15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle
B
St. Francis De Sales,
Abingdon
July 15, 2012 5:pm and
7:30am
Maturity Moments
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
Zits:
A Maturity Moment
Some of us are probably familiar with the
newspaper comic strip called Zits.
Zits
is
about the upsets of a teenager and the challenges of a parent trying to guide
one.
In one episode, 15-year-old Sarah is having a
bad hair day. Sarah screams, “I hate my
hair. I should just cut it off and start
all over.”
Sarah’s mother calmly suggests, “That’s a good idea, Sarah. I know some people who would love to have
it.”
Sarah responds, “Are you kidding? Who would want
to be stuck with a whole head of this stuff?”
Mom then leaves the room and comes back with a
brochure that she hands to Sarah. It’s about an organization called Locks of Love. Locks of Love makes wigs for children who
have lost their hair from chemotherapy.
Sarah peruses the brochure and asks, “So this Locks of Love organization would use my hair to make wigs
for kids with cancer?” Her mom
explains, “Yes, and that way your problem
becomes somebody else’s solution.”
Sarah just sits there in silence until finally
her mom asks, “Are you okay, Sarah?” And Sarah says quietly, “I think I’m having a maturity moment.”
the
seedbed for Maturity moments
I see today’s Scripture readings as calling us
to embrace similar maturity moments. In fact, they call us to a fuller life of
personal and spiritual maturity.
In the gospel, Jesus sends the apostles on a
mission. He instructs them to take very few personal belongings. In other words, they are not to be
preoccupied with themselves.
Instead, they are to guide others to what is
good and bring personal healing and wholeness wherever possible.
In our first reading, the prophet Amos is also
focused beyond himself.
Amos is trying to persuade government leaders to
take better care of the needy. He does
this even to the point of being disliked and unwanted.
Saint Paul in our second reading says that our
overall focus is to become holy and giving persons.
Once again, he calls us not to be self-absorbed,
but to be looking beyond ourselves at the bigger picture of life – much as
Sarah’s mom was trying to get Sarah to do in the comic strip.
Maturity
Moments and Maturity
So the Word of God today calls us to maturity
moments and through them to fuller maturity.
Maturity moments are those experiences when we
manage to put aside our own personal needs and problems and desires for the
sake of someone else.
An example here might be, I may give up going to
a concert or a movie or a ballgame to visit someone who is in the hospital.
Maturity moments are those breakthroughs when we
realize that we are not the center of the world but only a part of a much
larger world.
Thus, as an American, I may realize that we who
have so much are really lessened or diminished when billions of people in Third
World countries are dying because they lack potable water and enough food and
medical care.
And maturity moments are those holy times when
our disappointment at what life has handed us gets transformed into gratitude
simply for the gift of life itself.
Here, instead of going under when things at work
aren’t going well, we can thank God for life, health and the ability to work in
the first place.
Conclusion
Let
our prayer today be that the Lord opens our minds to recognize maturity moments
when they come and to open our hearts to embrace them rather than pass them by.
And
that once there are embraced, these moments may build into a lifestyle of
maturity characterized by Love of God and a genuine caring for others.
No comments:
Post a Comment