Breaking the Word

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

24th Tuesday in Ordinary Time (II)
Christian Ambition

Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-31a; Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5; Luke 7:11-17

We know well Paul’s use of the human body to describe the Christian community. Each of us, with our different gifts, is a different part of the one Body of Christ. Paul draws out several implications and insights that follow from his use of this analogy. Perhaps the most obvious is unity in diversity. The parts are many, but the Body is one . It also follows that the different parts – our different gifts – are meant for a particular purpose: to work together for the well-being of the Body. The different parts find fulfillment to the extent that they expend themselves for the welfare of the Body.

It is in this context of unity in diversity and of service that Paul speaks of ambition. Be ambitious for the higher gifts. And in this connection Paul also speaks of a better way, a way which we will hear him discuss further tomorrow. Why should a Christian be ambitious? The answer is clear from the preceding discussion: not for self-promotion, but in order to render greater service. And if there is indeed a better way, what makes it better? Is it not because – in contrast to the kind of selfish ambition that causes division – this better way unites the different parts more closely together into one Body?

In the gospel today we find the exercise of such a higher gift. Of course, the most obvious gift being exercised is probably the miraculous raising of the dead to life. Yet is there not an even higher gift, a better way, being demonstrated by Jesus? Consider the gospel description of Jesus’ meeting with the grieving mother. When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her. ‘Do not cry’ he said. Here we find an instance of the compassion of Jesus. Could this be an example of a higher gift, a gift capable of uniting the Body of Christ? Could this be that for which Paul wishes Christians to be ambitious? Is this not a striking manifestation of the power of the one Spirit… given to us all to drink?

How Christian, how Spirit-inspired, are our ambitions? For what gift or gifts are we moved to pray today?

[Addenda:

(1) Another essential aspect of the Church's teaching on globalization is the promotion of solidarity. A global solidarity that will ensure all peoples can benefit from the economic changes taking place. Christian solidarity consists in making ourselves responsible for the welfare of others. It is more than compassion or sentiments, as it calls for a ful reciprocity in human relationships. (Taken from http://www.zenit.org/english/, Christianity and Globalization);

(2) I really have three prized possesions that I cling to and treasure; the first of these is compassion, the second, frugality, and the third is my reluctance to try to become preeminent in the world. It is because of my compassion that I can be courageous; it is because of my frugality that I can be generous; it is because of my reluctance to try to become preeminent in the world that I am able to become chief among all things. (Daodejing: Making This Life Significant, chapter 67, translated by Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall)]

1 comment:

AnonymousTue Sept 19, 10:20:00 pm GMT+8
Fr. Chris,
Thanks to you, I'm now a subscriber to Zenit.org
My body sometimes does not respond to my brain, most times it takes over in moments of weakness when one is supposed to be strong.
Amplify this human trait to our interconnectedness, the resultant outcome is unpredictability. If we all share the same views and ideals, then our very existence becomes humdrum. In some cases, resolving conflict becomes the very reason for existence. Am I making sense??
Just as confused as ever.
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Breaking News: Ordinary Time

Apart from those seasons having their own distinctive character, thirty-three or thirty-four weeks remain in the yearly cycle that do not celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. Rather, especially on the Sundays, they are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects. This period is known as Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time begins on Monday after the Sunday following 6 January and continues until Tuesday before Ash Wednesday inclusive. It begins again on Monday after Pentecost and ends before Evening Prayer I of the First Sunday of Advent. This is also the reason for the series of liturgical texts found in both the Roman Missal and The Liturgy of the Hours (Vol. III - IV), for Sundays and weekdays in this season. ~ General Norms for the Liturgical Year & Calendar, 43-44

From 36th Jesuit General Congregation

It is our union with one another in Christ that testifies to the Good News more powerfully than our competences and abilities.... In our individualistic and competitive age, we should remember that the community plays a very special role since it is a privileged place of apostolic discernment.... The Jesuit community is a concrete space in which we live as friends in the Lord. This life together is always at the service of mission, but because these fraternal bonds proclaim the Gospel, it is itself a mission. –Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice (CMRJ), nn. 7-9.

With the poor, we can learn what hope and courage mean.... In our communities and apostolates, we hear the call to rediscover hospitality to strangers, to the young, to the poor, and to those who are persecuted. Christ himself teaches us this hospitality. –CMRJ, nn. 15-16.

