11 Aug 2015
Memorial of St Clare of Assisi
The threshold of the Kingdom is here. The Israelites looked out and, there on the
horizon, they saw the Promised Land just over the Jordan. They could see it. And the disciples were right there, looking into
the eyes of the Son of God; talking with the Door of the Kingdom himself. And here we are, at the altar of God, hearing
the words of Sacred Scripture, consuming God himself. The threshold of the Kingdom is here; it’s so
close.
But the last thing we want to do is reach out and try to grab
it. Instead, God simply asks us to
trust. He puts a little child in front
of us and says, “Here, if you can trust me and depend on me the way this child
trusts and depends on its parents, you will do well.” And that’s similar to what God told the
Israelites. Moses put Joshua up in front
of them all and said in so many words: “If you can trust Joshua to lead you,
you’ll make it into the Promised Land.”
If we really want to enter the life of God, it takes
trust. It’s both simple and
not-so-simple because, as we all know, we’re more prone to follow the route of
pride or independence. Of course, we don’t
usually mean to; it just happens.
Somehow, when we grow up, we lose our tendency to trust and really
depend on others. But God calls us back
to our childhood is that respect. He
says, “Trust me.”
And in that God really asks us to assume a certain amount of
spiritual poverty. Some of the most
deeply joyful people I’ve met are monks, nuns, sisters and brothers. Like St Clare, they embrace a life in which
they have to depend on others and God; they must be like children and trust God’s
ways. And in that spirit of trust and
poverty, they experience in a deep way the freedom of God, the freedom of
knowing that with God things will be well in the end.
Now, each day we have challenges to face. And with that we also have a choice: to entrust
our situation to God, or to try and go it alone without him. When we’re not sure what to do about this or
that, we’re on the threshold of the Kingdom.
When we come to Mass to be consumed by the Word of God, we’re on the
threshold of the Kingdom.
No matter what we’re doing, we’re always on the threshold of
the Kingdom; we’re almost there. But the
key to get over that threshold is in the hands of a child. Luckily for us, each of us is a child of
God. We’re on the threshold of the
Kingdom, and we have the key to get in.
All we have to do is use it. All
we have to do is trust our God.
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