Today is the tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
In today’s first reading we hear the story of the Fall from Gen 3. This story, whether it is literally true or not, represents the theological truth that we disobeyed God and were punished accordingly. One of the consequences of our disobedience is that sin entered the world and the tendency to sin lives on in us.
Like gravity, that tendency to sin is so apparent in everyday life that it needs no further proof. We have lived it and are surrounded by it. That tendency is a cost of our disobedience. So frequently we act as though we are God. We don’t say it that way but our actions indicate our self-centeredness and our view that we are the captains of our own ship so to speak.
So often we’re told in Scripture that we are to be dependent on God and to be like His children. Our pride won’t allow us to be like that. Bishop Barron frequently talks about our unwillingness to be a part of God’s plan instead of being the creator of our own plan. He refers to this as living a theo-drama versus an ego-drama.
Of course I’m afflicted just as all of you are. What are we to do? It seems to me prayer, particularly Adoration, is a good first step. In addition I think finding ways to act that put the good of others before our own is a way to forget about ourselves a bit. I know the Mission Partnership group at Blessed Sacrament has been focusing on support for the St. Martin de Porres center. That’s a great organization to affiliate yourself with. My point is to couple prayer with action. It seems those things have at least the potential to center our attention somewhere other than on ourselves. Clearly there are other ways to do this as well. These are just my suggestions. The point is to make our lives about others and to listen to what God wants us to do.
Finally, we just celebrated the 80th anniversary of D Day. I barely have words to describe what these brave men and women did for our country and what kind of self giving love they showed for all of us up and down the ages. What great examples for us these people were and are. While it’s likely few were great saints in the religious sense it’s clear they were great human beings where it mattered most. I dare say that on our best day most of us do not approach their bravery and commitment to our country. Over 4000 died on that first day of an invasion which had as it’s goal the liberation of Europe.
Here in Auburn the name Shug Jordan is held in high regard because of his contributions to the university, and especially the football team as a player and later head coach. I learned this week that he was also vitally involved in the planning and execution of D Day, as well as other key events in WW II. If you’re a college football fan you might not know Shug’s name but you likely know about Bear Bryant, the famous coach at the U of Alabama from the 50’s until the early 80’s considered by many to be the best college football coach ever. He and Shug were contemporaries, and, of course, rivals. To this day Alabama and Auburn are the biggest of rivals. The only other rivalry that is similar would be Michigan-Ohio State. Bear Bryant said Shug had “more courage in his little finger than I’ve got in my entire body“. That’s saying something coming from an Alabama man.
I am ever so grateful to Shug and all those veterans of the Greatest Generation. They call us to be better than we are today. Our country is broken in a lot of different ways, some we would agree on on some we might disagree about, but I’ll bet we agree about the brokenness. My hope is that we can find a way to honor them by setting aside some of the pettiness on both sides of the aisle and learn to agree on some things and disagree on others as we wrestle with the question of the kind of country we want to live in. As Lincoln is famously quoted, let us pray not that God is on our side, but that we are on God’s side.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.
I hope you have a great week.
Peace, Bob
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