Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'A'

Saturday June 25, 2005

Called To Be Faithful – one day at a time!

This little story is taken from the introduction of a book entitled, “My Grandfather’s Blessing” by Rachel Remen:

“Often, when he came to visit, my grandfather would bring me a present. These were never the sorts of things that other people brought, dolls and books and stuffed animals. ”

“Once he brought me a little paper cup. I looked inside it expecting something special. It was full of dirt. I was not allowed to play with dirt. Disappointed, I told him this. He smiled at me fondly. Turning, he picked up the little teapot from my dolls’ tea set and took me to the kitchen where he filled it with water. Back in the nursery, he put the little cup on the windowsill and handed me the teapot. ‘If you promise to put some water in the cup every day, something may happen,’ he told me.”

“At the time, I was four years old and my nursery was on the sixth floor of an apartment building in Manhattan. This whole thing made no sense to me at all. I looked at him dubiously. He nodded with encouragement. ‘Every day, Neshume-le,’ he told me.”

“And so I promised. At first, curious to see what would happen, I did not mind doing this. But as the days went by and nothing changed, it got harder and harder to remember to put water in the cup. After a week, I asked my grandfather if it was time to stop yet. Shaking his head no, he said, ‘Every day, Neshume-le.’ The second week was even harder, and I became resentful of my promise to put water in the cup. When my grandfather came again, I tried to give it back to him but he refused to take it, saying simply, ‘Every day, Neshume-le.’ By the third week, I began to forget to put water in the cup. Often I would remember only after I had been put to bed and would have to get out of bed and water it in the dark. But I did not miss a single day. And one morning, there were two little green leaves that had not been there the night before.”

“I was completely astonished. Day by day they got bigger. I could not wait to tell my grandfather, certain that he would be as surprised as I was. But of course he was not. Carefully he explained to me that life is everywhere, hidden in the most ordinary and unlikely places. I was delighted. ‘And all it needs is water, Grandpa?’ I asked him. Gently he touched me on the top of my head. ‘No, Neshume-le,’ he said. ‘All it needs is your faithfulness.’”

“This was perhaps my first lesson in the power of service, but I did not understand it in this way then. My grandfather would not have used these words. He would have said that if we remember to bless life, we can repair the world.”

It’s a ‘homey’ story but it’s a good story.

Elisha, the prophet was only passing the home of the wealthy Shunemite woman. Her wealth did not yield the blessing of a child but she recognized in the passerby, the holiness of God and so she offered him hospitality—a simple but safe place to rest.

Holiness does not require an abundance of material possessions. She asked of him nothing in return. It was Gehazi who told him about her impossible situation, ”… she has no son and her husband is very old!” The visiting prophet, man of God promised God’s intervention. The woman conceived and bore a son in due time as the prophet had declared to her.

It’s always a risk to offer hospitality to a prophet but it always bears fruit. Her son was a prototype of the Savior who was also born through divine intervention. Her hospitality was truly blessed.

“The twelve” – Apostles—opened themselves up to Jesus, the prophet of all the ages, the one whom we call the Son of God who came to the table of humanity not at our invitation but by God’s initiation but who in time welcomed to his table, the dregs of humanity and over time, they were all transformed.

For them as for us, opening up to Jesus was full of risk.

Last week I happened to be in conversation with a wealthy man who has contributed generously to religious charities. He told me about a charity banquet in honor of Mother Teresa that he attended several years ago. In the course of her response to an award conferred on her, Mother Teresa invited all the women at the dinner to sell all the jewelry they were wearing and all they were not wearing and give the money to the poor and then purchase inexpensive costume jewelry to replace the gold and diamonds.

At the conclusion of the dinner, many left in silence. A few could be heard remarking, “She is a very strange person isn’t she? Imagine asking us to cash in our jewelry.”

Yes, most prophets are just a bit eccentric. Who else would dare speak for God?

Matthew’s telling of the conversation of Jesus with his disciples is rather dramatic. He challenged them to leave everything and everyone. It is an overstatement, to be sure, but only to make the point. As with the Shunemite woman, their response was not without reward: “Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me. … And those who give even a cup of cold water to one of these least one, my disciples, truly I tell you, will lose their reward.”

But who are the prophets?

Twelfth century mystic, Hildegard of Bngen had this response: “They are the royal [and loyal] people who penetrate mystery and see with the spirit’s eyes. In illuminating darkness, they speak out. They are living, penetrating clarity. They are a blossom blooming only on the shoot that is rooted in the flood of light.”

Saint Paul was a prophet who reflected with utter clarity the mystery of God’s love made known in Christ. He understood baptism as the first step in the response of the believer coming to faith. As Neshume-le poured the water with patience and faithfulness, the green blades sprouted and grew.

“Was it the water?” Neshume-le asked. “No, it was y our faithfulness that made it grow.” Well, not completely. In truth it is God’s grace that empowers us to faithfulness. We used to call that ‘actual grace’—the grace that energizes us into action.

When we welcome the prophets, we become like prophets – bearers of the Word. When we dip into the reservoir of baptismal grace, we are sustained in faithfulness in word and deed. It’s a costly faithfulness but it has marvelous consequences and a rich yield that enables the work of God in Christ to continue in you and me.

Perhaps a prophet is already at your table – a family member, even a child; or perhaps it’s someone about whom you have read in the newspaper or someone you have seen on the news.

Pope John Paul II summed it up well when he said, “We need heralds of the gospel who are experts in humanity, who know the depths of the human heart, who can share the joys and hopes, the agonies and distress of the people but who are, at the same time, contemplatives who have fallen in love with God.”

The word of God is at work in you and me. May it take root in our hearts and may it show in our words and deeds today and every day—just “one day at a time.”

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