6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A few weeks ago as I waited for my return flight to Seattle from San Jose, I walked into a store called Life is Good.  If you're not familiar with the brand, Life is Good; the company emphasizes the values of: simplicity, humor, humility, joy, and living life to the fullest.  Many of their products depict a happy go lucky stick figure running, hiking, cooking, camping, or what have you …

Would that our lives – everyday – reflect the optimism, humility and fullness of life that these t-shirts depict?  Are we not filled with joy and happiness when we choose to live this way – when we listen to our deepest desires, when we live with gratitude when we choose to love giving ourselves away with compassion and mercy towards those most in need? 

And, yet, how difficult it is to choose the good every single time. To choose life – in every circumstance.   Buttons get pushed; unexpected harsh words are said; resentments build; bad habits form.  Ask anyone caught in an addiction or in a deep-seated pattern of sin. So easy to see freedom, to literally taste it; what seems to be such an easy choice is often divided by such a huge abyss. Yet, despite the realities of sin and brokenness, our will remains free to choose the good and reject evil.  We are what we choose to be.

My friends, life is good, and it is our choice to recognize it, embrace it, and live it as a gift and not as a hardship, as a joy and not a trial.  Life is good, and the choices we make can help drive it in a positive direction. And in the immensity of God’s wisdom:  If you trust in God, you too shall live; If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you! To choose life, is to keep the commandments.  The Commandment – Love. To love God and neighbor – in thought and action – always!  And, as I have already said, this is tough in every circumstance. 

Yesterday morning as I was praying over Jesus’ words about not being angry with your brother, I went to get a cup of coffee at the Jesuit house and the coffee pot was empty.  Now all the Jesuits know that the rule is:  if you finish a pot of coffee you make a new one: but someone did not. Now I wasn’t violent – I didn’t kill anybody, I didn’t say anything, I didn’t even swear (well, maybe I thought a few choice words).  But the words of Jesus came back to me: Anyone who is angry with his brother is liable to judgment. So, I thought better of my brother and just made the coffee.

My friends, in the gospel, Jesus gives a number of examples of sin—murder, adultery, lying under oath. And he makes the compelling point that all these greater sins begin with some lesser sin. And they all have their roots in the human heart. They start with what we choose.

Friday was Valentine’s Day, (or as some of my Jesuit brothers called it, Celibacy Appreciation Day!).  It is a day when we give our heart to another; a day when we cultivate habits of love;

Practicing virtue in place of vice. Jesus also invites us to a cultivation of the heart at the Sermon on the Mount.  Challenged to replace those lesser sins of the heart with virtue.  

Why not move towards forgiveness instead of harboring anger? Why not cultivate a heart that is quick to forgive?  Pray for those who are close to you daily, especially those who have wronged you. Prayer softens the heart and allows God access to those hidden places in the heart that need healing.

Or, why not express gratitude and generosity instead of lust and selfishness.  Practice gratitude. 

Express at least one compliment daily. Give ourselves away with compassion and mercy towards those most in need?  To cultivate our heart, we must keep choosing for the good in every circumstance.  Then Jesus’ life will grow deeper in us, our lives will be patterned after Jesus, and we will know that Life is good!  

Rev. Mike Bayard, SJ