Holy Spirit Catholic Church
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28th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
October 15, 2006
One day, Helen Edwards was accompanying her daughter on a drive up a mountain. Near the top, her daughter turned off the main road onto a twisting side road. A few minutes later, Helen saw something that took her breath away.
As far as the eye could see, there stretched a garden of lovely flowers: yellow daffodils, purple hyacinths, and coral-colored tulips. Birds and butterflies flitted about everywhere. Helen could barely speak! When she recovered, she asked, "Who created this mountain garden?" A sign next to a tiny house nearby anticipated the question. It read: This mountain garden is the work of one woman who planted it one flower at a time starting in 1958.
After reading the sign Helen said to her daughter: "One woman changed this mountain world one flower at a time. She began forty-five years ago, probably with just a glimmer of a vision. But she kept at it. Imagine what I could accomplish if I had a vision and worked at it just a little bit every day, as she did?"
Her daughter smiled and said: "Start tomorrow, Mother! Better yet, start today."
That inspiring story gives us an insight into how God calls us to work to transform our world – both physically and spiritually. Each of us, regardless of who we are, is called to play some role in this process of transformation.
Recall these words of Cardinal Newman: "God has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next… Therefore if I am in sickness, my sickness may serve him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve him… God does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about."
To help us carry out our mission or role, God has given each of us a set of unique talents. To some these talents are high profile; to others they are low profile. To help all of us – whether our talents be high profile or low profile – God has given us two great gifts: SANCTIFYING GRACE and ACTUAL GRACE.
John Newton, the 18th Century slave trader, refers to both of these great gifts, sanctifying grace and actual grace, in his beautiful hymn "Amazing Grace." Recall how one night a great storm threatened his ship and its cargo of slaves. He promised God that if they survived, he would quit the slave trade. They did survive and he quit that horrible business. God’s grace changed John Newton’s heart.
He not only quit; he became a minister and a composer of religious hymns. One of his best known hymns is "Amazing Grace." He wrote: 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear… how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!… 'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.
The words "how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed" refers to sanctifying grace, which gives us a share in God's own divine life. The words "'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home" refers to actual grace, which is given us, especially, in times of special need. Lets take a closer look at each gift.
Sanctifying grace is given to us in Baptism and makes us sharers in God's own divine life. It also gives us the responsibility and privilege of participating in God’s work of salvation. Concretely, what do we mean by God's work of salvation?
We mean the transformation of our world, physically and spiritually, into what God intended it to be before sin nearly destroyed it. It means to work at it faithfully, one day at a time, the way the woman with the mountain garden did. It means to do whatever job we have to do… for example, raise a family… in a way in keeping with the teachings of Jesus. It means to do that job as faithfully and as best we can in our situation.
That brings us to actual grace and how it helps us to carry out our role or mission in God's plan of salvation. Actual grace is God’s gift to us in times of special need, for example, in times of trial and temptation. Or to put it another way, it is God's gift to help us live out our mission in this world in such a way as to attain eternal life in the next world.
All this sheds light on today's Gospel in two important ways. First, God does not force us to accept his plan for our world and for ourselves. God gives us the freedom to accept it or reject it, just as he gave the rich man in today’s Gospel this awesome freedom. Second, we all know from experience how difficult it is to live our lives, day in and day out, in full harmony with the teachings of Jesus. As Peter observes in today’s Gospel, it is downright hard, if not impossible.
And that is where grace comes in, especially actual grace. Actual grace is God's amazing gift that helps us not only to live by the teachings of Jesus, but also to share this gift with others.
This is the good news of today's Gospel!
This is what we celebrate in this liturgy!
This is the good news we must carry forth from this church and share by word and example with all those we meet!
May God continue to richly bless you with His grace!