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Consideration for the XXVII Sunday in Ordinary Time, year C2
Today’s Gospel speaks of faith. I believe like a mustard seed. The grain is tiny, but the power of such faith is powerful. He moves mountains. The following statements from Jesus show that only very humble people can have such faith. Those who serve others do hard work and do not want praise for themselves, believing that they have done what was theirs. I am reminded of the words of Fr. Jan Kaczkowski, who spent the last months before his death in his hospice and always came to the dying person who asked for it. He sat next to him and held his hand. Even at night. The journalist asked him where he was getting the strength for it. And he was amazed that he himself, having numbered days, which he knows about suffering, goes down to his dying ones. Father Jan replied: “It is my dog’s duty to be with this man. I would be the last pig if I hadn’t reacted and came. Unless I die. ”
Here is a “useless servant”.
It just so happens that October opens three like-minded and like-minded saints, each of whom was just such a servant.
I would like to mention them today because they are my favorite saints.
3. X
Teresa of Lisieux. She left the world joyfully, after a long wait, for a long time, with remarkable courage and patience, enduring severe suffering. Little Teresa. Small as opposed to its predecessor, undoubtedly Great. She liked to be called little herself and she used this adjective willingly: “Little flower, little child, little way.” She entered the monastery as a child almost, so whether she wanted to or not she was a Carmelite “la petite”, “bebe”
It is not this littleness, nor is it literal childishness, however.
Smallness is the path in which whatever you do – everyday activities, small services rendered to others, fulfilling tedious yet simple duties, even a smile – can and are actions through which Jesus manifests himself, if undertaken out of love. And this path – without visions and great ups – Teresa practiced every day, until the end. At the sister who irritated her the most, she smiled most beautifully, with all her heart. A grumpy, unbearable, sick nun who chastised her for anything, she carried food, and noticing that her rheumatic fingers could not cope with tearing off pieces of bread – she crumbled this bread before serving her. And smile! This littleness is, in fact, greatness! Constantly overcoming nature – out of love!
Childhood is – regardless of biological age – complete trust and boldness towards God, disregarding hierarchy and structures; the audacity of love. Teresa imagines herself a child sitting not at Jesus’ feet, but on his lap, hugging and kissing his face! Such humility gives such audacity!
Despite the confusing and sometimes irritating boarding style of “The History of the Soul” (excluding the correction of the sisters), you can see the Great Man on these pages. A man who at the end of the 19th century, the Church’s closure and fear of news and otherness, was able to declare a community with atheists from the inside of atheism. And as Tomas Halik says in his book “Patience towards God”, “Tereska probably did not see an atheist with her eyes” – of course, because where and when? Neither at home – very religious, nor at the monastery. p>
In her Act of Devotion to Merciful Love, the deep faith of the highest order and bold, trusting, fully conscious entering into a heroic attitude dazzles, even dazzles with its light. She was not only a Bride but a faithful follower of Christ. The roses of grace that he sheds from heaven (real, with thorns – as Halik rightly notices) are the fruit of faithfulness and love professed with every breath in the midst of incredible physical, mental and spiritual suffering. She was and is love in the heart of the Church. And this sentence, when she was dying in torment, perhaps for the third month: “I no longer want suffering or non-suffering. I just want to do His will. ” To paraphrase: “I am useless servant. I am doing my job – that is, doing the Lord’s will. ”
4. X
Tereska has barely passed – Saint Francis appears. God’s vagabond, a wanderer who everywhere glorifies the name of the Lord with his word and deed and with his whole being. The first in his time, who so completely and so tenderly loved the Created world and Lady Poverty. He kissed the lepers, caring for them with care; he restored the church with his bare hands. The first in a millennium, perhaps with such a free heart, without any fear, with a heart filled only with love. A child who does not know about social hierarchies and political complexities! Creator of the nativity scene. The poor man of stigmas. Dismissed from the papal dream who rebuilt the Church. The one who, from his overcrowded heart, has already become blind and dying, sang a joyful Sun Song, praising all creation, including the (coming) Death, whom he called his sister. Francis. The Incarnation of Love, a mirror of Christ.
Francis – whose name was inspired by the present Pope, and like the latter, devoted to all Creation, he loves the poorest, the most needy, he does not hesitate to stroke and kiss the sick. To this Francis with an admirable disregard for the hierarchy (or perhaps with a great understanding of who the Pope is) that Francis lent his soul …
Sam died with a smile, lying on the ground as he requested, with his head on a rock. A useless servant…
5. X
Faustina. Helenka Kowalska – a village girl, barely literate, at first herding cows, and then serving here and there; on duty to earn a dowry – because he, unfortunately, was needed to enter a monastery (vocation was not enough …). While the Lord did not give Tereska any visions, Faustina was overwhelmed with them. Conversations, sweet intimate meetings, kept (until) a secret, and finally – the requests-orders that cause so many painful difficulties: “Tell mother superior that I want …” “Paint a picture”. “Tell me that it should be a feast” How to do it when you are an insignificant sister serving in the order? How can Mother Superior believe that this country girl, ruddy and simple, just like that, talks freely with the Lord …? how much shame, how much the poor, inconspicuous Faustina had to overcome!
What was inside her, a great grace beyond any human ability, let alone its capabilities, was invisible to the human eye for a long time. Obedient to the confessor’s command, with a clumsy, coarse tongue, she tried to convey what she was experiencing, WHO was experiencing … she is unworthy. “Jesus, are you not some kind of ghost? Because the supervisor says that you can’t deal with such misery so intimately ”. And the Lord replies, “It is this misery that I want to experience.”
How many learned, consecrated men shook their heads in disbelief as they read those little, poor, clumsy words that obscured their greatness ?! Yet it was their coarseness that most clearly showed that God’s Intervention was inevitably present! The more modest the vessel, if transparent – which is possible only when clean and humble – the brighter the One who speaks through it …
It took a different greatness, humble and full of love, the greatness of a Krakow cardinal (who fortunately became Pope), so that he would not doubt about her sanctity and see in Faustina’s texts what is most important – the message about God’s Mercy. She was just a tool – a pencil in God’s hand. A useless maid.
And we? Have any of us tried to move the mountain by the power of faith? Are we not exaggerating our usefulness even if we minister and especially then? Or is our faith too bloated? Too delighted with herself? Too focused on herself?
Lord! Give us humble faith, small – great faith! Give us faith like a mustard seed !!
Sunday reflections
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