Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BOAKYE YEBOAH

(CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF KUMASI, GHANA)

IT TAKES GRACE!

            On this 23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), Mother Church gives us three readings for our reflection and meditation. Carefully reading through them line by line and word for word, I discovered three Christian characteristic marks being suggested and recommended by the inspired writers. The first insight comes to us from the pen and wisdom of the author to the book of Wisdom. In one breath the inspired writer talks about humans’ inability to discern the plans and ways of God while in another breath he indicates how some people are able to discern the plans and ways of God and live by them.

            The second Christian characteristic sign can be found in the second reading, where St Paul suggests forgiveness, reconciliation and Christian brotherhood to all those who have been greatly offended by a close relative, a friend or a working colleague. The ability to forgive is one of the highest Christian virtues. Though St Paul gave it as a personal recommendation to an individual in a personal letter; the letter has since transcended its particular nuance to a universal Christian recommendation.

            The third Christian characteristic sign is given to us by the Lord himself in today’s gospel account. The Lord in today’s gospel passage, invites all people to discipleship but he strictly lay down his criteria for discipleship. The one thing the Lord makes clear is detachment from anything that will distract or separate a person from following him wholeheartedly.

            Dear friends in Christ, this is the scope of our Sunday’s Liturgy of the Word. These Christian attributes of: discerning the ways of the Lord; the ability to forgive and forget; and detachment in order to follow Jesus may come to a person simply as a gift of God (or through the grace of God).

            In the wisdom of the great masters of Christian spirituality especially in the writings of the desert fathers, one can see that certain Christian attributes can be acquired through discipline and effective spiritual direction but there are certain Christian habits that can only be acquired through the grace of God; and the above three in today’s readings are among them.

            The author to the book of Wisdom was an erudite Jewish elder and was experienced enough to know that discerning the ways and plans of God were beyond human natural abilities. In fact, he graphically states the reason why some humans cannot discern the ways and plans of God. He states: “Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends? For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans. For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns…” Though the inspired writer seems to throw-in the towel in one breath, he gives a sign of hope when he states that some are able to discern the ways of God because it was given to them from on high through the power of the Holy Spirit.

            Discernment is one gift that we need to pray for every day. Almost all the great spiritual masters of old recommended in their writings “the ability to discern”. To the devotees of the Ignatian spirituality, St Ignatius of Loyola recommends discernment as the first step to spiritual enlightenment and grace. When one wakes up, (s)he should be gifted with wisdom to discern the plans God has for him/her in a given day. At every point in a given day most of us are faced with options and choices; some are good but may not be proper for a Christian – that is the reason why discernment is highly recommended.

            One side effect of Original Sin that plays heavily on all Christians even after baptism is concupiscence. Concupiscence can be simply defined as one’s inclination to commit sin. As humans, we are constantly being drifters from the ways of God and so it takes grace to bring us to the path of God. There are many of us who do not like some of our bad habits and like St Paul “the good we wish to do we cannot do but we are always caught up in bad habits.” But like St Paul we should be rest assured that God’s grace will be enough for us. Please keep up your spirit and be hopeful until the day the Lord visits you and bless you with his ways through the power of the Holy Spirit. And as he rightly told his disciples, “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, he will lead you to the complete truth.”

            The second demand/recommendation that comes to us from the pen of St Paul in the second reading is something that does not come easily for many people. It is absolutely true that some Christians are gifted with the spirit of forgiveness. For these people, no matter how often, they are offended they always forgive those who offend them. This is a gift that every Christian should pray for. It is a divine gift because our natural human disposition at times calls for revenge and retaliation especially when the offense hurts so much. St Paul himself knew that forgiveness does not come easily, for if initially forgiveness came easily for him, he would not have asked God to punish his “enemy” Alexander the coppersmith who he thought did him great harm. St Paul in his later Christian life may have been gifted with the spirit of forgiveness and so in a personal letter to Philemon he prayed that God may gift Philemon the gift of forgiveness in order for him to forgive his former slave Onesimus who offended him greatly. Life is such that what we learn and acquire, we pray others also learn and acquire them and St Paul is such a great example.

            The last but not least of the recommendations is the Christian virtue of detachment. The semantics employed in the gospel seem strong and highly demanding. Jesus asked his disciples- to-be to detach themselves from family, friends and other earthly attachments. This Christian virtue calls for further explanation. I would like to think that Jesus wanted his disciples-to-be to detach themselves from family ties, friends and other earthly attachments that may endanger their fellowship with him. If family ties and friendships encourage us to drift from a life in Christ then we need to detach ourselves from them, but if these attachments are Christian and can help one to grow in the Lord, then they are highly recommended.

            In our efforts to acquire these Christian virtues, we should always remember that the Christian life is a process and not a single event. Let us be patient as we await God’s blessings. We are also encouraged not to compare our spiritual giftedness because the Lord says there are some who are first who may be last and vice versa. May God be kind to us and bless us with these gifts so that in the end none of us will be left out when the time comes for the Lord to bring us home (to heaven). OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP PRAY FOR US.