The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offer wisdom as we contemplate our openness to surrender our self gratification as a step toward fullness of life.
Sacrifice and Satisfaction
The reading from the Book of Sirach shares wisdom about the Law and Sacrifices.
* [35:1–26] Keeping the commandments of the law and avoiding injustice constitute sacrifice pleasing and acceptable to God (vv. 1–5). Offerings also should be made to him, cheerfully and generously; these he repays sevenfold (vv. 6–13).1
Psalm 50 praises the acceptable sacrifice.
* [Psalm 50] A covenant lawsuit stating that the sacrifice God really wants is the sacrifice of praise accompanied by genuine obedience (cf. Mi 6:1–8). It begins with a theophany and the summoning of the court (Ps 50:1–6). Then in direct address God explains what is required of the faithful (Ps 50:7–15), rebukes the hypocritical worshiper (Ps 50:16–21), and concludes with a threat and a promise (Ps 50:22–23; cf. Is 1:19–20).2
In the Gospel of Mark , Jesus concludes a dialogue with the disciples with
‘But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’3
Chas Kestermeier, S.J. comments that everyone of us is moving, step by step and minute by minute, closer to our own deaths and our entering into the fullness of who we are, something we cannot understand completely now and something which should not cause us anxiety but joy – we are going home to God!
As you might suspect, following Jesus into our own deaths not in fear but in a steady sense of wonder, gratitude, and even eagerness will take our passionate cooperation with the Holy Spirit and an earnest and regular prayer where we will enter into conversation with him. The problem is how to actually do that, forgetting all about our safety and our concerns and daring to live in hope in God, but that is just what the Spirit is calling us to do, in complete trust.4
Don Schwager quotes “The spiritual sense of leaving the family,” by Clement of Alexandria, 150-215 A.D.
"Do not let this passage trouble you. Put it side by side with the still harder saying Jesus delivered in another place in the words, 'Whoever hates not father, and mother, and children, and his own life besides, cannot be my disciple' (Luke 14:26). Note that the God of peace, who exhorts us to love our enemies, does not arbitrarily require us literally to hate or abandon those dearest to us. But if we are to love our enemies, it must be in accordance with right reason that, by analogy we should also love our nearest relatives... But insofar as one's father, or son, or brother, becomes for you a hindrance to faith or an impediment to godly life, one should then not collude with that temptation. Attend to the spiritual, rather than the fleshly, meaning of the command." (excerpt from SALVATION OF THE RICH MAN 22.13)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Sirach 35:1-12 comments that the writer of Sirach urges, “Give to the Most High as he has given to you, generously” (35:12). As we recognize all that he has given us, several things can happen. We can start to understand that no matter how keenly we feel our own emptiness, God extends his mercy and forgiveness to us. We can respond with generosity in the way we choose to care for the people around us and allow God’s generosity to move us to praise and gratitude.
That’s something we can all offer to God: our praise and gratitude. No matter how little money we may have to offer the poor, no matter how little time we have to reach out in service, we can still offer him our hearts. We can still offer him our devotion by placing our needs and our loved ones’ needs before his throne. As we lift our hearts to the Lord, we are giving him what he values most of all: our love. “Lord, I praise you for the life you have blessed me with, and I offer it to you!”6
Friar Jude Winkler sets the Book of Sirach in the Hellenistic age after Alexander the Great. The writer shows Hebrew wisdom is as good as Greek wisdom. The passage from Mark is not the Gospel of wealth. Friar Jude reminds us that like Francis of Assisi we can celebrate all things without possessing them.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, notes that author and psychotherapist David Benner writes of the importance of embracing “wholeness” as a path to holiness, which recognizes and affirms the “oneness” of who we are, without needing to eliminate or perfect any part of ourselves. This generates the same goodwill towards others, leading to greater love.
How do you know if you are on a path that leads to increasing wholeness and involves living out of wholeness? You will hear harmony, not simply the cacophony of a fragmented self. You will also sense the energy of the larger whole—an energy that goes beyond your own. You will, at least occasionally, experience the thrill of being simply a small part of a large cause, the thrill of being a tool, seized by a strong hand and put to an excellent use. You will be comforted by knowing that we are all interconnected. In a very real sense, therefore, what you do for another, you do for yourself. Love passed on to others becomes the most meaningful form of self-love, and care of the earth and its inhabitants becomes care of self.7
Our fullness of life is experienced when we contribute ourselves to the mission of love for all Creation.
References
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