Sunday, September 28, 2014

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Why do we find it so hard to do God's will? Perhaps because our Parent says to us, "humbly regard others as more important than yourselves." We want to do good. We want to live righteously. But we do not want to put ourselves last. I recently saw an advertisement for a campaign to end childhood hunger. It asked us to dine out at a restaurant. That is the American Way. Do good without having to sacrifice a thing. Live righteously while embracing all the fruits that capitalism has to offer. We say "yes" to God with the best of intentions, but we have not yet set foot in the vineyard. We might stare at it from across the fence, but who dares to enter, if doing so means "taking the form of a slave"? It all seems so very unfair. But is it? Is the path of greed really more fair than the path of grace, even if the latter demands obedience to a cross? Well, the good news is that it is never too late to make the right choice; the even better news is that doing so cancels out all of the prior wrong ones.