Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

Sunlit station of the cross
at Mount Saint Francis

"Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!

For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,
your people shall be my people, and your God my God."

The Book of Ruth is one of the shortest, loveliest books in the Bible. Though God neither appears nor speaks in the story, his presence is manifest as he guides Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. Although each is moved by a different impulse we sense the Holy Spirit moving in their familiar, human motives. Naomi decides to return to her home and family because she has no where else to go. Ruth clings to Naomi out of great personal affection for her mother-in-law. Because Ruth is widowed they are no longer kin, but she prefers Naomi to her own family. And Boaz is drawn by the charm of a homeless, beautiful young woman.

Catholic philosophy teaches that grace builds on nature, rather than grace suppresses or destroys nature. Although we are born with the burden of Original Sin, deprived of grace and subject to concupiscence, we are not entirely depraved. Much remains that is beautiful, including our loyal affection for another and our desires for food, shelter, security, knowledge, companionship and procreation. We have an inbred longing for holiness, truth, beauty and goodness that may be suppressed by sin but can never be extinguished.

In the Book of Ruth a fine young woman comes to the knowledge of God by her devotion to her mother-in-law. Grace builds on the Moabite’s natural affection to initiate her into the Jewish race and religion. Grace will further enrich Ruth as she becomes the great-grandmother of King David and the ancestor of Jesus. 

Even those churches that teach a harsher relationship between grace and nature often use their affinity, as when they form societies for young people. Do the boys and girls come together to meet the Lord, or to check out one another? I suspect it’s the latter! But never mind, God does wonders with our natural impulses, building them into temples of his Holy Spirit. Let’s not miss those opportunities of grace.