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+"Stir into Flame the Gift of God That You
have” 27th. Sunday
in Ordinary Time — C
When Jesus says in today’s gospel: “When you have done all you have been
commanded, say, ‘we are unprofitable servants, we have done what we were obliged
to do” this may at first sight seem patronizing and even a bit belittling.” He
has a way of challenging our normal way of thinking. Behind his words, there is
a message of incomparable love for who is there that has done all that God has
commanded and is not already filled with divine life? No one but Jesus himself
could dare to say this about himself or herself and so what about us? Jesus
wants nothing so much as to have his own divine life to radiate through us into
our world of today. To see ourselves as unprofitable servants is to begin to see
how large a part Christ plays in our daily lives, to let him become more and
more their source.
It is the second reading this morning, from St Paul’s letter to Timothy that may
hold one of the best clues to how we may become open to this presence, to become
a deeply Christian people. There he is reminding Timothy “to stir into flame the
gift of God” that he has through the imposition of Paul’s hands for “God did not
give him a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.”
We tend to think of the imposition of hands as related to priestly ordination
but at Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist the gesture takes place in every
Catholic’s coming to maturity. “The imposition of hands, a ritual gesture, goes
far back in the religious tradition, not only the tradition of the OT, but of
all peoples. It is a gesture of investiture, a transmission of power, and
bestowal of a mission. In Christian liturgy, it has always had the sense of an
epiclesis, an invocation of God, especially of the Spirit.
This
gift—charism—granted and received once and for all, is not something dead, but
acts rather more like a leaven, a seed that must be ‘reawakened’ in oneself. It
is a call to return to the prime of one’s life with God: ‘Stir up the gift that
you have received.’” We as Christians are highly endowed with the gift of grace,
with a sharing in God’s own Holy Spirit. We are not to be afraid of what we
stand for and to live as persons graced with God’s own love and self control.
We are about to witness this gesture right here at the altar when the principal
Celebrant and those concelebrating with him extend their hands over the gifts
and call down the Holy Spirit. We tend to look on this as just another prayer
before the words of Consecration but there is something far more profound and
pervasive happening here. Not only is the bread and wine about to be consecrated
but also each one of our lives to the extent that allow the Eucharist to become
the center and source of all we do as Christians.
We are to “guard the rich
trust” that has been handed on to us, “with the help of the Holy Spirit that
dwells within us.” The bread and wine that are about to be carried up to this
altar are representative of your and my lives. .The priest and concelebrants, in
persona Christi, extent their hands over the gifts and call down the Holy Spirit
that they may become the Body and Blood of Christ. In the Eastern Church the
consecration or transubstantiation already begins to take place during the
“epiclesis.” What a powerful gesture this is because it is not just a gesture
over these gifts on the altar but also over each one of our lives and over our
life as a community. It is only in the Holy Spirit, lives lived out of Christ,
that we become truly his Body, truly his life-giving Blood for our families, our
communities and our society. Of ourselves we are unprofitable servants but as
members of Christ’s Body we are filled with the rich fruits of the Spirit.
Today is also the Feast of the Holy Rosary. Saying the rosary is a devotion of
many of us and it is far more than reciting so many Hail Mary's, Our Father's
and Glory Be's. It is a way of opening our hearts to the grace of Mary's
discipleship, of letting the eternal Word take flesh in our own hearts so as to
share God’s goodness and wisdom with all those whom we love.
Let us then, stir into flame the gift of God that we have by reason of our
Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. God’s Spirit is at work in us if we will
but hear its voice and harden not our hearts. To do so is to become a people who
live “with the strength that comes from God,” to be God's own people.
Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17: 5-10
Michael Casagram, OCSO
Abbey of Gethsemani
October 7, 2007
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