(Audio)
Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
There is a mystical reality that is present in the apostle and their descendents, the bishops, priests, and deacons of our own time. They are given the Spirit in a special way to make Jesus present to us. And so we are called to receive them, not for their own sake, but because of the office given them by Jesus.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is a righteous man
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
We sometimes even receive priests and bishops in spite of their human failings because of the dignity of the office in which they share. Whenever we are able to receive them, to assist them in whatever small ways we can, we ourselves share in the work. And we are therefore promised to partake of the same reward. At first, our egalitarian tendencies make us want to resist the hierarchy of apostolic succession. But it turns out that we, in a sense, get the better deal. We get to partake in the reward of righteousness without the specific difficulties of the work. Therefore, let us learn from the woman at Shunem who did what she could for Elisha because he was a prophet and a holy man of God.
Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof
and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp,
so that when he comes to us he can stay there.
Let us do what we can to share in the burden of the mission of the Church. We can't look for a reward in the short term. The descendents of the apostles will not be able to repay us, and they may not even have enough attention to spare to give us their thanks. But because God wants us to prefer his mission to all else he himself is the one to whom we look for our reward.
Elisha promised, “This time next year
you will be fondling a baby son.”
This call to welcome the righteous and the prophets goes beyond those with a specifically apostolic ministry. Saint Benedict enjoins, "All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matt 25:35)" (see RB 53). The mission Jesus wants to see accomplished is not simply the building of the hierarchical Church. This Church is always ordered to the service of her members. The mission of Jesus is precisely that he himself may be all in all (see Colossians 3:11). All rewards are aimed at motivating us to find Jesus wherever he makes himself available, in Sacrament, in Spirit, and in works of charity. All rewards are only rewards in the measure that the share in the final reward, God himself.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Because the reward we are called to is the new life of the resurrection it is only possible for us if we prefer nothing to Christ. If we cling to the old life, the way things are now, we will be unwilling to take up our crosses and follow him. We will be unwilling to make his priorities our own. And if that happens we will find ourselves unwilling to come to him for the life he offers (see John 5:40).
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
Today we are called to receive Jesus wherever he is offering himself, especially in others, and by sharing in the burden of the apostles. But we must expect that this is only possible to the degree that we share in the death of Christ. Only then can we hold nothing back. Only then are we free to experience the promised reward. Fortunately, he is given us a share in this mystery already, by grace. We must simply choose to live it.
Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin
and living for God in Christ Jesus.
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