Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time B
Reflecting
on this Sunday’s gospel,
someone
shared the following story:
Years
ago, I had to change a flat tire at night.
While
attempting to remove the tire,
the
jack shifted unexpectedly, and the car fell off the jack.
My
fingers were pinned underneath the tire.
Because
the full weight of the car
kept
my fingers pressed to the road,
I
could not pull my fingers free, no matter how hard I tried.
After
some time, praise God, some passersby found me
and
lifted the van just enough to allow me to pull my fingers free.…
Although
my fingers are a small part of my body,
they
prevented my entire body from being free.
If
no one came to help me, I would have faced two choices:
1)
cut off my fingers so my body would be free to live, or
2)
keep my fingers and have my whole body die
because
a small part of it was captive.
Just hearing that story makes your hand ache, doesn't it?
It also takes some difficult—even disturbing—words of Jesus
It also takes some difficult—even disturbing—words of Jesus
and
makes them much clearer.
What’s
pinning you down?
What’s
holding you captive?
Is
there some persistent sin you cling to, or that clings to you?
We
must not deceive ourselves;
we must
abandon all our little compromises.
We
must not regard any sin as so small,
treat
any occasion of sin so lightly,
as
if it didn’t have the potential to do great harm to souls.
Jesus
pulls no punches with us this Sunday:
we
need to root out from our lives
whatever
threatens our relationship with God—
and
spare no pain in doing so.
It
may feel like we’re cutting off one of our own limbs,
but
if we want to know real life and happiness, real freedom and peace,
such
things simply have to go.
A
certain horror of sin and fear of its high cost
is
a rather healthy thing.
But
we mustn’t allow it to immobilize us—
afraid
to act at all, as if everything were probably sinful.
While
it’s true that no sin is so small
that
we shouldn’t make every effort to avoid it,
neither
is any act of charity so small
as
to not be worthy of our efforts:
“Anyone
who gives you a cup of water to drink…
…will
surely not lose his reward.”
If
God is love, then wherever true love is found,
there
is God—even if his presence is unrecognized;
and
wherever you find the love of God,
there
is Jesus Christ—even if his name is unknown;
and
wherever you find Jesus Christ,
there
is his body, the Church—
standing
as the gateway to eternal life.
St.
Dominic Savio—a student of St. John Bosco—
died
at the tender age of 14 back in 1857.
When
he received his First Holy Communion at the age of 7,
he
made four promises to the Lord
that
he wrote down in a little book
and
read again from time to time;
the
final one was a resolution
to always choose death
rather than sin.
Jesus
warns us about causing one of his little ones to sin;
here’s
one of his little ones
showing us an altogether different path.
The
choices we make now—
for
good or for evil, and no matter how small—
have
eternal consequences.
So
don’t allow any sin to pin down your soul.
And
never let any opportunity to act with love
needlessly pass you by.
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