22nd Wednesday in Ordinary Time (II)
Collaboration and Meaning

Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:1-5; Psalm 32; Luke 4:38-44

There’s someone in the office who works overtime on a regular basis. Comes early and leaves late. His response to comments on his diligence? Better overtime than retrenchment. He speaks in jest, of course. Still it’s likely that many can identify with the anxiety hidden in his response. Do many not work hard because they fear being laid off?

Then there’s the younger person for whom the motivation for work is not so much fear of retrenchment as a desire for career advancement. The difficulty, however, is that this person’s ambitions for career success seem to her to conflict with her desires to live a devout Christian life. The result? An inability to find deeper meaning in work, tension, struggle, lack of peace.

Does work necessarily conflict with the things of God? Or is there perhaps some way in which the work we do everyday can somehow find deeper significance in our life in the Spirit? Our readings provide some guidance.

Consider the motivation that Paul expresses in the first reading. Faced with jealousy and wrangling in the Corinthian church, Paul responds by emphasizing that he and the other evangelists are fellow workers with God. What gives meaning to his work is the consciousness that he is not engaging in an exercise in self-aggrandizement but collaborating in a great divine construction project: building up God’s farm, God’s building.

And does not Jesus carry out his ministry with this same consciousness? Is this not why he is able to move on even when others press him to stay? In particular, we notice how he cultivates this consciousness through his practice of prayer in solitude. When daylight came he left the house and made his way to a lonely place.

Also, in the experience of Peter’s mother-in-law, we see one possible way in which this consciousness comes into being. After Jesus heals her she contributes in her own way to his ministry. She immediately got up and began to wait on them. In Christ, the mundane tasks of her daily existence take on a new significance. Like Paul, she becomes a collaborator in God’s building project.

What about us? How do we find meaning in our work?

22nd Tuesday in Ordinary Time (II)
Spirit in the World

Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:10-16; Psalm 144; Luke 4:31-37

Good teachers often draw sharp distinctions to help their listeners understand the point they are making. Paul is no exception. In our reading he clearly distinguishes the spirit of the world from the Spirit of God. It is only in and through the Spirit of God that a spiritual person can discern the things of God, since it is only in and through the Spirit of God that one can have the mind of Christ. The distinction is thus not between spirit and world, but between two spirits: that of the world and that of God­. It is important to get this clear so as not to misunderstand. Paul is not advocating a withdrawal or escape from the world, but right judgment of what goes on in the world in the light of Christ.

This can be seen too in the way that Jesus operates in the gospel. His unity with His Father in the Holy Spirit enables Him not only to identify the unclean spirits that are at work in the world, but also to cast them out. There is no other-worldly escapism here, only a profound demonstration of the power and authority of the only Son of God.

As followers of Christ – His hands, feet and body – how may we better discern and follow the movements of God’s Spirit in our world today?

22nd Monday in Ordinary Time (II)
Power of God

Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Psalm 118; Luke 4:16-30

There has been something of a revolution in international relations theory in recent times. Experts are speaking about the importance of soft power. To quote Harvard Dean, Joseph Nye: Soft power is the ability to get what you want by attracting and persuading others to adopt your goals. It differs from hard power, the ability to use the carrots and sticks of economic and military might to make others follow your will. Hard power works through coercion and inducement, soft power through attraction and seduction. Hard power emphasizes strength, soft power, popularity.

How do these forms of power compare with the power that we find in the readings today?

In the first reading Paul is anxious to emphasize that his preaching is dependent not on the possession of secular philosophical knowledge, but on the power of God. He preaches in weakness, in fear and trembling. And yet, his words have borne fruit. By thus boasting about his own weakness, his own poverty, Paul is actually extolling the marvelous power of God, who works in those who are submissive to God’s will.

The power spoken of by Paul is the same power that animates Jesus in the gospel. This power is able to bring liberty to captives, new sight to the blind and freedom to the downtrodden. But the exercise of this power is not without problems. Although Jesus’ words wins the approval of all, he very quickly provokes anger and resentment. They wish to kill him. But Jesus’ response provides yet another example of how this power of God works. He makes no attempt at coercion or inducement. Neither does he compromise his own message. He simply walks away. And we know the destination towards which he is travels: Calvary and beyond. For he is the crucified Christ in whom Paul boasts. The One in whom the power of God is made manifest among us.

Hard power, soft power, or the power of God? On which do we rely this day?

