Wednesday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 493


...when the kindness and generous love
of God our savior appeared,
not because of any righteous deeds we had done
but because of his mercy,
he saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he richly poured out on us
through Jesus Christ our savior,
so that we might be justified by his grace
and become heirs in hope of eternal life.

Beginning every celebration of the Mass, the priest reads a prayer, the "collect," which is intended to collect, or gather, the many individuals in the church with their many distracting issues and concerns, into a single congregation. The collect is invariably addressed to the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Those prepositions -- to, through and in -- are very important as they describe our relationship to the Holy Trinity. With the collect we set aside our differences to enter the communion of God, even as the priest invited us, "May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you." In today's first reading, Saint Paul recalls the pain and foolishness of our sins;

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded,slaves to various desires and pleasures,living in malice and envy,hateful ourselves and hating one another.

They are juxtaposed with the mercy of God which has been given to us despite our manifest unworthiness. That is "...not because of any righteous deeds we have done!" Anyone who clings to some shreds of her own righteousness, of her own victimization as a good person misunderstood, misses the point.

It's not that this Christian is a bad person. That worry can also be set aside in preference to gazing upon, and being overwhelmed by, God's goodness. 

The person receiving a gift might say, "You shouldn't have!" but that doesn't mean she is not worthy and must in all fairness refuse the gift. It just means she is astonished and grateful. As we are when we hear Saint Paul urging us to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, exercising all graciousness toward everyone.

God in his mercy has illuminated us like the candle in a jack-o-lantern, making a thing of beauty from what seemed quite hideous.