Third Sunday Ordinary

Third Sunday Ordinary
January 23, 2004

"I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose." (1 Cor 1: 10-17) ' Come after me'... .At once they left their nets and followed him. (Mt 4:12-23)

St. Paul corrects the community he founded at Corinth, who were squabbling over competing doctrines and personalities. He reminds them of their life "in Christ" and the unity of mind and heart it requires. Jesus calls his first disciples and they respond immediately.

Jesus' followers undoubtedly had little idea about how much their lives would change as a result of leaving their comfortable, uneventful existence. They would be thrust upon a stage in which they would be actors in a great cosmic and historical drama for which they had little if any preparation. At the same time they would be have to answer great theological and religious questions while avoiding breaking up into petty factionalism.

Maybe there never has been a golden age except in our minds (even "my" 1950s!). I am reminded of how much things have changed in the church in my own lifetime. I was born into a Catholic subculture in which all the major questions were answered and there was little room for disagreement from established orthodoxy. It was clear how we were supposed to live, what all the sins were as well as the cures and consequences, and who the saints and sinners were. The liturgy was the same everywhere, a solid foundation of spiritual comfort and predictability. Then, in my mid-20s, with my whole life and ecclesiastical career mapped out the church went through a profound change, as it has many times before. The certainties and predictability were gone. We are still trying to sort out what happened and where we go from here.

It is not so hard to understand why we have tended since then to resemble St. Paul's Church at Corinth. We are in a period of re-forming in the best sense of that word: revisiting and reworking many of our cherished beliefs and practices in the light of our apostolic origins. Just as in our personal lives, we go through cycles of calm and stability alternating with times of upheaval and change. If history is any guide, whatever we settle on will reveal new treasures, in exchange for what we lost. The church is for all of us, not just those with whom we agree.

These are times for extraordinary trust, patience, and restraint on our need for certainty and stability, and actually listening to the other side. Attempting to impose a new synthesis before the Holy Spirit has done its work leads us farther from our goal of the coming of the God's kingdom.