Five Important Spiritual Thoughts from the Liturgy of the Word
…and follow up for the Secular Franciscan
August 17 – August 24
1 — “You shall be my people, and I will
be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:28)…As I study my life
yesterday, is it clear that I have truly chosen God?
2 – “Many
are invited, but few are chosen.” (Mt 22:14)**Extended meditation
In
his story, Jesus tells those who have not put on the wedding garment that they
are not “chosen.” What does it mean “to
be chosen”? Looked at as the ending of
Jesus’s story, it might mean that those who are “chosen” will celebrate eternal
life with God. Looked at from the point
of view of “right now,” it probably means that the person who is “chosen” will
do the best that he/she can do given the circumstances, the definition of the
spiritual life, and therefore the Franciscan’s way of life.The minister called
it the most interesting story that he had ever heard. He was a part-time chaplain at a local
hospital. A person whose profession was
a rodeo clown had come into the emergency room and had been immediately
hospitalized with an extremely serious infection in his leg. Having suffered it during a performance in
another town, he finally had to come to the hospital to try to have it
treated. Unfortunately, the infection
was so pronounced that the man died within a matter of days. Since the man had no family according to the
records, the minister located the rodeo which had already moved to another
town, informing them of the death. One
person, likewise a rodeo clown came back to his funeral. He was the only mourner as they buried the
man.He
told the minister the story. The mourner
who came back to the funeral had been a policeman, a man very talented in law
enforcement who had managed to destroy a major drug operation in a southern
United States city. But he paid the
price. Although his family was in
protection, the drug cartel had managed to murder them all—his wife and two
children—burned their home, and left the policeman despondent and ready to end
his life.He
had already given notice that he would retire from the police force, and really
had no plans for the future except to live his life in misery. His captain had given him easy duty on his
last day—watching a stoplight at a major intersection in the city. What happened at that stoplight changed his
life, and inspired him to become a person who “made people laugh while saving
lives” as he described it.A
comedy magician in a crazily painted car approached that stoplight during the
policeman’s last day at work. The
magician was late for a performance, and had already put his oversize shoes on
as he approached the intersection. When
he went to brake the car, suddenly his shoe caught, then slipped off the brake
and hit the accelerator. The car went
flying through the intersection. Luckily
there were no other cars at that time, but the policeman knew that he had to
approach the vehicle which had suddenly stopped when the man finally found the
brakes.When
he approached the car, he saw a thoroughly distraught man made up as a clown
for his performance. Because of his
sudden stop after his flight through the intersection, a number of his gimmicks
that he used in his show had “gone off.”
There were plastic snakes moving all over the car, shot out of a two toy
guns which had been discharged when the guns hit the floor. There was wild music coming out of the tape recorder
in the back seat that had been programmed to play when there was a sudden jerk
to the machine. And when the policeman
had asked the man to roll down the window, the comedian knew what would happen
with the tape recorder because after the wild music, it was set up to deliver
the sentence, “You are the most handsome man on the face of the earth.”The
policeman-turned-rodeo clown told the minister that he began to laugh for the
first time since his family’s death. He
laughed so hard that he barely could tell the comedy magician to leave. He began to understand some things about his
life. He later found the magician, and
thanked him for saving his life. He told
him that he had inspired him to save people’s lives while making them
laugh. He later became a rodeo clown to
do exactly that.In
fact, both of them became close friends and joined the rodeo together as rodeo
clowns. The man who died was the comedy
magician rodeo clown, and the policeman attested that the man had saved his
life. At the end of their lives both
policeman and magician had moved into a path of love and chosen a future of
showing love toward others.They
both understood what it meant “to be chosen.”
3 — The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Mt 23:11-12)**Extended meditation:
In this chapter in Matthew’s Gospel,
Jesus is speaking about the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of his day. Hypocrisy is an interesting phenomenon to
talk about. It is an automatic trap or problem area for anyone who gives
direction to others: priests, ministers, teachers, parents, legislators, anyone
showing leadership of others. In our case as Franciscans, it is anyone who
chooses to do something good that others see, and therefore anyone understands
the importance of God in our lives. For whatever reason, we say to the world:
“I believe in God through Jesus Christ.” We must listen to Jesus in the Gospel
today. It is possible to say ‘I believe’, and not put it into practice.We should be very interested in what we
say in Church. We say strong words during the service, words like, we believe,
we will, we do. We must truly listen to what we say and do. We
receive the Lord in the words of the Gospel and in the Eucharist. How can
someone receive the Lord and with the same mouth tear down someone else or
allow foul language to come out of it? How can someone receive the Lord and
continue a life-style that makes a shambles of a marriage or parenting? How can
we miss the sacredness of life itself by being bitter and angry most of the
time? Or refusing to see the good in life?How?—according to Jesus, we have
allowed religion to be nothing more than something to be seen or performed.What’s the antidote to hypocrisy, how
do we stay away from it? This Gospel gives us that as well. Jesus says:The greatest among you must be your
servant.Service—we have
heard that before from Jesus, in fact a number of times. The way to keep
ourselves from the hypocrisy of saying one thing and doing another is to work
on behalf of others. Serve people, give to them without expecting anything in
return, make others feel important because they are—really.By the very fact that we say we believe
in God, by the very fact that we have professed to be a Franciscan, we are
making a statement to the world outside. We must realize that we could be
hypocrites… or if we carry through, we could be people who are helping this
world.
4 — “Strive
to enter through the narrow gate” (Luke 13:24)**…Is
daily discipline of some type part of my Franciscan life?
5 — “Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, you hypocrites.” (Mt 23:13)**…Do
I tend to criticize others when I’m doing the same thing myself?
** one of the most
important passages of the Gospels
