God Acts; We Cooperate

Homily for Wednesday of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Isaiah’s words today are harsh and unyielding as he gives voice to God’s anger. What is God angry about? It all boils down to the king of Assyria taking credit for something that was not his own doing. He boasts about his strength and the fact that he has conquered Israel. Through Isaiah God reminds us that the king of Assyria is only the tool that God has used to punish Israel for its defection.  

Jesus demonstrates the right attitude in today’s Gospel passage. Instead of taking credit for the wonders and miracles that he has done, Jesus praises God for all the wonders that have been wrought. He exclaims that the wise and the clever will never understand that it is God who is in control. The simple and childlike are the ones who really understand God’s plan. In asking us to be childlike, God is simply asking us to remember that without God, we are nothing and can do nothing.

The difficult truth is that such an attitude can only be achieved if we trust God completely. We see this demonstrated over and over again in the Gospel. Perhaps it is most obvious in the Blessed Mother who, as a young maiden, allows God to use her to further God’s plan. Each day, we use her words to remind ourselves that God is responsible for anything that is good in our lives.

St. Paul also reminds us that boasting about our own accomplishments is a mistake. Boast rather in your weaknesses, for it is when we make ourselves weak that God can act through us.

In his Admonitions St. Francis writes: “Blessed is that servant who no more exalts himself over the good the Lord says or does through him than over what the Lord says or does through another.” Another of the Admonitions reminds us: Blessed is the servant who does not consider himself any better when he is praised and exalted by people than when he is considered worthless, simple, and looked down upon, for what a person is before God, that he is and no more.”

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator