Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 387

“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men, 
for they will hand you over to courts....

As the Lord's missionaries set out from His presence to carry His message to all nations he warned them, "beware of men...." 

We soon find out that setting out from His presence is dangerout. It's better to carry Him with us. Or rather, He must accompany us or we go nowhere. 

Moses replied, “If you are not going yourself, do not make us go up from here.

For how can it be known that I and your people have found favor with you, except by your going with us? Then we, your people and I, will be singled out from every other people on the surface of the earth.”

The LORD said to Moses: This request, too, which you have made, I will carry out, because you have found favor with me and you are my intimate friend. Exodus 33:15-17)

As a priest I have found it too easy to join the company of others and forget who I am and why I am here; which is to say, "I have forgotten Who accompanies my every step, knows every thought, reads every attitude, hears every conversation, and understands every act. I have joined the ones whom I should be wary of. 

It's not that they are evil persons, or have any ill intent. That's not the issue. It's that I am too eager to conform, to go along to get along, to agree to be agreeable. I forget to maintain the boundaries which, when well maintained, need neither distance nor barriers. If I am one of them, I am the Lord's first. And I have been sent. 

I don't have to be obnoxious or insistent about that; it's not their issue. They should also maintain that barrier which insists upon their belonging to the Lord, so that we become his Church; and are not simply strangers meeting along the road to no where in particular. 

Saint Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, amplified the Lord's warning to his departing missionaries, 

"They show interest in you, but not in a good way; they want to isolate you, so that you may show interest in them."

A politician wants your vote; a merchant wants your money; opinionated persons want your agreement; partyers want you to entertain them; everyone you, but on their terms. Some people want even more -- your love! -- but on their terms.

And that's okay so long as we don't forget who we are, to whom we belong, and why we were sent. Perhaps we were sent her to support this candidate, perchase this product, listen to this opinion, and sit with this lonely person. In every case we should respect the person who is made in the image and likeness of God, whether we vote for or against them, purchase their products, agree with their opinions, or accompany their solitude. 

In every case we should remember that they will find their satisfaction, meaning, and purpose where we find ours; and that is in the Lord. I might announce the coming of the Lord, but I am not Elijah, the prophet, or the Lord. 

Even before Moses asked (verse 15) the Lord had given his assurance. (verse 14:)
      I myself will go along, to give you rest. 

As often as we return to prayer we hear that assurance. And then we learn to walk with the Lord at all times, never leaving his presence; finding Him everywhere.