Accountability

In today's first reading, 1 Kings 21: 17-29, God sends the prophet Elijah to Ahab.  He tells Elijah that Ahab "will be in the vineyard of Naboth, of which he has come to take possession."  God holds Ahab accountable of the death of Naboth!  When Elijah confronts Ahab in God's name, Ahab responds with the question:  "Have you  found me out, my enemy?" "Yes...Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the Lord's sight." Elijah then tells him what the consequences of his behavior will be!

In life and in death, we are told in the Scriptures, we belong to the Lord! Jesus is Lord of the living and of the dead!  When we have died to grace as did Ahab and Jezebel, God cares!  He will awaken our consciences in some way.  Many times He does so through an "Elijah" sent to call us to accountability!  That "Elijah" may be a parent, a child, a spouse, a friend, a peer, a co-worker, our pastor/minister or a total stranger!  God cares! And because God cares, He will hold us accountable for the choices we make! God does not rejoice in someone going astray and will, beyond doubt, seek ways to open our eyes to the evil we may have done or to the fact that we are on a path that leads to our destruction, our unhappiness, our becoming corrupted, deceptive, and a plaything of Satan!

We need to join the psalmist, who, in today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 51, prays: "Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. For I acknowledge my offense (which Ahab does), and my sin is before me always: "Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight." Turn away your face from my sins, and blot out all my guilt. Free me from the blood guilt, O God, my saving God; then my tongue shall revel in your justice."

So much evil is being done in the world of today!  In what ways am I complicit of the moral decline around us? Coming closer to home, for what and to whom do I personally need to ask forgiveness today and thereby accept responsibility for the ways in which I did not mirror God's love and caring presence, ways in which I did not enhance life  or make the world in which I live a better place?

God's Justice

In today Gospel, Matthew 18,  21-19:1,  Peter asks Jesus how many times does he need to forgive those who sin against him: "As many as seven times?"  Peter asks.  Jesus responds: "Not seven times but seventy-seven times," Peter. Jesus then goes on to describe the Kingdom of heaven in terms of a king settling accounts with those who owe him money.  The king has a debtor brought before him  who owes way more than he could ever pay off. The debtor's master, therefore, orders that this person's "wife, his children,  and all his property be sold as payment."  The poor man, totally distraught, begs his master to have pity on him. "Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full." The master dissolves the debtor's entire loan. He owes nothing, nothing at all.

That is us, folks!  Because of our sins, we owe God a debt that, in no way, are we able to pay off. In his mercy, God resolves our debt entirely through the passion, death and resurrection of His only begotten Son, whom He sends into the world to reveal God's love for us! Jesus pays our debt! emus is our ransom!

Will we, by the way we live our lives in justice, love, mercy, and forgiveness accept God's pardon?  Or are we squandering God's gift of salvation by doing what the forgiven man did: treating others mercilessly?  "Should [we] not have...pity on [our] fellow servant[s], as [God] has pity on [us]?

Self-giving: A Prelude to Giving to Others

Today’s Gospel, Luke 6: 36-38, begins with Jesus saying to us: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”  How merciful am I toward myself is the measure, I believe, of how merciful I am toward others.  How honest I am toward myself is how honest I am toward others. And the way I care for myself is the way I care for others.

As I reflect on my life, I notice how difficult it is for me to give myself some slack.  I am very stingy with myself when the little girl within wants to play, for instance. I say to her: “I’m too busy; I got too much to do.”  And this is on a day off!  Then busily, many times, I frit from one thing to another and don’t accomplish that which I thought I wanted to do when my inner child suggested that I take some time for fun. What I failed to remember is Jesus’ reminder, in this same Gospel passage, that, in giving, gifts will be given to me.  That generosity, I believe, begins with self. If I am not generous toward myself, it is unlikely that I will be generous with others. It is that simple and that complex.  Lessons learned begin at home.

What about your experience?

Following the Spirit's counsel

In today Gospel, Mt. 12: 1-8, Jesus and his disciples are confronted by the Pharisees for going through a field of grain on the Sabbath and picking the heads of grain and eating them.  The Pharisees chastise Jesus for “doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath.”  He tells them He “desires mercy, not sacrifice.”  How often, I thought, do I not judge myself mercilessly, demanding sacrifice of myself and/or others, and not being compassionate and understanding.  I asked Jesus to further instruct me. So I switched to my non-dominant hand and began writing. The following is what came through my consciousness:

      (Insert your name,   doing what is right means being sensible and wise as theSpirit guides you. That is what I did.  I knew it was a Sabbath.  And Sabbath laws were strict about what you could do and  could not do on the Sabbath. 

       (Insert your name)   , another person may have strict laws of what you can and cannot do. You, too, may be strongly opposed to what is right or wrong for another person. What you or the other person does not see is the Spirit’s counsel and wisdom directing the other to make the choice he or she is making. 

I was taught those same laws the Pharisees were reciting to Me. There is then God’s law written on the heart that the Pharisees could not see. That law is written on every person’s heart, including your own, and sometimes it brings you into the arena of opposing forces that rear their heads within your own being or from the outside. Will you follow the Spirit’s call or back down, following a law, which at that moment, in mercy and love, needs to be broken?

That message hit me between the eyes! What about you?