At the heart of Ignatian spirituality is the transforming encounter with the mercy of God in Christ that moves us to a generous personal response. The experience of the merciful gaze of God on our weakness and sinfulness humbles us and fills us with gratitude, helping us to become compassionate ministers to all.... For us Jesuits, compassion is action, an action discerned together. Yet we know that there is no authentic familiarity with God if we do not allow ourselves to be moved to compassion and action by an encounter with the Christ who is revealed in the suffering, vulnerable faces of people, indeed in the suffering of creation. –CMRJ, nn. 19-20.

(T)he Society must respond more decisively to the Church’s call for a new evangelization, giving special emphasis to ministry to and with the young and with families.... A special gift Jesuits and the Ignatian family have to offer to the Church and her mission of evangelization is Ignatian spirituality, which facilitates the experience of God and can therefore greatly help the process of personal and communal conversion. –CMRJ, nn. 22-23.

In many societies, there is an increased level of conflict and polarization, which often gives rise to violence that is all the more appalling because it is motivated and justified by distorted religious convictions. In such situations, Jesuits, along with all who seek the common good, are called to contribute from their religious-spiritual traditions towards the building of peace, on local and global levels. –CMRJ, n. 28.

Pope Francis has emphasized the fundamental connection between the environmental crisis and the social crisis in which we live today. Poverty, social exclusion, and marginalization are linked with environmental degradation. These are not separate crises but one crisis that is a symptom of something much deeper: the flawed way societies and economies are organised. The current economic system with its predatory orientation discards natural resources as well as people. For this reason, Pope Francis insists that the only adequate solution must be a radical one. The direction of development must be altered if it is to be sustainable. We Jesuits are called to help heal a broken world, promoting a new way of producing and consuming, which puts God’s creation at the center.... The multifaceted challenge of caring for our common home calls for a multifaceted response from the Society. We begin by changing our personal and community lifestyles, adopting behaviour coherent with our desire for reconciliation with creation. – CMRJ, nn. 29-30

From 35th Jesuit General Congregation

From General Congregation 35

By sending us to 'those physical and spiritual places which others do not or have difficulty reaching,' the Pope entrusts to us the task to 'build bridges of understanding and dialogue,' according to the best tradition of the Society, in the diversity of its ministries.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 6

To be missioned to this work 'at the New Frontiers of our times' always requires that one also be rooted at the very heart of the Church. This tension, specific to the Ignatian charism, opens the way to true creative fidelity.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 13

In every mission that we carry out, we seek only to be where (Christ) sends us. The grace we receive as Jesuits is to be and to go with him, looking on the world with his eyes, loving it with his heart and entering into its depths with his unending compassion.
- Decree on Identity, n. 15

For ultimately, there is no reality that is only profane for those who know how to look. We must communicate this look and provide a pedagogy inspired by the Spiritual Exercises, that carries people - especially the young - into it.
- Decree on Identity, n. 10

Our ministries of proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the Life of Christ in the sacraments continue to be fundamental for our mission and our lives together as Jesuits.
- Decree on Mission, n. 19

The complexity of the problems we face and the richness of the opportunities offered demand that we engage in building bridges between rich and poor and establishing advocacy links of mutual support between those who hold political power and those who find it difficult to voice their interests. Our intellectual apostolate provides an inestimable help in setting up these bridges, offering us new ways of understanding in depth the mechanism and links among our present problems.
- Decree on Mission, n. 28

Jesuit community is not just for mission, it is itself mission.
- Decree on Mission, n. 41

In this global context it is important to highlight the extraordinary potential represented by our character as an international and multicultural body. Acting consistently with this character can not only enhance the apostolic effectiveness of our work but in a fragmented and divided world it can witness to the reconciliation in solidarity of all the children of God.
- Decree on Mission, n. 43

Faith in Jesus Christ teaches us that self-realization comes from self-giving and that freedom is not so much the power to choose as the power to order our choices toward love. At the same time, love for Jesus Christ and the desire to follow him call us to trusting commitment. Commitment to the Word Incarnate cannot be separated from commitment to the concrete manifestations of the Word that are at the center of our lives, the Church and the Society which exists to serve the Church.
- Decree on Obedience, n. 19