Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Be on the Lookout for the Greater Community
A theme of the Scriptures for this weekend is our shared responsibility in humanity’s journey to holiness. Ezekiel is appointed by God to be a watchman, a sentry, and even a prophet to Israel. Ezekiel is told that his destiny depends on the efforts he puts into convincing people to change their wicked ways. What does it mean today for us to be on the lookout for the greater community? What are we called to do?
I’ve been reflecting lately on who it is that I look out for—who are the people in my life, in my community, in my country that I look out for? What are they doing that makes me want to or need to look out for them? What situations are they in that require my using my voice or my acting on their behalf?
Our journey to holiness, consisting of multiple conversions or transformations in our lives, includes the capacity for our hearts to be open to hear God’s voice, especially when we recognize that our hearts are hardened. We can become so easily desensitized to others’ needs. We can become overwhelmed by all that is wrong with the world. We can begin to feel like nothing we do will make a difference. And we begin to grumble, or become angry, or just retreat from it all.
When Paul writes to the Romans, he reminds them that the only thing we are to owe to one another is love. So what does love demand of me when it comes to “looking out for” those who have benefitted from DACA and are now being threatened with deportation? When we think of the flooding that so many are experiencing, what does love demand of us when we begin to examine how ignoring environmental concerns in favor of housing needs and population growth has “unintended consequences?”
Does God still send watchmen or watch-women to address injustice in the world today? Who are they? Do we have a shared responsibility for others and for the world? Are you a “watch-person” in some way? What seems unjust as you watch? How can we find new ways of bringing justice and God’s love into the lives of those we care for? Into our workplace? Into other places in your life?