18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Deacon Tim’s Column
8-2-09

In the selection from the Letter to the Ephesians, our second reading today, Paul tells us to “put away the old self of your former way of life . . . and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self . . . .” The first reading from Exodus and the Gospel selection by John mirror this need for and a call to conversion. In Exodus, the Israelites grumbled because they were hungry and they were unfamiliar with the food that God provided, manna. In John, Jesus exhorts the crowds by telling them not to work for the food that perishes, but rather the food “that endures for eternal life.”
Both the Israelites and the crowds that followed Jesus had a hard time with change. Obviously the audience that St. Paul was writing for had a similar difficulty.
Just as the Israelites would have preferred to stay in Egypt – enslaved – but in familiar surrounds and the crowds Jesus attracted wanted food they could see not the nourishment that Jesus was to give, we, like Paul’s audiences sometimes find it hard to move out of our comfort zones. It’s so easy to become complacent. It’s hard to break out of the rut that we find ourselves in. We can go for years in a spiritual rut, complacent in our relationship with God. We pray, we give thanks, we obverse the externals, we receive the sacraments but there is still something missing. When we truly open ourselves up, when we start to move beyond the comfort level we have built up, this is the point that we start to go on a journey. Just like any journey, we don’t know everything that we’re going to encounter. When we do encounter new things, when we stretch ourselves, that’s when the trip gets interesting. This spiritual journey that we are all invited on is ours for the asking. The more we travel, the more adept we become with change. The more that we follow the guidance of the Spirit working within us, the more we can accept the accompanying challenges.
Despite being with Jesus, traveling with him and listening to him, the Apostles stayed in a safe place—very complacent (and also very confused). That completely and totally changed on Pentecost. The Spirit came down and set them “on fire” for the Lord. Jesus before the Ascension promised to send the Spirit to be with his Church and to finish his work in the souls of the Apostles and disciples. We’re offered that same Spirit. We’re offered all those same gifts—wisdom—understanding—counsel—fortitude (courage)—knowledge—piety and an incredible awe of God and a new appreciation of his workings in our lives. When we open our minds and hearts to the Spirit, absolutely incredible things happen. We fall deeper and deeper in love with God and more open to God’s love for us. As we deepen this relationship, the Spirit penetrates our weakness with strength. We become protected more and more from the distractions of the “world.” As we deepen our life in the Spirit, many of our doubts dissolve and we experience an incredible, wonderful ongoing healing in our heart, soul and mind. In other words, we become “on fire” with the Spirit just as the Apostles did.
I was talking to a very spiritual friend this week about this feeling of being “on fire.” My friend had a difficult time understanding this because she has always had a very unique and deep relationship with the Spirit for as long as she can remember. When you haven’t had this deep relationship though, when you’ve grown complacent, when the Spirit finally penetrates your outer shell, it is the most incredible, awesome feeling imaginable. Once you start this journey in the Spirit, I can promise you that you won’t want to be complacent. You’re going to want to be more and more Spirit filled and deeper in love with God.
Grace and peace to you and your families.
Deacon Tim 734-502-1818
deacontim@tds.net
http://shamrockdeacon.blogspot.com
Availability: M-F 9a-10a, W 4p-6:30p, (M-F 10a-6p by appointment).