Take Jesus seriously to fight for Gospel values and sooner or later you will do something risky because that’s how moral courage operates. But failing to show such courage carries an even greater risk – loss of eternal life.  

Feast of St. Lawrence

2 Corinthians 9:6-10

Psalm 112:1-2, 5-6, 7-8, 9

J ohn 12:24-26 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (25)  He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (26) If any one serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him.

Meditation by Eileen Wirth

D uring World War II, two roommates at the University of Nebraska split up to room with two other women. Nothing unusual about that except that their two new roommates were Japanese Americans attending one of the few colleges nationally that would even accept them. Kathleen and Zelma thought they might help their new friends find acceptance. Their risky gesture showed the kind of moral courage that Jesus demands in today’s Gospel.

I grew up knowing that Kathleen was extraordinary because she was my mother. Only much later did I realize how extraordinary her actions were at a time when the government had interned thousands of innocent people for their heritage. I thought about Mother’s characteristically courageous action as I meditated on John’s Gospel because it suggests how ordinary people can live this reading.

As a child of the ‘60’s, I grew up watching the Civil Rights movement on TV, marveling at the moral courage of people my age who faced down the police dogs in Birmingham .  As I read more, I realized that Dr. Martin Luther King could unleash his nonviolent forces because he took Jesus seriously, just as Mother did.  Take Jesus seriously to fight for Gospel values and sooner or later you will do something risky because that’s how moral courage operates. But failing to show such courage carries an even greater risk – loss of eternal life.

The beauty of the uncompromising demand of today’s Gospel is that we can all meet it.  The poor, the despised, the immigrant, the homeless, etc. are in every community. Reaching out to them can take moral courage, if only the courage to leave our comfort zones to live our Gospel values. Each of us can find small but important ways to lose our lives in order to save them.                

Supplementary Reading

Discernment

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brothers’ eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

J esus teaches us not to be judgmental, that is, not to be prejudiced and condemning. Everything we do and say needs to be done and said in love, for God is love (1 John 4:8).

However, this does not mean that we are not supposed to be discerning. We see this in Matthew 7:6 – Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

To obey this directive, we need to be able to discern what is holy and what the pearls are. We must also be able to discern what are the dogs and the swine. We also need to be able to discern the false prophets:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (Matthew 7:15-17)

In order to discern the false prophets, we must be able to discern their fruit, whether it be good or bad—whether it comes from the Tree of Life or from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

There is even a spiritual gift of discernment given by the Holy Spirit. It is the “discernment of spirits” (1 Corinthians 12:10), the ability to know whether something originates from God, from Satan, or simply from the heart of man. The Greek word for “discernment” is diakrino and comes from the word for “judge” (krino) in Matthew 7:1.

God is light, God is love, God is life. His way will always be about those things which shed light, express love and promote life. When we have God at work in us, we have light, love and life at work in us. Because of light, we have the ability to discern. Because of love, we do not condemn. The judgment of discernment promotes life; the judgment of condemnation brings death.

We must always practice discernment, and there are even times when we must declare what we have discerned, but it is never right for us to condemn anyone. Before we seek to discern anything else, we must first discern our own heart. For how can we help someone with a tiny speck in their eye if we have a large plank hanging out of our own? But when our heart is clear, and operating in the light, love and life of God, then we will be able to see, discern and be of help.

It is always appropriate for us to discern, but it is never right for us to condemn. Godly discernment sheds light, shows love and promotes life.

GOD BLESS US ALL!

O Theos Na Mas Evlogisi!
PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU.

For past gospel meditations, you may visit the following:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=216458741502#!/home.php?sk=mynotes

http://his-ways-better-than-our-ways.blogspot.com