Remembering Our Commitments
by Fr. David M. Knight
June 26, 2024
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time
Lectionary 373
2 Kgs 22:8-13; 23:1-3/Mt 7:15-20
2Kings 22:8 to 23:1-3 shows us what can happen when one or two people do the right thing. Hilkiah found the book of the law and showed it to Shaphan, who showed it to the king. The king
summoned all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: priests, prophets, and all the people, small and great. He had the entire book of the covenant read out to them.
Then the king and the people renewed the covenant that gave them their identity and promised their destiny.
What if someone in every family suggested this? What if, on special occasions, the whole family gathered and read aloud a summary of their covenant with God. Accepted it as their identity. Pledged as a family to live it. Would this make a difference? Why not be the one to suggest it?
We do this at every Mass. We recite the Gloria as a hymn of praise that is also a pledge of allegiance:
We praise you,
we bless you,
we adore you,
we glorify you,
we give you thanks for your great glory,
Lord God, heavenly King,
O God, almighty Father.
These are commitments. We proclaim them as affirming our identity at Mass. But we need to recognize and “own” our identity as families, not just as “Catholics.” We need to say who we are at home as well as in church. This could transform family life.
Matthew 7:15-20: Jesus warns us not to assume that we—or others—are Christians just because we say we are. Or even because we are officially engaged in ministry.
Just because people have official titles and are “approved” by the Church, we can’t just accept what they say and do as what we should believe and do. There are “false prophets” and wolves in sheep’s clothing. We need to remember it was the most “approved” Jews who rejected Jesus: the “chief priests, scribes and Pharisees” who in today’s categories would be the “hierarchy,” those seen as most “faithful to the magisterium” and most “obedient to the Church.” Scary as it is, they are the same categories. So Jesus says, “By their fruits you will know them.” We judge by cases, not categories.
We judge no one’s conscience. But we must make judgments about competence. Ministers who do not show the “fruit of the Spirit”—“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”—are not to be trusted. Nor any attached to legalism, clericalism, prestige or power. These were characteristics of those who “sat in Moses seat” and hated Jesus.
Initiative: Live the life of God. Look for signs of it in everyone you deal with.
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
