6 Oct 2014 - cafeteria closed

Cafeteria closed

We don't get to pick and choose the parts of the Gospel of Christ which we accept. This isn't a cafeteria line where we take the good stuff and leave the rest. If we find ourselves in such a line we are probably forsaking the one who called us by the grace of Christ for a different gospel.

Why would do this? We're hungry for the Gospel and we ought to fill our plates. All of us are malnourished to some degree and ought not be choosey. Yet some of the options seem so unappealing that we are willing to pass them by on the opposite side of the street. The gospel sometimes calls us to forego our preferences and our prejudices for something more important. It calls us to love even when we don't feel like it. It calls us to offer mercy even we think we have the wrong personality type to get involved.

Jesus himself shows us the way. When we are his enemies he still dies for us (cf. Rom. 5:8). When we can't afford our care he pays for everything.

Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you,
I shall repay you on my way back.

We don't deserve his love. It isn't as though Jesus is in a cafeteria line and we are somehow the dessert course. In fact, it is more like we're the raw materials which he himself makes into a pleasing meal. He does delight in us, but not necessarily because we're doing everything he wants us to do right now. He is the chef that enjoys the challenge of, shall we say, unusual ingredients as he makes us into masterpieces.

He has sent deliverance to his people;
he has ratified his covenant forever;
holy and awesome is his name.
His praise endures forever.

Let us learn from the one for whom mercy takes precedent over preference. Let our taste never stop our love lest we ultimately miss out on the fulfillment of a wonderful banquet.

The Gospel we receive "is not of human origin" and we do not "receive it from a human being". Flesh and blood cannot reveal it to us. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who makes it known through his Spirit at work in the Church. It is not just some human words. It is the word of God. Let us be sure to embrace it in its entirety. If some part of it seems off-putting to us let us pay even closer attention. Most likely, it is our palette that is at fault.

The works of his hands are faithful and just;
sure are all his precepts,
Reliable forever and ever,
wrought in truth and equity

LORD, may we embrace all that you have for us this morning for you have first embraced us.

Please receive the soul of Fr. Benedict Groeschel into your tender embrace.