Word to the Wise
Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - Wednesday in the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 12:4-7, 11-15 and Mark 6:1-6]So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed. Strive for peace with everyone without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled. [Hebrews]
FEBRUARY 4 ST. CATHERINE DE RICCI, o.p.
The Letter to the Hebrews nears its end with quite a pep talk! Nevertheless, what is said is very important. A little earlier the letter points out that the community has not resisted persecution to the point of shedding blood! Discipline is part of living Christian life because when persecution would arrive, only those who are in "good shape' are going to survive. There has to be an inner integrity as well as a physical discipline.
As part of a retreat, I remind the participants that they are supposed to be living examples of the incarnation. This means they have to take care of the one instrument that God has given them to "put skin on" their Christian commitment. That instrument is their body! Good diet and exercise are part of spirituality. Peacemaking is hard work and demands a community that practices discipline in appetites and consumption. In the U.S.A., there are all kinds of self-help books that combine some kind of philosophy and exercise, but our nation is still alarmingly obese! When the national health authorities have to plead with the people to at least exercise two or three times a week by just taking a walk, it seems clear that the advice of the Letter to the Hebrews is not being heard!
We love with our whole selves - body and spirit. Both need care. If we do our part, the Lord will take care of the rest. AMEN
config
view
logs
4096.0 KB
92 ms
4
