Theme
Rams and GoatsAbout the Author
Kim McElaney '76Katherine (Kim) McElaney, '76 is the director of the Chaplains' Office at Holy Cross. She has worked at the College for almost 20 years and will appear in this column from time to time.
Thinking Out Loud
There is an old story about St. Ignatius that I heard when I was a student at HC. I don't know if it's true but it goes like this:
One day Ignatius of Loyola was having a catch with some young Jesuits. As they threw the ball to one another, one of the novices asked, Ignatius if you knew that this was your last day before God called you home what would you do? How would you spend it? And Ignatius smiled at him, tossed him the ball, and said I'd keep right on playing ball with you.
I'd keep right on playing ball with you...
What would it mean to live life in such a way, that no matter when God called you home you were ready?
What would it mean to live so that you never had to worry about making things right with people, about having no regrets?
What would it mean to live life so that end of each day, you could feel like nothing was wasted, that no one was hurt because of your words, that no one was diminished by a joke or a barb or a glance or a or a gesture that came from you?
What would it mean to live life so that you weren't too busy, too stressed, too frantic, too worried, too overcommitted, too indebted or too afraid to be one of the ones who gives food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked and care to those sick or in prison?
What would it mean to live as though it was your last day and you were preparing to meet God?
The story about Ignatius gets at the idea of living life like that.
The readings from this past Sunday's liturgy are tough, tough, tough. The passage from St. Matthew's Gospel is one of those that makes us squirm-or it should make us squirm. It makes ME squirm. It is one of the passages where Jesus tells a parable to His disciples. As He often does, Jesus uses the imagery of a shepherd with his flock, an image that is one of the more familiar to us and, generally, most of the most consoling. But in this parable, we see the shepherd in one of his less "pastoral" roles. He is busy about the business of separating the flock. Jesus tells His followers that when the King (Christ) comes in glory, he will assemble all the peoples of the world and separate them-- according to one simple criterion-- how they treated those in need. How they treated those in need. And...Jesus continues, those who cared for those in need will go off to inherit the kingdom prepared for them; those who failed to care for those in need will be sent away from the king "into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Tough.
Recently, I read a column by Brian McGrory in The Boston Globe in which he discussed the findings of a non-scientific little study that he and a friend took while riding the public transportation system in Boston. They were interested to see how frequently riders of the T or the city buses would give up their seats to a pregnant woman clearly quite advanced in her pregnancy. McGrory's dismay, bemusement, and disgust matched my own as they probably do yours.
How they treated those in need.
I was sitting in Campion House, the Campus Ministry Center, a few weeks ago facilitating a "mandatory" meeting in a room jammed with students interested in the Mexico program. At a certain point I began to hear muffled but heart wrenching sobs coming from another room. I tried to think- should I exit the meeting calling more attention to the distress of the person in the other room, should I wait until the next speaker started and then make a quick dash? I saw some students exchange glances, a few other looked uncomfortable. As I swiftly examined options, a student sitting by the door unobtrusively slipped out and disappeared. The sounds stopped and after a time the student just as unobtrusively slid back into her seat on the floor.
How they treated those in need.
This week I sat in a meeting as a remarkable student, a senior, explained her ambitious plan to have Holy Cross declared a "No Hate Zone" as part of an initiative from the Anti-defamation League She spoke with quiet passion, poise, eloquence. I marveled. A Philosophy and Classics major, former chair of the BSU, she is also the star of the women's hockey team. She is brainy and talented in a hundred ways. She is so busy---where does she find the time I wondered?
How they treated those in need.
Sacred Scripture calls each of us to account for our lives on a daily basis, for how we use the gifts God gives us ----every single day.
Imagine God calling you to answer for your life and for the lives of your sisters and brothers - not just the ones who live with you or to whom you are related but also the ones who sit in the cubicle next to yours, ring up your groceries, process your taxes, line the doorways of your city streets, wait in welfare offices in your town, lie in bed alone in nursing homes near you, coach your children, and cross your borders. Imagine God calling to you to answer for your life and for the lives of all those who think differently than you think, live far away from where you live, and dream dreams that you dream.
How would you answer?
How would I answer?
Because calling us to answer for our lives is exactly what God does.
If you were called to give an account of your life, of how you use what God has given you--- would you feel that you could answer as Ignatius does in the story---keep on playing ball? Because that is what God wants for us--that we live our lives so that we have that deep down feeling of peace-of serenity---St Paul calls it a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. That is what is pleasing to God.
So if the thought of giving an account of our lives terrifies us or makes our stomachs lurch, then it's a very good thing for us to read this Gospel. What Christ asks of us is simple: that we turn away from sin and that we live as His followers---- that is-- that our lives are characterized by love.
On this last Sunday before Advent, we are reminded of the kind of love God has for us in the First Reading from Ezekiel:
...so will I tend my sheep.
I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered
when it was cloudy and dark.
I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal...
And as God loves us, so we are called to love one another and to care for one another.
St. Paul reminds us that God wills everyone to be saved-- everyone. That is what God longs for. Over the course of this liturgical year, we've heard many parables that convey this idea. God wills everyone to be saved. As we pause on Thursday to celebrate with loved ones, to feast of the earth's bounty, and, above all, to thank God, let us ask God earnestly----- to draw us close enough to Christ so that we might live as men and women of love in the week ahead.
