March 08, 2015

1 Corinthians 1: 22-25

For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved. http://www.usccb.org/bible/approved-translations

Building the Kingdom

St. Paul reminds us today how strange the Kingdom of God actually is. Our Savior was born to a teenager who quickly became a refugee. Many of his inner circle started as public sinners and outsiders. His gaze fell toward the lowly and isolated. And this time of year we are reminded that we proclaim Christ crucified, the cross being a strange throne for a king.

But Jesus is not the only one who inverts the ways of the world. All of us who claim the name of Christ are asked to follow his ways.  So we too must consider how human wisdom and human strength tempt us away from building the Kingdom.

How often are we tempted away from forgiveness because mercy doesn’t seem fair?  Or tempted to vanity because admiration is intoxicating? Or tempted to gossip because it gives us power over another?

Let us not be taken in by the ways of the world, but rather build a world animated by the ways of God.

—Michael Rozier, S.J. of the Central Southern Jesuit province, was ordained a priest last June. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies in Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan.

Prayer

Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages… Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.