A predisposition for promotion of people

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today remind us of a need to maintain a sense of vigilance that supports our efforts for peace and fullness in our community lives.

Fullness for people

The Letter to Titus advises that the selection of leaders in the communities should reflect lives in harmony with virtue.

* [1:5–9] This instruction on the selection and appointment of presbyters, substantially identical with that in 1 Tm 3:1–7 on a bishop (see note there), was aimed at strengthening the authority of Titus by apostolic mandate; cf. Ti 2:15. In Ti 1:5, 7 and Acts 20:17, 28, the terms episkopos and presbyteros (“bishop” and “presbyter”) refer to the same persons. Deacons are not mentioned in Titus. See also note on Phil 1:1.

In the Gospel from Luke, Jesus warns against setting bad example as He declares our mission to be completely forgiving.

* [17:3] Be on your guard: the translation takes Lk 17:3a as the conclusion to the saying on scandal in Lk 17:1–2. It is not impossible that it should be taken as the beginning of the saying on forgiveness in Lk 17:3b–4.

Andy Alexander, S.J. observes that one of the most difficult things many of us have to deal with is the experience of living in a world which seems to be more and more divided and ugly.

Jesus wants us to be reconcilers. It seems that we aren't too far from St. Josephat's dilemma. If we try to be a unifier, it can feel like we'll be hacked to death. The forces of division are strong. St. Ignatius warned us that if the Enemy can't tempt us to something that is gross and crude, the Enemy can appear as "an Angel of Light," proposing things that appear good and devout, and use them for very evil and divisive ends. We need to reflect on which Spirit is behind the passionate desires we sometimes have. And, we need to seek repentance for the spirits within us which give in to divisiveness - even for seemingly good reasons. Making the other into a "demon" is one of the ways we go down that path. Jesus urges us to be bridge builders and to repair divisions and to heal wounds and to forgive.

Don Schwager quotes “To increase faith is to strengthen it by the Holy Spirit,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).

"They ask, 'Add faith to us.' They do not ask simply for faith, for perhaps you might imagine them to be without faith. They rather ask Christ for an addition to their faith and to be strengthened in faith. Faith partly depends on us and partly is the gift of the divine grace. The beginning of faith depends on us and our maintaining confidence and faith in God with all our power. The confirmation and strength necessary for this comes from the divine grace. For that reason, since all things are possible with God, the Lord says that all things are possible for him who believes (Mark 9:23). The power that comes to us through faith is of God. Knowing this, blessed Paul also says in the first epistle to the Corinthians, 'For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, and to another faith in the same Spirit' (1 Corinthians 12:8). You see that he has placed faith also in the catalogue of spiritual graces. The disciples requested that they might receive this from the Savior, contributing also what was of themselves. By the descent upon them of the Holy Spirit, he granted it to them after the fulfillment of the dispensation. Before the resurrection, their faith was so feeble that they were liable even to the charge of being 'little of faith'." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILIES 113-16)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 17:1-6 warns us about leading other people to sin through our example.

People watch us. Our witness matters. Just one negative example from us may be all someone needs to justify his or her own sin. But if a bad example has a powerful effect, imagine how much more powerful a good example can be!

Friar Jude Winkler explores the Pastoral Letter to Titus that was probably written by a disciple of Paul. A doctrinal error appears to have entered into the community in Crete. Friar Jude reiterates that faith takes a surrender. It is a response to a gift that God has given. We surrender to the truth offered.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, cites a work from Kathleen Dowling Singh, “The Grace in Dying: A Message of Hope, Comfort, and Spiritual Transformation (HarperOne: 2000)”, as resonant with how he became aware that all of the observed qualities of the Nearing Death Experience point to the fact that there is profound psychoalchemy occurring here, a passage to deeper being. As he worked with dying people from all walks of life and at many different levels of spiritual evolution, normative patterns of change, of transformations in consciousness, became apparent.

There appears to be a universal, sequential progression into deeper, subtler, and more enveloping dimensions of awareness, identity, and being as we begin to die—a movement from the periphery into the Center. Further, I realized that the transformation I was observing in people who were nearing death was the same psychoalchemy—in a greatly accelerated mode—that I had noticed in myself through two and a half decades of practicing contemplative disciplines and in the people with whom I had worked as a psychospiritual counselor.

The vigilance of living in the example of a disciple of Christ possibly becomes an influence to encourage unity in communities wherein we all face the challenge of transformation in response to the events of life and death.

References

(n.d.). Titus chapter 1 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 12, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/titus
(n.d.). Luke chapter 17 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 12, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/17
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved November 12, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 12, 2018, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
(n.d.). 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily .... Retrieved November 12, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 12, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/