Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. The tension present in this saying of Jesus, which is a continuation of his instructions to the apostles on mission, highlights a key tension present in Christian life: the tension between holy shrewdness and holy simplicity, or as we could say, the tension between using every natural means at our disposal in the work of Christian life-mission and relying utterly on the gift of God’s grace.
This tension between nature and grace, as with so many other tensions in Christian life, is not an either/or but a both/and. In seeking to order one’s own life, for example, a Christian must pray fervently for God to grant an increase in virtue, knowing that all virtue is a gift from God, all the while striving earnestly to develop good habits through concrete, dedicated practice. Or in the work of raising a family, parents can and should pray diligently for their children, entrusting them wholly to God, all the while working to teach and form them in love through all available means. But even in this both/and, there is a certain primacy to grace, since at the end of the day, even all our efforts are made possible by God.
Today, then, we can examine ourselves, asking whether we strive to live this both/and, using all our creativity and energy in serving God while relying wholly on his love and grace.