Word to the Wise
Thursday, November 4, 2021 - Thursday in the 31th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 14:7-12 and Luke 15:1-10]None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. [Romans]
NOVEMBER 4 ST. CHARLES BORROMEO
On a purely human level, St. Paul's words make a lot of sense. The life and death of each of us has an impact on others. We "belong" to our parents, our friends and our associations, whether civilian or religious. But St. Paul raises the ante on this by pointing out that we "belong" to God! He has mentioned this on a more personal level when he spoke earlier in this Letter to the Romans about being "adopted children" of God and "co-heirs" with Christ! Like all children (adult or minor) we may not always be obedient and, indeed, we can be real "heartbreakers" at times, but that does not change the fact that we "belong" to our parents or siblings, for that matter.
I grew up in a small town in northwestern Louisiana. My parents would occasionally remind us kids, "Remember who you are!" A more famous Christian dignitary, Pope St. Leo the Great, in an Easter homily, exhorted, "Christian! Remember your dignity!" Our western notions of individual freedom and "nobody OWNS me" can put us in a constant position of adolescent rebellion. St. Paul reminds us in 1 Cor. 3:23 that we belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God! So, we do not live for ourselves. Our "Abba" loves us, even if we may from time to time need "tough love." AMEN