17th Sunday What do we do and why do we do it?

From where do our desires and our actions come from?  Do they truly originate from our inner self, independently or is there another source?  This is not just a purely academic question but has real world effects and also deeply connected with our salvation.

Salvation; it is that freedom to choose to do what is good and right. Salvation is the freedom to know what is good and loving, to desire the good and to act on it.  Salvation is about being true to our humanity.  So how does the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God save us?

Rene Girard, a French philosopher and many other titles, who died in 2015 in Stanford, took up that question of desires and actions. His writings on this have influenced Catholic Thinkers.  Basically, our desires and our actions originate from the community, the people around us, and we incorporate them in a subconscious and a conscious way. We see the people around us doing something or wanting something, and we end up mimicking them. The very basic example is advertising. Advertisers show us and convince us that everyone else wants this or that, and we can get convinced that we too want this or that. We buy it. This is also peer pressure.  The question would also continue, where then does the community pick it up? I believe the answer is that our communal desires and actions have been passed down generation to generation, changing and evolving, but nonetheless are rooted deep in our history and story as family, as community and of course as church.

The end result can be this unconscious choice and action. We do something because it is almost “programmed” within us; for good or for not good. It takes a shock to the system to wake us up to our actions, so that we can actually consciously choose to do this or that.

Bet you did not think you were going to get a human anthropology-philosophy-psychology class today!

I love to eat dinner at around 5:30pm. If I get the chance, I will do this. I know exactly why. As a child, my dad would arrive home from work and this is when our family would eat supper. It has been ingrained within me. I mimic this behavior. My parents still have dinner around this time.

God, we believe as Christians, is the source of us. In God and from God we are, and then from God comes our nature and our desires for the good. God becomes and is the source of our morality. God becomes the source of our desires.  This is to say that a belief in God means we believe in a transcendent reality to us.

Yet, we know that we do not always choose well, nor act well; we do not “be” according to our human nature as children of God. Sometimes our desires become disordered or confused; consciously or unconsciously. These prevent us from living life in the full.

In the Gospels Jesus says that he came so that we can have life, and that what he does, he does because he has seen the Father do the same, and so in love of the Father, he “mimics” the Father. God’s desire for goodness is the Sons.  In doing so, Jesus often shocks the people. The people begin to see differently, and what does Jesus often say? “Your faith has saved you” “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” If only they mimic him, and change the way they live and act, they too can experience the fullness of life; they can be saved.  Look at our scriptures this weekend; as normal the first reading and gospel are connected, deliberately, to make a point. Both instances we see there is a need, a desire, and there are two actions.  The need: People are hungry and there are people who desire to feed them, but they think they lack resources. What do they do and what is done?

Both cases, the Prophet Elisha and Jesus, act with incredible generosity. They take what they have, even though it was not sufficient, and they give it all to those around them. This reveals God; the same God who gives all in incredible generosity, including giving to us the Beloved Son.  And then the miracle takes place: the people witness this, shocked by this incredible act of generosity and the people change their behavior.

Take a moment and remember; we are spoiled here in our modern era and in our place. We have plenty of food and we have plenty of access to food. Millenia ago, this was not the case. Food was more precious, more difficult to come by. Therefore Hospitality with food was an incredible act of generosity. To give might mean I would not have enough for me and my family.  

The people in these stories had food with them. They had it hidden within. They hoarded it to protect it; they were not about to share it with anyone, otherwise maybe they may not have enough for themselves. So they have been trained by their community to act this way.  Then they witnessed that incredible act of generosity by Jesus and by Elisha, they witnessed them taking the risk to share with them, strangers, and they desired to imitate it. Change happened; the people were shocked into thinking and acting differently.

Jesus becomes that shock to our system.  Jesus, in his life, his teachings, will force us to see ourselves and our actions, and will redirect us to our truest selves. Jesus directs us to follow him, so that we can be those same persons who are awake and are aware and who willing choose to do what is right, just and good; to choose life.  The cross stands as that ultimate shock.

And for centuries we have tried to tame Jesus and his teachings to prevent that shock to us; to prevent changing society. The Spirit always prevails.  Centuries, even to this day, people will deny the fullness of God, because it challenges them, so they attempt to re-define God in their own image, to conform with their own dis-ordered views...look at how people use God to validate racism, sexism, violence...even to this day.  It is horrible.

Eucharist means thanksgiving. This Eucharist, and every eucharist, needs to shock us; to help us remember God, through Christ, in the Spirit, working great things in our own lives. So that we can then also mimic this, choose to do as God has done.

We need to come to Eucharist and be shocked out of our complacency. Out of our patterns. We need to be challenged in how we think, desire and how we act.

As God has forgiven us, in Christ, then inspired we can forgive others.  As God has given us life in Christ, then inspired we can give life to others in our generosity.  As God has been humble with us in Christ, then we too can choose to be humble, to serve and not be served.  As God demonstrated and gave respect to all people, we too can choose to respect all people, not attack, judge and nor destroy because we are scared of the differences.

As Christ found true and full life in this way, so we can also.  Joy comes from living life in a sincere manner. Joy comes from seeing good and doing good.

It begins with each of us looking inward, and asking ourselves, for what are we truly grateful for? What has God done and continues to do in our own lives? Can’t we mimic that?