It is the work of learning to care for one another, to dream together, to sacrifice for the greater good that make a thing worth doing.
So the big question is not if and when we go to God, but how we go to him. Do we go to face heaven’s Judge as indifferent or alienated strangers? Or do we go as faithful children into the arms of our loving Father?
She might have realized how the temple had failed her and that she was about to die, and thrown her two coins in anger, or as a public rebuke. Or, she might not have realized how she’d been wronged and simply taken care of this one last thing …
The metrics of charity are often counted out in time, treasure and talent. But before any of that, there is the unmeasured essential… Love… the precious commodity we have been given by God to put to work every day… glorifying him by serving others.
As long as we allow death culture to reign over kingdom culture people can’t become saints. Death culture makes it impossible for people to do anything except survive. But — and this is the good part — with God all things are possible. We can move from being a society of survivors to a society of thrivers, but only if we help one another.
Mark 12: 28-34 We are well into Mark’s gospel. The end of our liturgical year is near. Jesus is in Jerusalem. And his time for
Unlike the rich young ruler, who wouldn’t give away all he had, Bartimaeus quickly threw off the only thing he owned…
God knows our frailty, our shaky mix of fear and faith. And that’s as it should be. It is the human condition. Our faith is not a destination. It is a journey. And the journey is fraught with detours and potholes.
“My own glory is submitting to the violence of this world and exposing it, and you will do that too. That is your destiny.”
P. J. O’Rourke once remarked, “Everyone wants to save the planet; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.” Unpaid and low-pay work is often invisible work, but it is still work that matters.