Daily Reflection for Thursday, June 25, 2020
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners,
We encourage you to reflect on Thursday’s readings at this link:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062520.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: 2 Kings 24: 8-17
Responsorial: Psalm 79: 1b-5, 8-9
Gospel: Matthew 7: 21-29
Our reflection on Thursday’s readings: Jesus said to his disciples:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
will enter the Kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” Matthew 7: 21
We’ve all probably heard this scripture passage before. I certainly had and often found it disconcerting and tried to focus my attention elsewhere. I find it fitting that this reading fell on my reflection day. God and his sense of humor! However, when I take time for deeper reflection, the Spirit unlocked a couple of key observations that were personally comforting and enlightening.
My initial reluctance to spend time with this passage is partially because it often caused me to worry. Is he talking about me? What if I’m the guy who gets left out? Am I doing enough to make the grade? The fear that I wasn’t “doing enough” to earn my way into Heaven is something that I struggled with a lot in my spiritual past and, in moments of self doubt, it occasionally creeps back in. However, this fear is unfounded. I can never do enough to earn my salvation. That’s why Jesus came to save us in the first place. Love like that is not a debt to repay nor is it earned. Just as you can never repay your parents for all of the acts of love they did for you as a child, neither can we repay God for all of His blessings and love. It is freely given and His mercy is never-ending.
We simply have to accept it, which we do by following God’s commandments and partaking in the sacraments. Is there room for improvement in my own life? Absolutely. We must continue to seek perfection in Jesus and help to build the kingdom of God. When we falter, ask God’s forgiveness, seek out reconciliation and keep pushing ourselves to improve. We do good not as a way to earn our way into Heaven but because of love of God and neighbor.
Furthermore we cannot be like those that Jesus will rebuke at the end of times—those who hang their hat on past accomplishments. The race is never won until we are standing before Him. We must continue to try to seek perfection in Christ Jesus and build the Kingdom here and now.
We will never eradicate sin in our own lives here on earth. Sin has a way of creeping back into our complacency. Too often we get complacent in orr spiritual life, thinking that what we do is “good enough.” This allows sin to infiltrate our lives again. We cannot be cultural Christians who profess to have faith but do not act on it. We cannot simply believe in God if it doesn’t transform us. We must undergo that conversion of heart and seek to nurture it in others.
We see this being played out in our streets and on our televisions. Just as many profess a love of God and fall away or grow complacent, many in our society felt that the battle against racism and prejudice had largely been won. Unfortunately, while we as a society focused on our improvements, we neglected to address the issues of systemic and ingrained racism left untouched. Here it is time to continue to build the Kingdom of God, to do the will of the Father in heaven, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Pray that as a faith community and a nation we will not be left begging at God’s door and do something about our nation’s social and racial complacency.
May the peace of Christ be with us,
Pete Kuester