Thursday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 350

Once you were no people
but now you are God’s people;
you had not received mercy
but now you have received mercy.

As the Second Vatican Council was ending, Pope Paul VI signed and published one of the most important documents of the twentieth century, Lumen Gentium. The second chapter is titled, On the People of God, and explains, 

God, however, does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased Him to bring men together as one people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness. 

Saint Peter's expressions (from Hosea 1:9) "No people" and "...had not received mercy" might resemble the American ideal of competitive individuals; but it also describes lost, lonely souls who are often found dead in their homes and apartments. Determined to do it my way, they forfeit familial, neighborly, and religious connections to everyone else.  

As he journeyed from Galilee to Jerusalem and Calvary, the Lord invited everyone to repent and believe the Good News of God's kingdom. That repentance must include renunciation of my way, my opinions, my property, my preferences, desires, and identity. Myself  is too much baggage to carry on a long journey. 

Nor do we need it when we "Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God...."

Jesus insists, 

"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. 

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.

His teaching demands our attention and requires discipline. We must practice this renunciation daily with prayer and meditation; and be alert to the impulses that would sever our ties with others. We are continually atoning -- that is making one -- with others because the habits of a lifetime and the mores of a proud nation do not disappear overnight. 

In the morning we renew our intention to practice patience and charity with others; in the evening we remember our backsliding and thank God for whatever renunciations we managed. And every day we thank God for calling us to be living stones built up into the one Temple of God.