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World at Prayer blog
Reflections of Family and Faith
"The family that prays together stays together." - Venerable Patrick Peyton
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We have at some point told someone you are just or someone told us we are just. Justice presupposes both inner disposition as well as outward expositions. It is how I view myself and others inwardly that generates my actions towards myself and others. Thomas Aquinas will say justice is a capability of doing what is just and of being just in action and intention. That means my deed presupposes fulfilling my desire or interest. But our will which in a way generates justice is not perpetually just. It is only God’s will that is perpetually just. God will alone remain eternally just (Anselm). However, the desire to do good promotes the tendency of doing good. If I desire to do good always then the action to do that good will likely occur and be sustained in me. In desiring of doing good and attempting to do it I generate a virtue. If I desire to be just and try my level best to administer justice in my dealing I will be practicing justice.
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Miss Clara, a fourth-grade Catechism teacher told her kids one day: Children, let me tell you today about a quiet man, who used to be immersed into much reading and writing. This man was big and gentle, but because he stayed silent, people thought he wasn’t very smart. One day, his friends played a trick on him. As he was busy writing, one of them pointed to the window and shouted, ‘Look, there’s an angel!’ He ran to see, but there was nothing there. Everyone laughed.”
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Normally on the day of ordination, parents or guardians walk the person to be ordained up to the bishop, they do a ritual of handing him over. Simple as that may appear, but it has great significance in both the life of the one to be ordained as well as his parents. He leaves his family of origin and surrenders to the authority of the bishop a representative of the wider spiritual family; to serve all as he shares in Jesus’ priesthood. For the parents, it’s an act of letting go and not holding on, much less the generosity of offering their child to God.
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Whereas today’s gospel speaks about the Lord calling his first disciples, I invite you to focus on the relational matters that existed between David and King Saul that we have been reflecting on throughout the week. We have been hearing readings from the Book of Genesis specifically telling us about the complex dynamic that developed between David and King Saul. In our first reading today, David who was a loyal servant to King Saul, is on the run because the King thinks David had become too popular and the King feared David would take over his Kingdom. The complex relationship was borne out of jealousy and insecurity around power. We heard today that David, who had suffered so much harassment and persecution by David, got an opportunity to get revenge and destroy King Saul, but he restrained himself.
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“If heavenly grace and true charity come in, there shall be no envy or narrowness of heart, nor shall self-love keep its hold. For divine charity overcomes all and dilates all the powers of the soul.” Theresa of Child Jesus Let us reflect on where does envy stem from? What really causes envy? At many times we shall realize it comes from within. It is a force against self-defeat based on self-assertions which on all occasions does not cooperate with the Divine. It is a fight against the Divine. It rejects the voice of the Divine and so its outwards rage is to cause pain and death.
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Can you remember the last time you needed courage to either do or not do something? It might take some thinking or it could come to right away…because you just faced it. I thought about this question in light of our two young heroes…David from the first reading and St. Agnes, virgin and martyr who despite their young ages overcame natural fear through their faith in God. In today’s gospel, Jesus, also displays the courage of his convictions when he teaches and heals the man with a withered hand. Jesus doesn’t let the Pharisees who were the key religious watchdogs enforcing Sabbath observance and who wielded significant popular influence deter Him from doing the will of His Father.
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