Word to the Wise
Thursday, November 8, 2012 - Thursday in the 31th Week in Ordinary Time
[Phil 3:3-8a and Luke 15:1-10]But whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
St. Paul's declaration, from the first scripture of today in Philippians, puts us at the center of his faith and life. He had a radical conversion experience that gave him a personal knowledge and acquaintance with Christ. It was not the same as that of the Twelve Apostles, who experienced Jesus before and after his death and resurrection, but it was deep and life-transforming. We can read this in the lines just before the one highlighted. He gave up what would have been successful in the eyes of his fellow Jews and embraced what was considered a failure. Perhaps we get a glimpse of this when we hear of someone who gives up a successful career with all the material promise and prestige and goes to a monastery or enters the seminary. One has to be consumed by one's faith in Christ and what that can mean.
However, one does not have to go to a monastery or enter a seminary to be close to Christ! Those of us who have read Dag Hammarskjold's MARKINGS learned that a world renowned diplomat was at the same time a true "mystic" - someone very close to God in faith. If we go from today's words of St. Paul to his Second Letter to the Corinthians 6:1-10, we learn that his relationship with Christ led him to endure considerable hardship. If we protest that our faith means everything to us, we are challenged to look at how we act when professing that faith becomes "inconvenient." When athletic or social events interfere with church, what choices to we consistently make? I think St. Paul would have been a very uncomfortable person to be around. His faith consumed and transformed his life. Can any of us say that about ourselves? AMEN
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