7th Sunday OT (C)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
OLR, NOLA
Sinners
are a lot like saints. They love those who love them and forgive
those who forgive them. Sinners will even do a good deed for someone
who's done a good deed for them. Sinners go to work everyday, raise
their kids, pay their bills, visit sick relatives, give Christmas
presents. And they even show up to Church once in a while. In the
eyes of the world, a sinner can be a Good Person who's trying hard to
do and be better. Nothing
wrong with that. But
Jesus sets the goal higher for those who will follow him. We must be
better than the sinner who's just trying to be and do better. Not
“better” in the sense of being Holier Than Thou but “better”
in the sense of being more deeply convicted of our sin and more
thoroughly committed to growing in holiness. A big part of our
on-going growth in holiness depends on how we choose to live in
the world while not
being of the world.
Jesus tells us how to do this: “. . .the measure with which you
measure will in return be measured out to you.” That's right –
you get to choose the measure with which you will measured. Choose
wisely.
Sinners
can be a lot like saints. They can try hard to be Good People –
like avoiding truly evil deeds – and even be Good People in the
eyes of the world. In fact, without Padre Pio's gift for reading
souls, you and I can look at a sinner and see a saint. We can also
look in a mirror and see a saint. Perhaps we're deceiving ourselves
when we do, perhaps not. Regardless, there's no deceiving God. He
knows the size and shape of the measure we use to measure other
people's souls. The sinner uses a Self Shaped Measure about the size
of his/her pride. The saint uses a Christ Shaped Measure about the
size of his/her humility. And that's largely the difference btw a
sinner and a saint – not effort or intent but who designs the
measure: Christ or the Self? Jesus teaches the disciples: “Stop
judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not
be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give, and gifts will
be given to you. . .” What Christ is commanding us to do
specifically is clear. What he is commanding us to do generally is
presume grace, always assume that God's grace is working overtime to
transform the hearts and minds of sinners – that's you and me. We
can name the sin and call it sin without judgment. We cannot name the
sinner and call him a sinner without presuming to judge the state of
his soul. Grace builds on nature. And – as we all know – large
construction projects take time.
What's
the state of your personal construction project? Your project to grow
in holiness, to become Christ for others? There's no denying that
what Christ is commanding us to do – love our enemies, do good for
those who hate us – there's no denying that he is commanding us to
achieve near super-human levels of charity here. But that's what we
signed up for. We signed up to enter the long, slow progression from
sinner to saint, and progress according to plan is sweat-inducing,
even exhausting. We can despair at the delays and wail about the
weather of our project. . .but there's no getting out of the fact
that we are – each one of us – is the foreman of our holiness. I
am solely responsible for the set-backs, the shoddy construction, the
wasteful overtime, and all the violations the inspectors might find
on-site. By the same token, I am also the principal beneficiary of
any progress I make. But I don't work alone. The Christ Shaped
Measure I need to succeed is freely given and must be freely
received. Without condition or pretense, the Christ Shaped Measure
must rule my heart and mind, building me up so that mercy and
gratitude flow abundantly. This is the gift Christ gives us: we can
be sinners-turned-saints. Measure wisely. Measure as if you were
becoming Christ.
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