Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 82

It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.


It's said that when a man looks in a mirror, he likes what he sees; when a woman looks in a mirror she doesn't like what she sees. 

I have to admit I look good enough to me, though I sometimes need a haircut. 

How often do we stand in judgement on ourselves? Near every toilet in nearly every bathroom is the judge, that mechanical device that says, "You weigh too much!" or "You don't weigh enough."

As our population ages I suppose there is a blood pressure sleeve found somewhere in the house. And many of us are profoundly (and necessarily) aware of our blood sugar. Then the doctors informs us of even more useful information about triglycerides and cholesterol and lipids. Like the characters in those TV commercials, we're surrounded by numbers. They cling to us like the furies of Orestes. 

It would be useful if I expected to make a change in my life style. I don't; most of us don't. We are like the man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like.

A friend of mine once said, "When I came to the convent I was going to change the world. Ten years later I was trying to change the sisters around me. Now I only try to change myself."
I said, "You're almost there." 

Saint Paul, great thinker, theologian, letter writer and so-so preacher was not possessed with trying to change himself. His personal disciplines were satisfactory. If he got angry at some of his fellow Christians, it seems, "They had it coming." He did not hesitate to retell how he rebuked Saint Peter in Antioch, and how he confronted the Church in Jerusalem. His language in the Letter to the Galatians is shocking. He didn't try to "make nice" as a Christian; he only wanted to serve the Gospel and the Holy Spirit that compelled him. He had no time for judging himself. 

As a child I learned to confess my sins monthly and to promise the priest I would do better next month. It hasn't happened yet. I may be better than I was, but it never came by making promises and trying harder. 

A housekeeper at the VA, teased incessantly by the nurses as he teases them, said to me, "I'm trying, Father."
I said, "You certainly are!" 

In today's gospel Jesus invites us to "Look at the birds of the air!" and contemplate how they rely on God. He won

A burdened tree bears her young,
but doesn't seem to mind. 

ders, "Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?" 

By worry can you shed the pounds you should lose, or decrease your electrolytes, whatever they are? 

Daily and many times a day we should invite the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts, actions and reactions. It's useful at the end of the day to notice when we "went with the flow" and when we interfered in God's work. It's good at that point to say, "Thank you, Lord." 

We might be weary at the end of the day, but how stressed are we? Unhealthy stress enters when we try, when we "kick against the goad."   

Jesus teaches us to look at the birds and learn from the way the wild flowers grow. Rooted in the Spirit they know precisely what to do. We can take lessons from them. His yoke is easy and his burden, light.