Sunday, June 30, 2024

13th Sunday of OT Year B

It is difficult to fathom that we can let go and be happy. There is a fear that gives rise within us that when we are generous with others that our generosity will leave us wanting. Rather, we are told in our Epistle by Saint Paul, “Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less."


Saint Therese of Lisieux reflects in her autobiography “Story of a Soul”:


“I told you once how it puzzled me that God did not give everyone the same amount of glory in Heaven, and I feared they could not all be happy. You sent me off to fetch one of Father’s big glasses and made me put my little thimble by the side of it; then you filled them both up with water and asked me which I thought was the fuller. I had to admit that one was just as full as the other because neither of them would hold any more. That was the way you helped me to grasp how it was that in Heaven the least have no cause to envy the greatest.“


Here we can see that the love of God is found to be perfect and without end. It is no wonder, therefore, that Saint Paul made such a proclamation in our Epistle. In the Kingdom of Heaven we will know no end and we will be filled with true happiness. In this life we should strive to expand our ability to be found receptive of God’s love. We cannot receive that which we cannot obtain. This is always something that we can grow in because God’s love is infinite and without end.


This woman with the hemorrhage reached out and grabbed the robe of our Lord and we are told that Jesus was “aware at once that power had gone out from him.” Therefore, to this woman He gave of Himself and she came to be healed. Likewise, those of us who come to Him in our own need will be healed of each and every plight that we must face in this life.


The goal of our life is not the accumulation of possessions and passions, but relationship with the Lord. When we embrace the cross we are not found lacking, but instead receive so much through the gift of God’s grace. Through such a wondrous gift we are provided all that we will ever need to live good and holy lives and in Heaven we will be filled by God to the highest degree.


If this reality is to be made so within us we must take the risk of the woman in our Gospel and come to the Lord in faith. What keeps us from coming unto Him? By coming unto Him we are forced to abandon all that keeps us wanting in order that we may find our dependence in Him. The world will never fill us to the fullest degree, but through God we are indeed filled. Let us come to place our trust in Him.


Therefore, “Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less.

No comments: