The Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time [A]
Ez 18:25-28 + Phil 2:1-11 + Mt 21:28-32
October 1, 2017
“Which of the two did his father’s will?”
Surely you’ve seen those license plate frames with little sayings on the top and bottom. I saw one that said: “Insanity is hereditary: you get it from your children.” We might say that the capacity to drive others insane is something we’re born with. The capacity for self-sacrifice, on the other hand, has to be acquired.
The capacity for self-sacrifice is the measure of authenticity in the Christian life. By contrast, the world around us encourages us to do what? The world that surrounds us encourages us to do what is contrary to the path Christ asks us to walk. Instead of choosing self-sacrifice, we choose self-glorification and self-gratification. Or in contrast to Christ’s path of self-sacrifice, we fudge a little bit: we make sacrifices, but not of our selves. We sacrifice things to which we have no attachment. We’re like the child on Ash Wednesday who proudly announces that he’s giving up spinach for Lent, or homework, or fighting with his sister.
Our children receive our attention regarding the discernment of their vocations, and rightly so. But our efforts will be of no avail if we don’t help our youth free themselves to accept whichever call God makes of them. In other words, putting knowledge about vocations into our young people’s minds is not enough. A vocation is also a matter of the will. Education in any subject requires a shaping not only of the intellect, but of both the intellect and the will. Any school that only gives knowledge about math, English, music, etc. is largely wasting its time. If a school doesn’t also give its students a love for those subjects, then the knowledge will likely evaporate after the final exam. Continue reading