+ We have a couple of interesting readings for mass today! They
are about not what makes the world go ‘round,
but what made the world go right –
after being so wrong, for so long.
It has to do with obedience – a word that not too many
people have a good experience with. The two sins of Adam and Eve were of mistrust and dis-obedience. The
sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross was the greatest act of trust and obedience
imaginable – a God/Man obeying his Father in heaven’s will that he should die a
real death as a human being – so to cancel out the original act of disobedience
by our first parents.
From the first reading today from
the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians: obedience is also what was intended to
make marriage go round and round! The obedience of the wife to the husband, in
imitation on how the Church, the Bride, is to obey Christ, the Groom – and one
day still to come, to enter into a marriage feast with him.
Very few marriages, even
Christian ones, actually operate at this level of trust and obedience.
The priesthood as well is
meant to work by the priest absolute surrender to Christ in the Church doing as
he bids through the hierarchical structures that exists to make the Church go
round and round.
However, the IDEAL OF PERFECT
OBEDIENCE IS ONE THING – but the practice on all three levels is flawed, it is
imperfect, it is human. And so, the best way to strive for the ideal, while
involved with authority figures is the follow a rightly formed conscience. To know when to hold them and when to fold
them. All authority figures are imperfect, sinful people – all of them –
all of us who hold these offices or have held them in the past.
If we base the relationship of
those involved in an obedient relationship on mutual earned respect, then we will be in business on all three
levels. Gone are the days of “blind obedience” – this is only beneficial in the
enclosed monastic system – which is a highly controlled system meant to ensure
the smooth running of a group of people committed to live together as they seek
God’s Face.
Real life obedience is based
on a give and take – that is also highly subject to conditions, conventions and
interpretations.
For the smooth running of
society there are common sense laws that help us to get along with one another
on the highways and byways. A mutually agreed on system of trust and obedience
thus keeps the world going round and round – but when one oversteps the lawful
boundaries – then consequence must follow to restore balance and ease of life.
Whatever of state in life – obedience
needs to be a big part of it – because no man or woman is an island – and
guidelines are needed to keep us on the right paths.
When Christian values, morals
and guidelines permeate not only our personal, but our family lives, then the
Kingdom of God manifests itself over and over again, day in and day out. As
Jesus reminds us in the gospel passage, we must be the yeast in the dough of
life, to give it fullness, texture, and good volume and presence! God help us, this day to do it! Amen.
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