Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
This Saturday marks the twentieth anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy. As we commemorate this heart rending occasion we suffer the additional trauma of watching the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. We have all has our share pain and suffering over these years, the consequence of both natural disasters and of our own poor decisions. There’s nothing new here, I suspect. But, perhaps more than ever, it may be time to look at our decision making process that has produced such anguish, anxiety and negativity in our local and global communities, in our churches, in our politics and in our families.
There is a saying that goes like this, “If you always do what you always have done, you will always get what you’ve already got”. So, if we keep eating the cheesecake, we are going to keep adding on the pounds! Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? So, when it comes to understanding and solving the problems in our families, in our communities and in our world, we need a different mindset than fighting fire with fire, or punching back harder when someone strikes us. We need a higher level of thinking to find real solutions. To paraphrase Einstein, genius that he was, he said it this way, “Problems cannot be solved with the same mind set that created them”. Many of the problems of our world, our communities and in our families are of our own making. We have no one to blame but ourselves for the bitter results of our poor choices. Real solutions to any problem that ails us demand that we pursue alternate and elevated way of thinking than the thinking that got us into that bad situation as Einstein so eloquently noted.
For us whose faith is centered upon Christ, today’s gospel gives us insight into finding solutions to any problem we face, large or small. Jesus tells Peter, “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do”. The invitation here is clear: elevate your thinking! This may be an oversimplification, true. But, at the same time, it is good advice. For left to our old patterns of thinking, one could reasonably expect more of the same... more war, more violence, more suffering and pain, more erosion of the moral and spiritual fabric of society in a continuing state of decline.
The antidote to this dismal future lies in the essence of Jesus’ teaching that is founded upon the dynamic principle of Love. Love of God and love of neighbor. Simple, yet this is the challenge of a lifetime. Love as Jesus loved: selflessly, unconditionally, without ulterior motive or even a desire to be loved in return. Love that forgives all injuries, infidelities, idolatries. It is called agape, where Jesus empties himself because of his complete and total love of God and dependence upon God for all things and for all outcomes. This is the way God, Abba, thinks, acts, and IS. And God invites us to do the same!
Change the way we think, act and how we approach our problems from our way to God’s ways and while that might not produce immediate results on a global scale, more than likely we will be much more successful solving problems in our homes and in our communities. A good enough start wouldn’t you agree?
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
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