This and That BLOG

Today is the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

In today’s first reading, from Ezekiel, we hear the prophet say for God that the Israelites complain that God is unfair, and we hear God’s response. Fairness is a nebulous concept. What seems fair to one person seems the opposite to another. Children are very tuned in to the issue of fairness. Our two youngest grandchildren, a brother and sister age 2 and 4 respectively are all about fairness and owning toys and the like. When Connie and I try to administer some justice between them one is bound to be unhappy with our idea of fairness, while the other finds us, at least in that moment, fine administers of justice. So it was with the Israelites and God and so it is with us today.

When I was in the police academy many, many, years ago one of the legal teachers would say about fairness that frogs eat flies and that’s not fair to the flies. I don’t know why but more than 40 years after I heard those words about fairness I can still remember them. Don’t ask me what I had to eat yesterday, but I can remember what that lawyer said to us 40 years ago. Many of you can feel my pain regarding memory. Anyway, the idea of fairness gets defined differently whether you are the frog or the fly I suppose. The great Mary Chapin Carpenter sang that sometimes you’re the window, sometimes you’re the bug!

So with God we bring our own judgment of fairness, colored as it usually is by self interest. Recall last week’s first reading where we heard that God’s ways are not our ways. Boy is that ever true. It’s the same with fairness. The parable of the householder that we heard last week cries out to us as unjust but God has His own view of fairness tempered by mercy. It reminds me of the old question, would you rather have God’s justice or mercy? I’ll take mercy every time thank you very much. For those of us who are really secure in our rightness we may think we want a God of justice, imposing our idea of justice on others (see the end of the book of Jonah. He doesn’t want the Ninevites saved, he wants them destroyed, and he wants to watch). Since we’re so right there’s no concern about that torpedo with the safety removed circling back on us (I hope you get the allusion to The Hunt for Red October, a really great movie in my view).

So, where does this leave us with respect to fairness and God? Let me suggest that we leave our pride and our notions of rightness and fairness behind, as much as humanly possible, and trust God to do what’s right, even when it feels uncomfortable. One of the best scriptural basis for this is in chapters 38-40 of the book of Job. While not many of us will have to endure what Job did in his story in the end he settles his differences with God and falls into line.

As we look around the world we see many instances where we think there is unfairness. Know that we see only a snapshot in time while God sees all as he exists outside of time. In the end God will have His way. He may not get there as directly as we would like but we believe He will get there in His time. He will temper justice with mercy and all will be right. Love Him and our neighbors well and leave the rest to Him.

Saturday morning I received the email below from Fr. Steve Grunow of Word on Fire about the Synod in Rome which starts Monday. I thought I would share it with you and add my request for you to add the participants to your prayers for the next few weeks while the Synod is going on.

Friends, Please join the Word on Fire team in praying for the Church, our Holy Father, and all those who have been elected or invited to participate in the Synod on Synodality that is taking place in the month of October. In particular, I ask all of you for special prayers for Bishop Barron, who will be attending this synod as an elected delegate. He has been entrusted to represent his brother bishops from the United States and, by extension, the people of God. The work of the synod will be important. Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has stressed how prayer is integral to the synod. This emphasis should strike us as significant because prayer reminds us not only of the Church’s but also our own dependence on God in Christ and instills in us a surrender of our will to him, the purpose of which is to assist us in becoming receptive to what God wants us to see and to do. Without this disposition of humility and receptivity born of prayer, we can convince ourselves that the life of faith is self-willed and self-directed, rather than the acceptance of an invitation to become ever more like Christ through acts of mercy and service that the Lord Jesus himself has chosen for us to accomplish. During this Synodal month of October, please pray that the Lord will send forth his Holy Spirit to impart to our Holy Father, to Bishop Barron, and to all the participants in the Synod lively wisdom, counsel, and most importantly, faith, hope, and love. Peace,

Father Steve Grunow CEO / Executive Producer Word on Fire Catholic Ministries

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.

I hope you have a great week.

Peace, Bob