater than an admissions officer or boss or coach. Our true hope is in God,
in God’s help which does not come in the form of an acceptance letter.
But, there is wisdom in studying his
ways, in listening, praying. He is also giving us a scholarship, a path.
[__04__] 2nd
. HOSPITALITY. Jesus touches on the experience of hospitality, the importance
of HOSPITALITY, generosity, as an expression of Christian virtue.
What we read in this Sunday’s Gospel,
Matthew Chapter 10, is about the gift of nourishing another person in a very
simple way: “whoever
gives only a cup of cold water
to
one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple— amen, I
say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.” (Matthew 10: ___)
Hospitality is also a measure, a
yardstick, of our hope or trust.
If we go back to school and back to
the material world of tuition and room and board, we are evaluating colleges
not only for their ACADEMICS, their KNOWLEDGE, but also for the experience of
hospitality. How was I treated when I visited the campus? How was my daughter
or son regarded? How was the food?
Of course, some of this is pure
marketing and advertising.
Nevertheless, hospitality is a virtue
for all of us . This does not mean that we are equally affectionate to every
person or that we disclose ourselves to everyone we meet.
Nevertheless, we are called to
hospitality to cordiality.
As St. Paul summarizes in the letter
to Romans: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”
(Romans 12:15)[1]
Taking up your cross – my cross – each
day can simply mean being cheerful and punctual.
Hospitality is a virtue of the
disciple.
[__05__] 3rd. HONESTY. For a high school
senior to stand out and be recognized, he or she is not only called to
EXCELLENCE, but also to AUTHENTICITY, to TRANSPARENCY.
Or, to say another way, to HONESTY.
Jesus is asking for nothing less in
his acceptance criteria and in his interview of prayer with you, with me, each
day.
Do you ever look in the mirror and not
recognize your own face? Of course, we recognize
our own faces. This is the beginning of honesty and the mirror – literally or
symbolically – is test of honesty. Can I look at myself? Can I look you in the
eye? Can I look myself in the eye?
The letter of James has a similar
caution: “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like
a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and
promptly forgets what he looked like. But
the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a
hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he
does.” (James
1:23-25)
Honesty also requires courage,
bravery, heroic action.
It is not easy, for example, to be
honest about our weaknesses, our brokenness, our sinfulness.
It is not easy to love someone with
whom we disagree or by whom we have been hurt due to his or her brokenness or
sinfulness.
Honesty invites us to consider that we
are all sinners in need of God’s grace.
And, that we are all disciples in need
of the home and hospitality of Jesus’s body and blood in Holy Communion, and that that through his
life, we have hope. [__fin__]
[1]
Also
à “And hospitality do not forget; for
by this some, being not aware of it, have entertained angels.” (Hebrews 13:2)
No comments:
Post a Comment