Thursday, September 1, 2011

Radical, Ridiculous, Risky

Be radical. Be risky. Be ridiculous. Remember to take time to listen to the word of God. Remember to take time to reflect upon the life and sacrifice of Jesus. Remember to search the Gospel for applications to your daily life.

Allow yourself to be open to new thoughts. Allow yourself to be open to old words. Allow yourself to listen and then contemplate the word of God. Learning occurs with a little time and contemplation. Allow yourself time to sit down and listen and accept the teachings of the Lord.

Wisdom arrives at different intervals. Friendship arrives at different intervals. God is always present in our lives. Sometimes too much reliance on logic and reason hides God and his love from our sight. The caprice of sin seeks to be habitual, continual escalating between events. That sin occurs in each of us does not make it either inevitable or natural. Sin shows a lack of discipline, a lack of respect, a lack of obedience. Our sins sets the price for our redemption, for our salvation.

I like nothing more than to be in a roomful of people talking all types of polite amusing nonsense. How wonderful soft laughter is! How wonderful gentle whispers are! How wonderful is the strength of comfy secrets and gossip shared between knowing glances and polite sips of wine!

How often is my life filled with repeated entreaties of the adventures of my life? I can only respond that I have experienced the strength of sin and the weakness of common sense. The great tragedy of life remains that our misfortunes and disasters are more interesting to others. I sometimes felt that my acquaintances liked the idea of me being in perpetual danger again and again. There is a predictability, a sameness with sin and sinning. Our society allows sin to be comfortable, acceptable. Sin no longer leads to societal rejection.

But sin remains dreadful, remains an obstacle to a loving relationship with God. Sin makes us obstinate. Being obstinate leads away from God, leads to darkness.

We are invited to be part of the crowd of believers pressing in on Jesus. We are are invited to be part of the crowd asking to be healed by Jesus. We are invited to be part of the crowd trying to touch Jesus. We are invited to be part of the crowd asking to be fed by Jesus. Each time we attend Mass we are part of the crowd, part of the community listening to the word of God.

Listening to the word is an invitation for active participation. Listening to the word of God is not for the passive. Listening to the word of God, is a call to a action, a battle cry, a glorious, heavenly reveille inviting us to renounce sin, to accept God; inviting us to walk toward the light, walk toward salvation.


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