12 March 2014 - ready, set, go

12 March 2014 - ready, set, go

Are we putting off the holiness to which we know we are called?  We may say that since we are enduring so much right now, struggling so much, that we may be excused from conversion, repentance, and growing closer to God.  Are we waiting for some sort of sign to show us that the time is now?

“This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,

If we are waiting thusly, it is likely that we will keep waiting.  Nothing will match our criteria.  We will never be quite ready to take the next step.  But Paul reminds us, "Now is the acceptable time.  Now is the day of salvation" (cf. 2 Cor. 6:2).

We have trouble realizing this.  Now doesn't seem like a good time at all.  It seems too busy.  We don't feel strong enough or prepared enough.  What is it that unlocks the present moment and reveals it as the opportunity it is?

It is something after the pattern of Jonah and Solomon.  Both of these men presented, not signs, but the wisdom of God.  But even more than the preaching of Jonah, even more than Solomon, Jesus himself is "something greater", the wisdom of God incarnate.  Jesus unlocks this very moment and reveals that it exists only because of the love which God has for us.  "For in him we live and move and have our being" (cf Act. 17:28).  He sustains us and "all things by his powerful word" (cf. Col. 1:17).  When we make the connection between our origin in the loving heart of God and this present moment where, in his love, he holds us in being, nothing is impossible for us.  Nothing is impossible because we trust completely in the one for whom all things are possible.

It isn't about attempting great feats of heroism, necessarily.  It isn't firstly about anything that we do.  Instead it is about a disposition of heart that we have in response to this wisdom which Jesus embodies.

For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Trusting in his love we won't feel the need to prove ourselves with elaborate works on the one hand.  On the other, we won't fear to attempt the things which God does ask of us because we trust in his providential care. 

There is something greater than Solomon here.  It isn't just there.  He is here.  In this moment he is with us.  In this moment he invites and empowers us to respond to him in love.  It isn't about doing great things.  That is our pride talking.  It is about, as Mother Teresa reminds us, doing "small things with great love."  The Little Way of St. Therese of Lisieux is the way of those who realize that they have each moment only because God loves them as a child.  It is their response of childlike faith.

This realization empowers true repentance and profound change such as our best efforts cannot achieve.

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

It is the foundation of a blessed society, forgiven by God, which does not perish in "his blazing wrath".  Even this wrath is only meant to turn us back toward the God who loves us.  He has no other motive in all he does.