Friday of Week 21 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 | Psalm 96(97):1-2,5-6,10-12 | Matthew 25:1-13
What God wants is for you all to be holy. (1 Thessalonians 4:3)
As I write this, I’m surrounded by yelling children at my grandnephew’s birthday party. The sheer variety of antics that young kids can get up to, the number of physical obstacles they can bounce off of, and their inability to express their joy at reasonable volume; all these remind me of what it means to delight in the Lord.
I’m also sitting beside my brother-in-law. Over the last twenty years, Parkinson’s disease has slowly ravaged his body, and he’s no longer able to exert conscious control over his now-shriveled frame.
Yet, as the rest of us wince at the ear-splitting shrieks of half a dozen children, he sits quietly, gazing at them with a faint smile on his face,
probably reminiscing about his own journey as a father,
possibly tearing up inside at his inability to hold either of his grandsons from the day of their births,
and hopefully making peace with his failures and disappointments over the years, but also relishing his joys and triumphs.
Through him, I understand that my own body may simply crumble one day.
With him, I feel the need to take joy in the here-and-now, but also plan and act for the hereafter.
In him, I see holiness in suffering, of helpless fatherly and grandfatherly love that reflects the agape that is our Creator.
I can’t help but reflect on my own faults, my own stumblings on the path of faith, and keep pushing myself to be what my God wants me to be, despite the world’s multifarious efforts to drag me in the opposite direction.
Loving.
Aware.
Holy.
Amen.