the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
In today’s reading from the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, he makes a most unusual remark: So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you, Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or the present or the future: all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.
Occasionally I meet troubled patients who want to take this and similar passages literally. They believe they own everything! Suffering grandiosity, they want authority and control of the whole world.
But what is Saint Paul really saying? For the answer I always turn to the cross of Jesus and to the Franciscan tradition.
Francis of Assisi discovered that he indeed owned the whole world by owning nothing. He owned the breath of life in the storm and wind; he claimed for his drink the drenching rain and the muddy creek. He ate lavishly at the "Table of the Lord" when he begged for food. Believing God would provide with everything God wanted him to have, he ate when someone gave him food, and starved when no one offered him anything. But he never ate more than he needed, which wasn't much.
With his freedom from want, he sang with all the creatures the praises of God. He moved freely among rich and poor, sick and well, friends and foes because he had surrendered his life to Divine Providence and would make no provision for himself. Francis lived this way in imitation of Jesus.
Christians see Jesus’ mastery of the world in his dying on a cross. From that tower he surveyed his kingdom. Surrendering himself to God His Father, he rendered the universe into God’s benign hands.
As we walk in the way of Jesus and Saint Francis, we surrender control of everything that might control us: possessions, knowledge, secrets, fears, ambitions, and relationships. Freed of ownership, we submit everything to the authority of Jesus, who owns everything; and he returns all things to God.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.