23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time
This week the local schools went back and the parents breathed a big sigh of relief now that the summer holidays are over for another year. Its hard to believe that we are beginning another school year but that’s the nature of life from one end of the year to the next we go round in the circle of life. In this Sundays first reading the author of the book of Wisdom reflects that it is hardly surprising that we have trouble figuring out the intentions of God when we have so much trouble figuring each other. He warns: “It is hard enough for us to work out what is on earth, laborious to know what lies within our reach.” There are times when those within our reach puzzle us. Even though God has revealed himself through his Holy Spirit, nobody can claim to fully understand the mystery that is God. In the Gospel there is plenty of figuring out to be done too. Jesus gives people notice that they have to work out for themselves if they are equal to the demands of discipleship. That means that first they have to figure out the cost of discipleship, then consider whether they have the resources to meet that cost.
To drive the point home, Jesus uses twin parables Anyone intending to build a tower would “first sit down and work out the cost”. If he started without finishing, the sum of his achievement would be a monument to his own stupidity. Likewise, the king who discovers that his forces are outnumbered would “first sit down and consider”whether the opposing arithmetic is too heavy. If he wants to be a smart survivor he will practise his speeches on the wonders of peace! In both instances the advice is clear: take the time; sit down; look at the demands; figure out whether you can honestly meet them. Much of our lives involve figuring out what is within our reach and what we ourselves can realistically achieve. So the moral for all of us in these days of uncertainty is that when we come to make life changing decisions we need to stop and do what this gospel tells us and that is to take the time; To look at the demands the decision to be made will make on us as individuals and communities; and figure out what is within our reach and what we can realistically achieve that will help us to go forward in faith and in hope rather than backwards in fear and despair. As we look at the way we are with all that is going on in our world let us redouble our efforts to support one another so that we are able to see what needs to be done and get on and do it.
=
Fullerton T 