Wednesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Pray for our world on this 18th Anniversary

Lectionary: 439

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ your life appears,

then you too will appear with him in glory.

I've not read and don't need to read Fifty Shades of Grey, a pornographic novel that made a stir a year or two ago. The title pretty much says it all. A society without moral standards wanders between dark and darker without direction and with little hope.

Both readings this morning describe our "two ways" moral system. We can walk toward the light or into the darkness. We can aspire to goodness or evil. Or, more bluntly, if we don't aspire to goodness we choose evil.

Saint Paul describes the foundation of our moral life: we have died to ourselves and we live in Christ. Incorporated into his Body by Baptism and Eucharist, our moral decisions are guided by his Spirit which is courageous, honest, and generous.

Many people think they can navigate this world without the moral compass our faith provides. Or they suppose most of their decisions are morally irrelevant and they can be guided by their own impulses, desires, or intentions. They often think they can do well by doing good.

Or what they they might argue. "Isn't this what God wants?" without actually asking God. Saint Augustine, reflecting upon the aimless life he had known, said, "... our life was displeasing to him. He will, therefore, condemn what we have done but he will save what he himself has done in us."

Psalm 127 says something similar,

Unless the LORD build the house,
they labor in vain who build.
Unless the LORD guard the city,
in vain does the guard keep watch.
It is vain for you to rise early
and put off your rest at night,
To eat bread earned by hard toil—
all this God gives to his beloved in sleep

We're watching many of our infrastructures crumble today. Aging buildings, water mains, roads and bridges deteriorate. We often discover that the politicians, contractors and workers of a half-century ago cut corners. Tax payers refused to pay the ordinary expenses of a complex society. Because they wanted to spend their money on bigger cars, road beds that should be twelve feet deep are only six feet.

If you would do something useful and lasting, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, then watch as things fall in place -- and stay in place.