PaddlingPadre

To anyone who has, more will be given, and from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. These are words that can seem difficult, and yet they express something that, on a little reflection, must be true. Because all of us, regardless of whether or not we are aware of it, have received from God everything that we have, hence St. Paul asks the Corinthians what do you have that you did not receive? Our families, our friends, our health, our natural talents and abilities, even our very lives… none of these come from ourselves… all of them are pure gift; even if we worked for them or developed them through personal striving, the very ability to do that was a gift from God. There is nothing that we possess that is not a gift.

And that is a fact that demonstrates how profoundly gratuitous God is, and that helps us to realize that all of creation is in fact undergirded by this divine generosity. God, after all, does not create the cosmos because he is forced to, he does not give us the gift of this world and of this life because he has no other choice, but he rather does so in an act of supreme generosity and love, an act grounded in his own inner being as a Triune communion of persons, such that God’s own immeasurable goodness is poured out undeservedly to all of us, to all of creation, to we creatures who are created to be loved by God and to love him in return.

And in the greatness of that calling from which our own very existence springs, we can see that God wants to give so much to us. And to be alive, to be here, is to have received the first of His gifts, but only the first. God yet wants to give us so much more. He wants to redeem us and all this fallen world, which awaits with eager expectation to be set free from slavery to corruption and to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. He wants us to come to ever greater knowledge of Himself. And above all, He wants to invite us into His own inner life to be with him forever. These are the greater gifts, the further gifts, beyond the gifts of family and friends and health and talent and earthly life, that God longs to give to us.

And indeed, God is giving us these gifts, ceaselessly he is giving them. These gifts of redemption, of eternal life, of intimate friendship with God, came rushing out of Christ’s pierced side on the cross, and they are made available to us through the ministry and sacraments of the Church, not least of which is the eucharistic sacrifice of this altar, which makes present to us that saving sacrifice of Christ. And so truly God has given us great gifts, and by the ongoing work of salvation He is always giving us more.

Thus, the question for us is: are we receptive to these gifts that God is giving us? This question is the reason why, in this life, we stand at a crossroads. Because there are two paths open before us: either we can, with the help of God’s grace, be receptive to what it is God is offering to us, in which case we will receive ever more as we grow in our capacity to receive, and thereby grow rich even to the point of attaining to God himself. Or else, we can, by our own sinfulness and self-will, close ourselves off to what God is offering, and so grow poor, as ultimately, given the march of time, we will lose our family and our friends, our talents and our abilities, and eventually our health and our lives too, and having rejected those gifts that last in favor of things that are passing, we will be left with nothing. In other words, depending on the degree to which we are receptive to God’s gifts, we make a choice between these two roads, the one leading to life and riches, the other to death and poverty. To anyone who has, more will be given, and from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

Naturally, then, we ought to strive to take the road that leads to life and to riches, we ought to strive to be receptive to the gifts of redemption and life and divine friendship that God is offering us. And that’s easier said then done. There are, after all, many obstacles along the path. As our Lord says in today’s parable, the ground is rocky and choked with thorns, and the sun scorches and withers. Would that we could simply choose the road that leads to life, would that we could simply will to be receptive to God’s gifts, as if we weren’t weighed down by temptations and trials and sorrows that can threaten to drive us to doubt and despair, or even to simple forgetfulness of God’s presence.

But, as Isaiah says, the Word of God is fruitful, His will is irresistible, and if we seek Him He will assist us in these difficulties, He will help us to be receptive to His gifts. So take heart, for though we may suffer as we travel along this road that leads to life, as St. Paul tells us, the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed to us. The thorns and the rocks and the scorching sun will not triumph, and by virtue of God’s inestimable generosity we and all creation will be set free from corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Such is our inheritance, if we will have it. Such is our path, if we will take it. Such is God’s gift, if we will receive it. And so how does one foster this receptivity? By tending to the soil of your own soul, by making it fertile for the reception of the Word. Seek God’s assistance in this. He has, after all, left us powerful aids, especially through the ministry of the Church. We have the sacraments, for instance, all of which, when partaken of worthily, help us to develop a holy receptivity to God. Especially worthy of mention here is the sacrament of confession, particularly regular confession, through which God helps us to root out the thorns and rocks within our souls that prevent us from receiving his word. And then there is of course the Holy Eucharist, the frequent and worthy reception of which, perhaps more than anything else, transforms us into the sort of creatures that receive the gifts of God eagerly and joyfully. And to these two things many more could be added. The treasury of the Church is vast: devotions, meditations, scripture reading and study, private prayer, pilgrimages, penance and fasting: let us avail ourselves of these things. For while we live, we stand at this crossroads between riches and poverty, between life and death, and the more that we have, the more that we are able to receive, the more will be given.