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Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Readings for Monday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

Reflection:

Paul continues his apologetic to the Greeks and Jews in Corinth today as he speaks once more about how humility and faith can overcome the “the wisdom of man”. He claims to have come “in weakness and fear and much trembling” but I suspect he overstates his trepidation since he was known, before his conversion, to be a powerful speaker and an excellent theologian.

At any rate, his point is well taken, when we go into the world in faith and humility, proclaiming nothing more than our Lord, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, we are communicating the message the Lord has asked us to deliver. We claim no special power or privilege as a consequence. We expect only the continued support of the Holy Spirit, not the adulation and reward of those to whom the message is brought.

The Gospel is something of an exclamation point on the last. Jesus goes home in this reading from St. Luke and, while his boyhood friends and neighbors are “…amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth” they do not experience the acceptance and conversion that is so common in other parts of his public ministry. In fact, in this account of his homecoming, they are ready to put him to death for his apparent blasphemy.

This particular passage is important for anyone who hopes to follow the evangelical path Christ has called us to. When we go through a true conversion experience, we are changed. It is a change that affects the person we were and presents a new persona to those who know us.

I was watching a movie the other night with Robert Duval as a country singer who, during the course of the movie, got baptized at the same time his 10 or 11 year old step son. On the way back from the service, the boy asked Robert; “They said that being baptized would change us. I don’t feel any different yet. Do you?”

Robert responded smiling; “Not yet.”

The boy continued as he pushed himself up to look in the rear view mirror of the pickup truck they were in; “They said we would be different but I don’t look different, do I?” To which Robert again responded, “Not yet.”

The reason that, “not yet” seemed right in that instance was there had not been a true conversion. When that experience takes place, we suddenly start behaving differently and reacting to those who know us differently. People notice and not always in a way we might expect. Frequently they say things like; “where do you get off with that ‘holier than thou’ attitude?” Or, “Get over yourself.” Do these things sound a bit familiar? How about;” Is this not the son of Joseph?”

Now that does not mean that we should compare our selves to Christ as I just did. What it means is that, when we experience a true conversion and it is showing, people who know us sometimes react negatively. It is a lesson every Permanent Deacon in the Catholic Church should get in formation because, since we are ordained later in life (as opposed to Priestly ordination that often happens to men in their 20s and 30s) the people we know, our families and our faith communities, don’t quite get what happened to us, even though they may have been at the Cathedral when we were ordained. Something happens and it may not show on the outside, but it better on the inside.

I use that example since I know what happened to me. There are others and they don’t necessarily involve a sacrament. Many experience that conversion as a result of a retreat experience; others just a profound spiritual revelation. The way the Spirit tends to work is like an artist with clay, constantly refining the sculpted image, moving it toward a work of art.

The Lord uses that same kind of process constantly seeking to convert us with little tweaks, and sometimes big ones. Always pushing us toward what we are intended to be. And sometimes these tweaks can confuse the people who knew our former guise. It’s something we have to expect and then do what Paul tells us; with fear and trembling, proclaim our Lord, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

Pax