22nd Ordinary Sunday (B)
True Religion

Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-8; Psalm 14; James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-23

Today I’m reminded of Habib. Probably everyone’s favourite tour guide, Habib is Uighur – an ethnic minority in Xinjiang. As such, he is also Muslim. I’m reminded of a couple of his favourite phrases. When speaking of sensitive political, cultural or social issues, he often said: That is hot potato. I’m also reminded of his 15-20 minute lecture on the Muslim religion, given at the famous Emin Minaret/ Mosque at Turpan in Xinjiang. At two or three points in his lecture we heard Habib use another of his memorable phrases. When speaking of the requirement that women have to cover themselves from head to foot, and of the practice of polygamy, Habib said: That is bad development.

In today’s gospel, Jesus is also dealing with what he sees to be a hot potato and a bad development. He reprimands the scribes and Pharisees for the narrow form of religion that they practice. For them, religion is primarily about keeping the Law. In itself, this is not a bad thing. In the first reading, Moses himself exhorts the people to keep the commandments of the Lord your God just as I lay them down for you. But the scribes' and Pharisees' observance of the Law is extremely constricted. They are only concerned about external ritual practices, such as the washing of hands, cups and dishes. The result? Ritual becomes divorced from life. Worship is separated from justice. Religion becomes burdensome, empty, meaningless.

But if the pharisaical religion is too narrow, what is a fuller alternative? What is true religion, purified of bad developments? The readings present at least two other crucial aspects. We may call the first spiritual. The Law must be kept not simply as a dead letter written on paper, but as a life-giving, God-given, Word that is inscribed on human hearts. As James writes in the second reading: accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you and can save your souls. More than in mere external observance, the saving significance of the Law lies in our relationship with the Law-Giver, who speaks continually to us in our hearts. To observe the Law, we need carefully to cultivate this relationship, to keep communication channels open.

And submission to this living and life-giving Word naturally expresses itself externally in the way one lives one’s life – especially in acts of charity and justice. We may call this the ethical aspect of true religion. Again, James puts it well: Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world. We may ask ourselves: Who are the orphans and widows of today? From what forms of worldly contamination do we need to safeguard ourselves?

Today we are being challenged to reflect upon the kind of religion we practice. How do we connect and balance among the ritual, spiritual and ethical aspects of true religion? And what, if any, are the bad developments we need to avoid? Or are these questions too much of a hot potato?

Saturday in the 21st Week of Ordinary Time (II)
God’s Choice

Readings: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Psalm 32; Matthew 25:14-30

We are invited today to meditate more deeply upon God’s choice. Why and how does God choose us? And how does this divine purpose come to fruition?

The psalm starts us off by reminding us of God’s purpose. God chooses God’s people in order to rescue their souls from death, to keep them alive in famine. God chooses in order to save. Although the gospel parable speaks in terms of a master’s relationship with his servants -- and we are, indeed, all called to serve God -- God chooses not so much as a potential employer might choose domestic help from a bio-data file. God is not simply on the lookout for tireless and efficient laborers. Rather God’s choice might perhaps be likened more to that of one who visits death-row in order to grant clemency to prisoners. God chooses in order to save.

And God chooses by blessing us with gifts – the talents in the gospel parable. Does it mean then that those who are wealthier or more intelligent, more popular or more talented, are more blessed, more chosen, than those who are less so? No. As Paul tells the Corinthians: it was to shame the wise that God chose what is foolish by human reckoning, and to shame what is strong that he chose what is weak by human reckoning; those whom the world thinks common and contemptible are the ones that God has chosen – those who are nothing at all to show up those who are everything. In other words, we need to have a correct understanding of God’s giving. More than any material wealth or natural talent, God gives us God’s very self by sending us God’s Son. As Paul explains, God chooses us in Christ who has become our wisdom, and our virtue, and our holiness, and our freedom. And it is only in Christ that we better understand the saving significance of God’s gifts – how they may be used to fulfill God’s purpose of salvation. Our gifts – including our material possessions and natural talents – are entrusted to us neither to be buried nor to be exploited solely for our own selfish purposes, but so that they may be used for the benefit of others, to bring others to God, to further God’s saving plan both in breadth and depth. And it is only to the extent that we use our gifts in this way that we can truly benefit from them in Christ. For to everyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Or, as St. Francis of Assisi put it so beautifully: It is in giving that we receive. It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

How is God choosing us today? What are the talents with which we being blessed? How are we being called to respond?