Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - February 18, 2023
Blessed Sacrament Chapel
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
We unthinkingly repeat many simplifications and stereotypes about the Bible and Christ's teaching. We talk sometimes as if the God of the Old Testament only wanted fear from us, as if God were some sort of divine terrorist, whereas the God of the New Testament gives and desires love. That is insufficient and exaggerated. We talk as if Peter was set up as a full-fledged pope in the New Testament; just not true. We talk as if the idea of reward and punishment were completely foreign to the God of the New Testament. Or, on the other hand, as if God had a crew of certified accountants keeping track of all we do and adding it up so as to give us the appropriate reward or punishment. Both are too simple.
In the New Testament we hear both that life with God, salvation, is a gift and, on the other hand, that God does reward us. But reward in Jesus' dictionary is not something determined by how impressive God has found us but by how good God is. God rewards us because God is good, loving, generous, not because we have twisted God's arm by our extraordinary virtue. Salvation is God's gift; the good we do is because of God's grace, God's gift in us. Human boasting in the presence of God is completely ruled out. Our relation to God comes down finally to trusting God's goodness, not trying to impress God.
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
