The readings today are kind of funny if you think about it. The first reading is about different meats and a fire. The second reading is about different fruits and a fire. That’s almost enough to make you laugh right there. It makes you wonder who put together the scripture verses for the three cycles of readings that we use? They must have had a sense of humor whoever they were. Food isn’t exactly the point of the readings today though. Unless you are reading this on your lunch break that is!
No, seriously. The relationship between Abrahm and God was serious, but not in a somber way. Abrahm emits such a deep sense of peace and trust in God through the readings today. He took the time to really pray and talk to God. Abrahm gazed at the night sky and God told him to try and count the stars if he could. Do you ever go outside at night and look at the stars too? We are all so busy that we don’t usually take the time to just enjoy simple moments like this.
It’s summer right now in the US and it is a very beautiful experience to sit outside in the dark, quiet of the night and gaze at the stars. Sometimes there is a gentle breeze and it’s cooler than during the day. Where we live, you can hear the lullaby noises of the crickets chirping and the frogs singing “ribbit” right along with them and they are so relaxing to listen to late at night. If you sit there long enough in solitude and in the quiet gazing at the stars, feeling the gentle breezes and smelling the good earth, you can not help but feel a certain type of communion with God. Gazing at the expanse of the universe makes you feel so small and insignificant and yet it also seems like you could almost reach up and touch our creator. He seems to be only a breath away.
Abrahm was this close to God. Our creator is not so far out of reach that we can not know Him as intimately as Abrahm did. God is love, that’s true. But all of creation is a love letter our creator left for human kind to read. Abrahm’s spirit was open to God. He trusted Him, and he believed Him, and God credited his belief as righteousness. Even when he fell asleep and the deep terrifying darkness descended upon him, still Abrahm trusted God. Abrahm loved God, but God also loved Abrahm. It was because of this deep union, this bond of love and Abrahm’s belief in Him, that God formed a new covenant with Abrahm that was not just with him, but with his descendants as well.
This unity of spirit, this deep bond of love that exists with a person who knows God and our Lord Jesus Christ intimately, can not be imitated. Other people may see the holiness in a person and yet not understand the depths of where it comes from, if they do not know God. God is love and when Jesus dwells within a person through the Eucharist and cleansed by the sacraments, they can not sin because they do not want to offend the one that they love. Even if a holy person has weaknesses and imperfections, the fruit they produce is always rooted in love, rooted in Christ.
The ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing that Jesus speaks of in today’s gospel, wants the same thing everyone else does, deep down inside of them. All human beings seek love, even the ravenous wolves. But, the difference is that the ravenous wolves seek a selfish kind of love, not a self giving love. They can not give what they themselves do not have. Our Father in heaven and His son Jesus Christ are the source of all genuine love and if we look for love apart from them, it is fools gold. The surface beauty of fools gold will not survive a fire but genuine gold becomes more beautiful when it is melted in a fire.
Today, we should consider thinking about our lives and what are the motivations behind the things that we do. Are our actions rooted in Christ, rooted in love? Or do we usually act out of selfish reasons? Good deeds are the fruit of unselfish love, of self giving, not self seeking love. Are we spending our lives seeking things for ourselves, or are we spending our efforts in unselfishly giving love to others? Maybe we should honestly look at our motivations in life and see if there are any changes we need to make, while we still have the opportunity to do so.
