Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
In the First Reading today Paul reminds the Corinthians – and ourselves – that even from a human point of view most of us are not much – mediocre at best. Yet, he says, Christ is wisdom, sanctification and redemption for each one of us. Nothing we have apart from him gives us reason to be swellheads. That should keep us honest – that is humble. In the Gospel Jesus develops this theme.
Basically he tells us to accept ourselves who we are, and rather than comparing ourselves to others, appreciate what our Heavenly Father has given to each of us in love. The infant is our model. He sees all he receives from his parent.
But God does not expect us to lie back and coo like an infant. His love is exigent. Paul picks up on the same theme when he speaks of work. We are expected to use productively what God has given to us in trust. Not to do so is to refuse the particular vocation he has given us. He expects us to be active, involved. No pity-parties tolerated. Fidelity to the little things, the ordinary things that come our way is our participation in God’s joy now. And it is already a taste of what awaits us when we give the account of how we have used the unique gifts he has entrusted to us, a kind of preparation for the joy beyond all our imaginings that he has prepared for us.