Today’s reflection is for the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 23, 2020, and the readings can be found by clicking here. This post continues the theme of “The Holy Family.”
I’m always saddened to hear about parents who abuse their children; verbally, physically, emotionally, or otherwise. It is such a contradiction in the order of things. It is quite clear to me that those who do not know their own worth will act as though they have none at all, and will often treat others the same.
All of our readings today point to the dignity and value of a person, not for what they have done or have failed to do, but simply because they are. What a beautiful thought. In a world that measures a person’s worth by accomplishments and/or wealth, the gospel teaches us that we are valuable because we are a child of the most high God. We have been created a masterpiece, filled with dignity and grace. Period. End of the story. Amazing.
It’s our inner amazingness that demands an outward expression. To fail in this regard is to fail to image God, in whose image we have been created, and whose temple we have become. Said in another way, we are great not because of what we do, we do what we do because we are great! St. Paul heard that the church in Corinth was not living up to their full Christian dignity—rivals, divisions, factions, arrogance, selfishness, idolatry, and revelry. He just assumes this can only be because they have forgotten who they are. He asks, “Brothers and sisters: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
Similarly, Moses is commanded by God, “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them:
Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.” God is not saying to “be tall because I am,” or be fast, or be funny. God is saying to be holy—something all of us can be, because we are created like Him and by Him, and that’s what He is, and that’s what all of us can be if we choose to be so. We must make the decision each day to be like Him.
And this is the primary role of parents, of course—to be examples of who we are as Holy Children of God, who live and treat others with the dignity and respect that each of them deserves as God’s child as well—whether they know it or not, we do.
That starts in our home and is also lived out in the world. Children look first and foremost at their parents to understand who other people are in relation to themselves. If parents berate each other, insult others, dismiss, or ignore others then children quickly learn and do the same. They are taught that others are of less worth or less dignity than ourselves—and if that is true, then the scriptures and our faith is not. Far from worthless, we are worth-full!
EVERY person is created in the image and likeness of God and has worth beyond imagining. The homeless, the incarcerated, the theologian, the millionaire, the teacher, democrats, republicans, and the list goes on. Any given person (our children and ourselves included), at any given moment may not be living in a dignified and holy way, but they possess dignity and value nonetheless—because it is a gift freely given by our generous God. It is not something earned, but something received.
This is why the cycle of violence must end with we who know. As the Gospel teaches, we don’t take an eye when someone takes an eye, that would make not one but two people acting unholy and in undignified ways. When someone who does not know your worth, who does not know that you’re an amazing child of God strikes you on your cheek or takes your tunic, we cannot reduce ourselves that level of ignorance! We know better! We cannot act in an unloving way toward God’s children! We know who they are. We know their great worth—even if they don’t! We don’t act in kind when mistreated, we seek to educate through patience, long suffering and perseverance.
Thank God for great teachers who help children each day to know their own worth. So many of our students come to school dirty, in dirty clothes, without socks, with uncombed hair filled with lice—such a sad condition. If only someone had recognized the Christ in the infant Jesus the holy family would never have been thrust into the manger. Our teachers, holy people and holy parents, help people—and especially their children—to know their greatness, who help them see Christ present, and to respond to the greatness that is in them.
This is why Jesus commands us to, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” The violence that is within us, and the cycle of violence within the world will not end by those who do not know, it can only end by people who recognize the dignity in the whole of humanity. And the violence toward the earth, whose stewards we are, will only end when we realize and take responsibility for the fact that the earth does not belong to me, but to the children of God in every generation. Let me never squander it.
May holy families always pray first. At bedtime each night think to include those that day who acted harshly toward us or others. Pray that God can use us to help them to see. In that way, we grow in holiness, recognize the holiness in others, and like Jesus, help to open the eyes of the blind that they too might see, and that we can see more clearly too. Amen.
For YouTube video presentations of other reflections, please click here.
The Catholic Deacon 