Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

God’s Open Door Policy

Jesus says to be “vigilant” and “be ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.” What does that look like? Feel like? God knocking on my door? Where do we discover God knocking on doors? When do we acknowledge that it is God who is knocking on our door—or the door of our heart, mind, or spirit?

A door can be open or shut. Most of us lock our doors for safety from intruders, for privacy, or to not be disturbed. It’s a way of separating or dividing space, distinguishing the function of the pace–like the rooms in our house. Perhaps you are thinking of other functions of a door.

Think of some of the expressions we hear or use that refer to doors. “My door is always open!”—to indicate that others are always welcomed into my space. “How can I open some doors for you?”—to pave the way for a new relationship. “When one door shuts, another one opens”—to leave room for new possibilities after initial “shut out.”

Pope Francis continues to preach: “Open wide the doors of mercy.”  Where is God knocking on doors in our hearts, in our physical spaces, in our ways of thinking, in our patterns of being and acting? Where is mercy most needed? Who is in most need of mercy?

It’s not an “open or shut” case anymore. Or is it? For whom and to whom am I opening doors immediately? Who am I shutting out? Avoiding?

In what ways am I being called to be vigilant? What doors can I be opening immediately? How do I recognize that it is God knocking?