NOT EXTRAS BUT STARS!
Monday in the 2nd Week of Lent
Lk 6:36-38
In the movies, so-called “extras” do not count much. They do not matter as much as the professional actors and actresses who play the lead characters do. The “extras” are, of course, not the stars. They may be important in some movie scenes, but, in most scenes, they stay at the periphery and are not given particular recognition.
God, however, is the God of the “extras”. He is extra loving, extra merciful, extra compassionate extra generous, extra accommodating, and everything extra good. But He is not at all an “extra” in our lives. He is the Star! He is the One that truly matters, and we matter only because of Him.
Jesus commands us today to be like God who is His Father and ours. We should consciously strive each day to treat one another the way Father God treats us. Much we receive from Him; much should we also give to others. Thus, we do our best to be extra caring, extra forgiving, extra friendly, extra patient, extra thoughtful, and everything extra good toward one another.
God is the God of the “extras” in our lives. However, that does not mean that what He gives us comes from His excesses. It does not mean that what He gives us are His surpluses. Of course, He is God and therefore infinitely and exhaustibly abundant of everything that is good. However, when He gave us His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and He continues giving Him to us each day, God gave us all that He has. As St. Paul says in Rom 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” Because God gave us and continues yet to give us Jesus, His Son, God gave and still gives us not His “extra” but His everything. God is the God of the “extras” because of His extra gifts to us but His gifts are far from being extras among what He has. Collectively represented as they are in Christ Jesus, they are all that God has.
In our Christian mandate to strive to be like God, we, too, are called to be men and women of the “extras”. However, being men and women of the “extras” does not mean giving to others what are actually extras among what we have. The difficult and perennial challenge of mirroring God to others is in our giving not from our extras but from our needs as well.
When we give anything to someone or do something to anyone, we have to answer honestly this one important question we, unfortunately, often overlook or ignore: Where does our gift come from? If our gift comes from our extras, then we are not reflecting God at all.
Too sad, sometimes, the poor, to whom so-called generous people give their extras, become willing recipients of various refuse: old clothes, tattered shoes, canned goods whose expiration dates are nearing or have already passed, and other rejects. While God supplies us with all that He has, many give to others from the extra they possess. Too bad, at times, that also means giving from their refuse. Lent is an opportune time for us to reflect on this wrong but seldom questioned practice.
Remember: God always gives us extras not from His extras because He does not treat us as “extras”. For God, we are the “stars”!
Lk 6:36-38
In the movies, so-called “extras” do not count much. They do not matter as much as the professional actors and actresses who play the lead characters do. The “extras” are, of course, not the stars. They may be important in some movie scenes, but, in most scenes, they stay at the periphery and are not given particular recognition.
God, however, is the God of the “extras”. He is extra loving, extra merciful, extra compassionate extra generous, extra accommodating, and everything extra good. But He is not at all an “extra” in our lives. He is the Star! He is the One that truly matters, and we matter only because of Him.
Jesus commands us today to be like God who is His Father and ours. We should consciously strive each day to treat one another the way Father God treats us. Much we receive from Him; much should we also give to others. Thus, we do our best to be extra caring, extra forgiving, extra friendly, extra patient, extra thoughtful, and everything extra good toward one another.
God is the God of the “extras” in our lives. However, that does not mean that what He gives us comes from His excesses. It does not mean that what He gives us are His surpluses. Of course, He is God and therefore infinitely and exhaustibly abundant of everything that is good. However, when He gave us His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and He continues giving Him to us each day, God gave us all that He has. As St. Paul says in Rom 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” Because God gave us and continues yet to give us Jesus, His Son, God gave and still gives us not His “extra” but His everything. God is the God of the “extras” because of His extra gifts to us but His gifts are far from being extras among what He has. Collectively represented as they are in Christ Jesus, they are all that God has.
In our Christian mandate to strive to be like God, we, too, are called to be men and women of the “extras”. However, being men and women of the “extras” does not mean giving to others what are actually extras among what we have. The difficult and perennial challenge of mirroring God to others is in our giving not from our extras but from our needs as well.
When we give anything to someone or do something to anyone, we have to answer honestly this one important question we, unfortunately, often overlook or ignore: Where does our gift come from? If our gift comes from our extras, then we are not reflecting God at all.
Too sad, sometimes, the poor, to whom so-called generous people give their extras, become willing recipients of various refuse: old clothes, tattered shoes, canned goods whose expiration dates are nearing or have already passed, and other rejects. While God supplies us with all that He has, many give to others from the extra they possess. Too bad, at times, that also means giving from their refuse. Lent is an opportune time for us to reflect on this wrong but seldom questioned practice.
Remember: God always gives us extras not from His extras because He does not treat us as “extras”. For God, we are the “stars”!
posted by Fr. Bobby @ 12:00 AM
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