Fr. Simon's Letter - August 7, 2022

It is only the first Sunday in August, and many of us are already preparing for the new school year. As summer winds down, the days get shorter, evenings get cooler, and beach chairs are removed from the car trunk to be stored in the garage. Labor Day plans are discussed, and the last propane tank of the season is purchased for the grill. Days of relative leisure morph into frenetic afternoons of “back to school” shopping for new uniforms, clothes, and supplies.

There is a comforting sameness about the rituals of pre-Labor Day. For many of us, these routines bring excitement and eager anticipation. But for some, these are days of anxiety and angst. The days of sleeping in late will soon be over. It is about getting back into the routine of the school year, homework, class projects, and the daily grind. But it is also a time of preparing for surprises – new teachers, classmates, and routines. It is about adapting and adjusting to the 'new' in our lives.

This week’s Gospel has Jesus saying, ‘Be careful! Your sense of God can be too narrow, too mean, too straight-laced.’ He seems to be saying that God is a God of surprises, a God of unexpected and outlandish goodness, disconcerting love, a master who serves up a meal for his servants in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.

Jesus urges us to be ready to open the door to this unexpectedly good God, likely to break into our lives at all sorts of ‘ungodly’ times. Be ready! Is he talking about when we die or about ‘whenever?’ Today? Tomorrow? It doesn't matter much because, whenever it is, Jesus wants us to be ready.

What does being ready involve? If we're thinking of our death, perhaps our first response might be to say, “being in the state of grace.” But what is this “state of grace”? We might answer, “Not having any mortal sins on our soul.” But that's not saying anything about grace.

Grace? What is grace? Grace means gift. But, then, what is the ‘gift,’ and who is giving it? Grace is the gift of God’s love. The “state” of grace is the state of being with, living with, our God who is in love with us, God who likes us and even enjoys loving us. But that reality is not just after our death. It is for now!

How do we get ready to receive God’s gift, God’s grace? How do we keep awake for that? We ready ourselves by learning to see and to recognize the disconcertingly loving God, by learning to appreciate the wonder of it all. I think we shall understand God’s gift when we die if we learn to appreciate it when we are alive. To do that, we must make the most of every opportunity to see, appreciate, and truly believe the love in the atmosphere, get drawn into it, and practice it ourselves.

We can learn to see our world and the people in our lives as gifts, as sacraments of God. God is constantly surprising us through them – if only we learn to recognize God there. We can keep learning to love, and that often starts by recognizing our so often spontaneous hostility, and choosing, delightfully, to ignore it.

What a God! Popping up in unexpected places at unexpected times and loving us in such unforeseen ways through so many unexpected people. So let us, with gratitude and joy, prepare for the new school year and the surprises it brings.

Blessings!!