23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
Wisdom 9:13-18 | Psalm 89:3-6,12-14,17 | Philemon 1:9-10,12-17 | Luke 14:25-33
[For my reflection on today’s Gospel, see Counting the Cost of Christ.]
The reasonings of mortals are unsure
and our intentions unstable;
for a perishable body presses down the soul,
and this tent of clay weighs down the teeming mind. (Wisdom 9:14-15)
Argh, alarm! What day is it?
Oh yeah, Sunday, gotta get up and go to church.
Gotta get up.
Why am I still in bed?
Despite what I wrote yesterday about the pleasures of keeping Sunday as the Day of the Lord, there are times when “the spirit is on fire, but the flesh is limp”.
It’s then that we should remember the Hebrew word for “breath”, ruach, which incidentally also means “spirit”.
Deep breath. Again. And again. Oxygenate the blood, feel the energy flowing through those torpid lumps. Now sit up.
Argh, SLOWLY! Try again.
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
Of course, it’s not just getting out of bed for mass that can be a Christian challenge. During our working hours, our colleagues might be startled when a mild illness (or Zika, heaven forfend) turns us from pious Catholics into raving ogres at a tiny provocation.
Often, the same act of breathing deeply and deliberately helps to banish the sudden “demonic attack”, but the damage would already be done. Sometimes, it’s so tempting to take the easy route and be selfish like everyone else.
But we chose to take up the cross of Christian demeanor as Christ asks in today’s Gospel, to be meek and humble, yet steadfast in doing right by God. We need to remember that Jesus promised us an easy yoke and a light burden (Matthew 11:30), and the Holy Spirit is always standing by to fire up our limbs and our hearts with heavenly energy and sustenance.
We just need to breathe deeply, both physically and spiritually.
O Holy Spirit, come to us,
The children thou hast made:
Inflame our hearts and rule our minds
With thine unfailing aid.
Amen.