WEDNESDAY, TWENTY FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Memorial of Saint Monica
1 Thes 2:9-13 Ps 139:7-12 Mt 23:27-32
GOING BEYOND CULTURAL CHRISTIANITY
Every stream of jobs, offices, and professions has its own protocols, requiring discipline and strict procedures of functioning. These role definitions give visibility and identity to them, because they are the embodiment of the values that are essential for the advancement of the aims of their respective institutions. If this is required even for schools and commercial institutions to ensure their marketability and growth, how much more should it be a reality for those who claim to follow Jesus?
If we truly intend to follow Jesus, we cannot hide behind a lifestyle of minimum sacrifices. That is a cheap Christianity lived for social status and local visibility. Do we not eagerly listen to sermons and attend retreats, yet in our prayers, we refuse to go beyond seeking emotional satisfaction for loneliness, or a source of cheap consolation in times of trouble? Without any desire to take the path Jesus calls us to, we can never be his true followers. The sermons we listen to are not meant for entertainment, nor for a self-absolving washing of guilt, nor for seeking the balm of consolation without any will to move beyond our comfort zones. We must step into the vulnerability of Christian community as required by the Gospel message.
St. Paul, who felt hurt when the Thessalonians and Corinthians falsely branded him as money-minded, remained patient with them and guided them to the truth. His life, as well as that of St. Monica, re-echoes that of Christ, especially in the sufferings they endured for Him and the Gospel. Jesus challenges our hypocrisy, and demands that the word we receive must take flesh; our piety and spiritual life must translate into a value-based way of living. Holiness is not about sentiments but a virtuous life. Let us go beyond mere cultural Christianity.
Response: O Lord, you search me and you know me.
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