Reflection
In his recent book, Moral Ambition, Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, suggests most of us waste our many talents instead of focusing them on projects that make large, measurable impacts. I don’t fault his fostering of good works for humanity. But his emphasis on calculating how to defeat malaria, make the world’s drinking water safe, or improve evidence-based charities strikes me as counter to what Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel.
Our capitalist society wants results. Preferably measurable results. Businesses are successful at the bottom line. A black bottom line is good. Red? Not good.
But in doing the work of God, we followers of Jesus are not called to be effective. As the Kentucky monk Thomas Merton once wrote to peace activist Jim Forrest,
“We are not called to be successful. We are called to be faithful.”
If I sit in quiet with a lonely person to learn what is important to them at that moment, what goal is achieved? If I stand on the street to protest any country owning a nuclear weapon, will the world disarm? If I sit on the floor and play with a foster child whose mother is in a drug rehab center and whose father is unknown, does that guarantee the child will grow up to be a responsible, tax-paying member of society?
The point is, our human measurements for calculating the effectiveness of any of our good actions don’t apply to a person living in union with loving, lavishly forgiving Christ.
We are called to notice where and when a merciful God is present in our lives. Experiencing that presence, we seek to learn what choices God wants us to make to glorify God. St. Ignatius of Loyola called this discernment. In quiet prayer, away from the tugs and pulls of a culture intent on exciting experiences, profit-making, competition, and domination, we listen to the movements of the Spirit within us.
The Spirit often surprises. We may be drawn to an action that might be judged frivolous, inefficient, or even wasteful.
In the lore of the Catholic Worker movement, it is said that Dorothy Day, the saintly social reformer, was once given an expensive diamond ring by a generous donor who assumed she would sell it and use the money to feed and shelter more poor people in one of the Catholic Worker Houses of Hospitality. Instead, she shocked many by giving the ring to a destitute woman whom she had met on the street. Asked why, Dorothy said, “I wanted the woman to know her dignity.”
Jesus’ hyperbolic examples in today’s gospel tell of God’s expansive love for every one of us sinners. Leaving all 99 sheep to chase after one goofy lost one makes no sense. Or what woman spends excessive energy looking for a lost coin, then hosts a party to celebrate finding it? Not practical.
Much of what we followers of Jesus do may make little sense or be impractical in the eyes of an efficient, hard-driving world.
But we are called to be counter-cultural, not cultural lemmings. God has plans for us the world may mock, despise, or undercut. We should expect no less.
Today is a good day to take stock of what God is drawing you to. Are you being called to an action that gives you great consolation, even if it may have little or no impact? Are you called to lead a major campaign of social reform? Are you called to be faithful to your spousal, religious community, or family commitments even if no one pays attention or compliments you?
The Spirit promised by Christ is with us here and now. We call on this Spirit to lead us where God wants us to go and to provide what we need all along the way. May we trust this Spirit with our entire lives.
