Word to the Wise
Friday, November 16, 2012 - Friday in the 32th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 John 4-9 and Luke 17:26-37]But now, Lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing a new commandment but the one we have had from the beginning: let us love one another. For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, in which you should walk.
Every once in a great while, modern speech manages to capture a biblical phrase fairly well. In the case of the first scripture for today, from 2 John 4-9, the expression, "to talk the talk and to walk the walk" comes close to what the Johannine letter is exhorting. I recommend reading all three of these letters in order to get a more complete context for today's excerpt. The idea of "walking in the way of Jesus' commandment of love" comes through strongly.
In my years of campus ministry, I frequently experienced the disappointment that many students found between belief and practice. Students are quick to sense failures in that regard. "He/she talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk." The line between hypocrisy and ordinary human failure is not easy for them to see. Love is not merely an ideal, but a necessity if the Christian message is to have any impact at all. But in "walking the walk," our personal path is likely to have less than a straight trajectory! It is one thing to claim to be loving, but if our actions do not show it, we are vulnerable to a charge of hypocrisy. However, if what we claim is that we are trying our best to live up to Jesus' command to love one another, but recognize that it is a struggle sometimes and that we fail sometimes, but we keep trying - then I think we can say we are on the right path even if our footsteps, in retrospect, seem to wander from one side to the other!! The Sacrament of Reconciliation can help us in staying on track, but our intentions continually need refining! Like Peter, we can walk on water if we keep our eyes and heart set on Jesus! AMEN