Surrender and ascend

The people who long to see the face of God are described by the psalmist in the texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. The people who ascend the mountain of the Lord are sinless, with clean hearts and they desire not what is vain. In the Gospel from Luke today Jesus calls us to awareness that we need to choose, as Friar Jude Winkler comments, to make our peace with God or not as the day of judgement is as forecastable as a change in the weather. The letter to the Ephesians gives us direction about the qualities in our lives which are the evidence of our surrender to the Love offered by God. Tom Stegman, S.J. sees in the texts today a call in the present time to practice humility, gentleness and patience. Accepting reconciliation with God through our surrender in faith to the One Lord is our decision to be an active agent in bringing the Kingdom of God to the present time as we grow in replacing our self interest with interest in the needs of others. In living the communion of Body and Spirit described to the Ephesians, we are ascending the mountain of the Lord in praise and thanksgiving with the psalmist.