A SERMON FOR THE 14TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
“Which of you by taking thought
can add one cubit unto his stature?”
It’s an interesting concept, maybe one you experimented with when you
were younger. You really concentrate on
getting taller, you try really hard, but no matter how much you focus or imagine,
you’re still the same height you started out with. Disappointing. What’s interesting though, is that every
year, when you stand against the wall and your mother makes another pencil
mark, you’re amazed to find that actually, you have grown, and you’re an
inch or two taller than on your last birthday!
Some things, you see, are out of our control, and there’s nothing we can
do to make them happen or not happen.
But in cases like this, we leave them up to God, and, one way or
another, he takes care of them for us.
Obviously, this does not apply to
everything. I might try very hard and
concentrate as hard as I possibly can, but it doesn’t seem to make me any
thinner. So should I leave it up to God
and let him take care of it? Every year
or two, I have to buy a longer belt, so I don’t think that letting God handle
it is going to work. There are times
when it is we need to take control of the situation, and God leaves it up to us
with our free will to maintain that control.
We need to exercise that free will.
In fact, some of us just need to exercise, period.
We have to be very careful and
discerning as we follow our Lord’s advice to consider the lilies of the field
that “toil not, neither do they spin.” The
difference between us and the lilies is that they have no free will, and so all
their needs have to be taken care of by God and the nature he created. But when our Lord advises us to “take no
thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink?” he doesn’t mean
we should just show up at the dinner table and expect a three-course meal to
appear miraculously in front of us. We have
the responsibility of making sure we do the shopping, follow the recipe, peel
the potatoes, and cook the dinner at the right temperature for the right amount
of time. God won’t do all that for
us. The point our Lord is making is that
“our heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things,” and will
provide you with the means of feeding yourselves and your family. But it’s up to us to use those means and
resources that God gives us. And somehow
we do seem to receive what we need.
After allas is our Lord points
out, if God is so solicitous about a humble flower, how much more shall he not
clothe you?
When we pray, we must pray not
for luxury and comfort, but for the needful things of life—a roof over our
heads, a means of income, a good family who will work together to provide that
income, do the cooking, set the table, and do the dishes afterwards. These are our jobs, not God’s, and if we
“seek first the kingdom of God” then we can be assured that “all these things
shall be added unto you.” We will do the
work to find a good job, to buy a decent home in a good neighborhood that we
can afford and take care of. We will
take the necessary steps to train our children in the faith, and bring them up
to love God, to frequent the sacraments, and, yes, to obey the commandments. God provides, we take what he gives us and
use it for the greater good.
In short, God helps those who
help themselves. And when God gives us
the opportunity to help ourselves, we would be wise not to ignore it. If our house is on fire, we shouldn’t just
sit there and expect God to save us while we ignore the firefighter who offers
to carry us out. Sometimes though, those
opportunities are not quite so obvious.
Which brings me to the Sacrament of Confirmation. As I announced last week, we’re going to be
having Confirmations here shortly, and so we should consider whether or not
this is one of those opportunities provided by God which we should take
advantage of and use for the greater good of ourselves and our family. If God is going to provide us with this opportunity
to receive the fullness of the Holy Ghost with all that implies, it would not
be wise for us to ignore it.
What motivation should we have to
receive this sacrament of Confirmation? “Coincidentally,”
in today’s Epistle, God provides us with a very strong reason for getting
confirmed. St. Paul compares those who
are led of the Spirit with those who are not.
It’s a contrast that is unambiguous and should leave us in no doubt as
to the only two possible conclusions to our life. If we do the things we want to do, namely the
works of the flesh, we will sin our way to hell, and will never be able to
inherit the kingdom of God. But if we’re
led by the Spirit, we shall bear the fruits of the Spirit that will save our
poor souls. Who is this Spirit, if not
the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit himself. And how are to we to bear his fruits if not
by receiving the fullness of the Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation? Here then is one of the most important means
we have from God to save our souls. If
we are to fight and win the battle against our fallen human nature, the world,
and the devil, we should arm ourselves by being confirmed as warriors of God. The importance of Confirmation cannot be
over-emphasized. Without it, we go into
battle without armor and without weapons.
How can we expect to win?
Let’s make it our number one
priority over these coming weeks to make sure we and those under our care
prepare ourselves to receive this sacrament if we haven’t already done so. Let’s get out our catechisms and teach our
children about the Holy Ghost and the Sacrament of Confirmation, preparing them
to become soldiers in Christ’s army. Let’s thank God for this rare opportunity when
bishops are so few and far between, by focusing on what is within our own power
and free will to choose, and then letting everything else fall into place according
to the workings of Divine Providence.
Let us do as Christ himself told us: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Our efforts might not produce an immediate result
in our own lives or those of our children.
But I’m sure and certain that, over time, when we come to take measure
of ourselves later, we will find that through the infinite power and graces
that come from the Holy Ghost, we will indeed have added a cubit to our stature.
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