Do Something to Respond to God
by Fr. David M. Knight
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Thirty-Second Week of the Year
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin
Ti 3:1-7/Lk 17:11-19 (Lectionary 493)
Titus 3:1-7: Paul has a way of starting on ground level and ending in the stars. He tells Titus to “remind people to be loyally subject to the government and its officials, to obey the laws... take on any honest employment, not speak evil of anyone or be quarrelsome...” etc. We could hear as much in a meeting of the Rotary Club.
But he ends with pure mystical poetry:
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any righteous deeds we had done, but because of his mercy.
He saved us through the Baptism of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
This Spirit he lavished on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs, in hope, of eternal life.
If we don’t live in constant, grateful awareness of our mystical birth, our mystical being, and our mystical, eternal destiny, we are, as Christians, the living dead. Alive by grace; dead to the experience, the joy, the glory and the power of it. Paul would weep. But instead of weeping with him, we should do something about it (as he would).
Like what? For starters, read Five Steps to the Father. This is a “fourth generation” version of Reaching Jesus: Five Steps to a Fuller Life, which gets a little deeper and a little more mystical in each of its reincarnations. But Reaching Jesus is short, simple and sufficient to renovate your religion if you take it seriously. (Both of these books are available from www.ImmersedinChrist.org)
With this suggestion we come down from the stars to ground level. If you have a better plan of spiritual growth, follow it. But if you do not have a plan, don’t say you haven’t been offered one!
In Luke 17:11-19 Jesus cures ten lepers, but he only says to one: “Your faith has been your salvation.” That was the one who did not just accept his cure but thought about it. Realized how it happened; who had healed him, and entered into relationship with Jesus through conscious gratitude. It is conscious, personal interaction with God in and through Jesus Christ that gives us the experience of salvation. Think about what God has done for you. Go through the sacraments you have received. Recite the Gloria. Then do something in response.
Initiative: Don’t just absorb religion like a frog. Jump in some direction.
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
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