Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 110

Live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love....

Back in the early 1980’s, as I settled into my calling and new identity as a priest, I hoped to attain a holiness that would be secure, reassured, and confident. I was reading mystic saints like Theresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, and John of the Cross. I studied Francis de Sales and his "Introduction to the Devout life." 

It was great stuff but I was not impressed with my progress. I supplemented that reading with spiritual self help books of the time. I had quit drinking, was deeply involved with Twelve Steps; and attended meetings regularly. The effort gave me some insight into my reactions, and some ability to make choices about my attitudes. 

They helped but the popular spirituality of that time was largely self-centered and, for that reason, aimless. My personal goals of security and confidence retreated somewhere over the rainbow, because self-centered spirituality is not about God. It’s about my satisfaction, my happiness, my goals, my purpose; and therefore pointless, unsatisfying, and barren. As far as I can tell, today's so-called Spirituality, which is supported by the federal government, is still circling that comfortable, suburban sinkhole. 

When Saint Paul urged his disciples to "Live in a manner worthy of the call you have received," he addressed the entire congregation in Ephesus. He hoped the Church would take his message to heart and that their attitudes, words, and deeds would reflect the holiness which is proper to the People of God. The Church in Ephesus should be known for its generosity, willingness, and courtesy. There should be no strangers among them, nor any behaviors stranger than honestly, gentleness, and hospitality. 

Holiness entails separation from the sinful society in which we find ourselves. We come apart with the Lord into a wilderness where only those who help one another can survive. Loners die alone. No one should be so progressive as to get ahead of the group; nor should anyone lag behind with their conservative values. We must stay together and with the Lord to survive. 

We come apart into the wilderness where the Good Shepherd will feed us with his own body, where we will drink his blood and be sustained, and more than sustained. We will flourish. In the wilderness we will ingest his body and blood even as he ingests us into himself, into the holy communion of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

Holiness is what we are and what we do together. It is our unity and solidarity and communion; it is our dependability and integrity. We give our word to one another and that word is more valuable than money in the bank. If the banks should fail, as they often do, our friendship, caring, and assurances do not. 

Saint Paul never supposed there should be holy and holier members in the Church. He offered no blue ribbons for the holiest members with special recognition for the youngest, oldest, and most disadvantaged. His mission was to form and build communities – communions of the Body and Blood of Christ – and through them announce the Salvation to the world. It was not to save individual souls one by one. If some of them were called saints, it’s because they were all saints. 

What could that expression, personal salvation, possibly mean? Can someone be saved personally, without companionship and communion with others? Why would anyone want to spend eternity alone? 

Liturgy has many rules, but it’s not a game. Just as games serve a culture which rewards strength and ability, our worship helps us to "live in a manner worthy of the call we have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience. [It helps us] to bear with one another through love." Holiness is what we do together to honor the One who calls us ‘friends, because he tells us everything he has learned from the Father.” (John 15:15)  

The Second Vatican Council reminded the entire church that we are a priestly people. Although some of us are given the privilege and responsibility of ordination as priests, there can be no priests without a priestly church. God’s call to individuals to step up as priest is heard by the Church which selects the right men to lead. You can’t be a priest because you feel you should be! That’s for us to decide with God’s counsel. Nor can we have ordained priests without a holy, priestly people who worship God night and day.

Our practice of prayer should remind us of our call to holiness. When the priest says, “The Lord be with you!” you answer, “And with your spirit.” He does not answer himself because he is not praying alone. When he says, “...through Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever!” you say, “Amen.” He doesn't answer himself. You have to be here; you have to be heard. When he announces “The Mystery of Faith,” you answer; he does not. That's your part. 

Your singing, your procession up the aisle, your standing, kneeling, and sitting; your attention, your prayer, and your presence: they all prove that you are a priestly people, and tomorrow's priests are your sons. 

As we participate in the worship of God we grow in integrity, patience, and maturity. Created  in the image of God from the mud of the earth, we become the likeness of God. That likeness does not happen automatically; we attain a likeness to God by our practice of faith, hope, and love. 

Our contemporaries, mired in the mud of this world, wanting to be individuals and afraid to belong to anything, can neither imagine nor attain that likeness. They sometimes speak nostalgically of the "best years of their life" as a long time ago, but we are becoming more like God every day.  

For those who "bear with one another through love, [and] strive to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace," every day is good and every day is better. Every day is a challenge and an invitation, and we thank God for each one.