12th Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, June 26
Genesis 12:1-9 / Matthew 7:1-5
God calls Abraham; "Go forth to a new land!"
Fr. John Catoir, director of the Christophers, describes his call to the ministry in his book That Your Joy May Be Full. He says that as a young man he was attracted to the priesthood, but held back. He was afraid of the "alligators in the swamp," as he put it. Seven years later, after college and military service, Catoir had the courage to face the "alligators." He writes: "I never regretted that decision. Once I decided to put my hand in His, I knew I was safe. I knew I had something more dependable than human assurances."
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What keeps us from putting our hand in the hand of Jesus and letting him direct our lives more closely? "Your servant shall be wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life." 2 Samuel 15:21
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A new part of Genesis starts with this reading. God wanting to save mankind - starts with one man, one family, one tribe, one nation.
1. And the Lord Acts: Front now on it is God who acts, that is new, Without God's doing, there would be no "numerous people"; no "descendants of Abram"; no "lands" conquered from kings that were much stronger military powers; no "famous name" for Abram, history records no wandering nomad. God acts.
2. God Spoke: Throughout history God will speak until he finally speaks through his son [Hebrews 1, 1-21.
3. To Abram: God could have called anybody else - for instance Abram's contemporary Hammurabi: God's friendship; no man can earn. Here grace begins.
4. Go forth: Leave your country, your tribe, your family, all that you love and think to be your security, but which really is your danger, with its idolatry and immorality.
5. Into the land which I will show you: Where the circles of the three continents intersect: Asia, Europe, Africa. Already the universality of God's love is indicated.
6. I bless you and in you all the tribes of the world: Against the judgement on Adam and Eve, the flood, and the dispersal of Babylon, there begins now the history of salvation.
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A vague promise was all that Abraham had to go by when he followed the call of an unknown God:
1. a land to be possessed not by himself but by his descendants,
2. a numerous people to be born from him though he was seventy-five,
3. and his name that would be a blessing among the nations – but long after his death.
4. For nothing more concrete, he had to leave his highly civilized country, his relatives, his father’s house, his possessions.
5. He had literally by faith alone, to jump with both feet into an uncertain future.
6. He accepted to be completely uprooted.
7. Can our faith compare to his? Do we accept to be uprooted? Do we live in hope amidst uncertainty?
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Jesus does not tell us that we should never judge. Educators have to judge their pupils; employers must judge who is able to do a better job. A newspaper without judgement would be colourless and unreadable. Jesus gives us three rules: Critical judgement must start with yourself. Those who have no right judgement about themselves, cannot judge others. The measure and the meter must be the same. Criticism must be guided by love. It is like the most delicate eye operation. The doctor uses anaesthesia before he begins the surgery. There is a time, and mode which removes the pain. The sensitive educator and the efficient employer know how their criticism causes the least hurt but is appreciated. All operations need also post-operative care and allow wounds time to heal. Third rule: to judge wisely is to remember that the final judge is God. Looking up to our judge should make us just and gentle. We need a gentle and just judge.
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For people who walk side-by-side with the Lord, there is no room for superiority complexes that look down on the people around us to condemn them. We have all the same calling in Christ. Do we not often judge and condemn in others that which, consciously or unconsciously, we condemn in ourselves? At times, we even secretly rejoice that our brother or sister suffers from the same shortcoming to a greater extent than we do. If we apply the law to others, God will measure us with the same severity of the law. Let us look into ourselves and remove the beam from our own eyes before we discover the splinter in the eyes of others.
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Prayer
Lord our God, we are people who have not yet seen what you have prepared for us, yet, who have to take you on your word and walk forward in faith and hope. Give us faith Lord, a deep faith that asks for no other certainty than that you know where you lead us and that all is well and secure because you are our God and Father, who loves us, forever and ever. Amen
