CHANGING OUR REPUTATION


THURSDAY, TWENTY FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME 

1 Tim 4:12-16; Ps 111:7-10; Lk 7:36-50

Remaining Guided and focussed on the Lord

God created all things by his word, and his word remains in them as their essence, guiding them to achieve the divine purpose of their creation. For the rational creatures, made in the image of God, his word remains in them on two levels. First, it is on the level of their nature, which they received from God at creation; second, it is on the level of operations, which requires their deliberations and choices. Unlike the irrational natures which attain the purpose of their creation without deliberation, the perfection of the rational creature lies in their ability to deliberate and choose the end of their actions. The free will of man consists in these deliberations and choices. The word of God is in our constitution as rational beings, but it will only be in our deliberation and choices through our cooperation. For this reason, the word of God is spoken to us; we are to be a temple of the word of God. The better we understand this, the smoother our journey to God becomes. In creating us with a rational nature, we come from God. To return to God, we must have God as the goal of our operations. We need to freely choose God for him to be in our operations. The faculties involved in this choice are: our minds, hearts, and wills. The word of God must reside in these faculties to guide us safely home to God. Recall we said that the wisdom in creation was to train these faculties before the fall of man and woman from grace, but it is not sufficient now, given the weakness of our nature due to sin.

The Eternal Word of God assumed our human nature to teach and train us to follow him as our way home. These faculties must be filled and engaged with the Son of Man for us to be properly guided. The counsel Saint Paul gave to Timothy is focused on this principle. To advance in his Christian and priestly vocations, Timothy must think hard on all that he has received from God. “You have in you a spiritual gift which was given to you when the prophets spoke and the body of elders laid their hands on you; do not let it lie unused. Think hard about all this, and put it into practice, and everyone will be able to see how you are advancing.” By engaging our minds, hearts, and wills, on the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, we receive him spiritually in us, to guide us on the way to the Father. We become the way for others by walking the Way within us. The heart and will are emotive forces, but the mind illuminates the path for the heart to travel, propelled by the will. “Do not let people disregard you because you are young, but be an example to the believers in the way you speak and behave, and in your love, your faith and your purity.” Our hearts are to love, our minds to believe, and our wills to move with purity of intention to Jesus Christ.

We cannot be an example to others seeking the way to God if these faculties are not immersed in Jesus Christ. The Gospel tells us of a woman whose life was despicable, who came to Jesus at the house of Simon the Pharisee to change her lot. “One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to a meal. When he arrived at the Pharisee’s house and took his place at table, a woman came in, who had a bad name in the town. She had heard he was dining with the Pharisee and had brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment.” An impure and evil scent was following her due to her past life. But she brought the jar of costly ointment as a figure of what she came to do at the feet of Jesus; to bathe at the fountain of life, and come away with a new and heavenly scent. She did exactly that. “She waited behind him at his feet, weeping, and her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them away with her hair; then she covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with the ointment.” She changed her lot by changing the object of her faith, meditation, and contemplation; by changing the object of her love; and by purifying the intentions of her will through tending to Jesus Christ alone. She waited on him in faith, she wept at his feet in repentance of her past life, kissed his feet in love, and anointed him as a sign of her total dedication to the Lord. We, who carry the evil odour of our sinful life, are to imitate her example; let us come to the feet of the Saviour to wash and go forth in the odour of sanctity, as she did. “It is the man who is forgiven little who shows little love.”

Let us pray: Look upon us, O God, Creator and ruler of all things, and, that we may feel the working of your mercy, grant that we may serve you with all our heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.       

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