By Deacon Richard Hay
“Balancing the Extremes”
I recently had a conversation with someone where we talked about the extremes that are part of our lives these days. We often encounter these extremes through social media, the news, people we interact with and maybe even within our own family and friends. As I mentioned in a recent homily, we live in a world where the extremes are much more pronounced than they have been in the past. We also can spend time in our own thoughts about extremes and “what if” situations when it comes to our daily life and especially in our faith. Many of these internal extremes can rival the best that movie directors and producers put on the big screen.
This does not need to be our norm though – we can choose to not exist in these extremes. Whether it is in our external existence and interactions with others or our internal thought process – it is so important to have balance in all aspects of our lives so that we do not descend into despair and worry.
Rather we should make the effort to spend our lives so that those extremes do not have such high peaks and deep lows.
We should approach life in the love of God because ultimately, that is where we are intended to exist. Once we are there, then we can let those extremes go, trust fully in God’s will and love for us and then share his love with others.
Our readings today reflect this, beginning with the first from the prophet Isaiah. This is a prophecy about Jesus’s sacrifice for us and it starts out with a line that seems extreme – “The Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity”.
It comes across as if God might have been “happy” to send Jesus to become human like us and ultimately be crucified. However, this is all about God’s will – his plan for our salvation – his deep love for us – in that he sent his only begotten son. God wasn’t “happy” to send Jesus as a sacrifice, but he did so because it was his will that Jesus would save us through the cross.
Isaiah then writes that because of his affliction – through Christ’s suffering – there will be many blessings – “the light in the fullness of days” – because he will bear our guilt and justify many. That is God’s love for us in action – we often think we are unworthy of such unconditional love and therefore we end up in those extremes – because our humanity tells us we are not worthy of that kind of “agape” love – the unconditional love of God – but we are and that is something we need to always keep in the forefront of our minds and hearts.
I believe it is the evil one – the devil – who puts those doubts into our minds – to sow those extreme moments – to try and create distrust in our hearts because as we draw closer to God – the devil loses. That is why it so important to have balance with God’s love as the centerline in our lives.
The psalm in today’s readings is unique among all the psalms in this chapter because it is a cheerful one as opposed to a lament like the other psalms that are also in this chapter. These are words that we can reflect on to remind us why those deep extremes that we encounter are not of God.
First, we hear that the Lord is upright; trustworthy; that he loves justice and right; that the earth is full of his kindness; that his eyes are on those who hope for his kindness; and that he will preserve us in spite of death and famine in the world. Definitely words intended to lift us up and provide encouragement.
Then, the psalmist writes about us when he says that “our soul waits for the Lord who is our help and our shield”. This is the thought to also keep in our mind when we experience these moments in our faith of “what if” – he is our help and our shield – if we love him unconditionally like he does us – there is no reason for doubt – only hope.
Our second reading brings this into focus when we read that we should “…confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.”
Our approach to this mercy and grace is by regularly receiving the sacraments – particularly the Eucharist and Reconciliation plus daily prayer – because they will help us bring our existence into balance – our extremes will become less and less intense as we focus on the love of God.
Another way we create balance is laid out for us in today’s gospel. In fact, in keeping with the theme of extremes – what we learn in the gospel is that in our humanity we see things based on our own experiences of life – and there is Jesus teaching us that it is really the exact opposite.
First – let’s clarify that James and John realize that Jesus is the Messiah. That is why they ask him to permit them to sit on his right and his left. However, that request comes from their human understanding of what a kingdom is and what the various roles in that kingdom would be – they are thinking with an earthly perspective.
As we hear Jesus tell them – a leader is actually a servant – that the greatest leaders will be those who are the greatest servants. That of course, is not what James and John were thinking. We learn that is also not what the other 10 apostles were thinking when they overheard the conversation and became indignant.
Jesus clarifies this when he reminds all of them that they will in fact drink from the cup Jesus will drink from – persecution for their faith – and for James and the other apostles that means martyrdom and for John exile. The exact opposite of what they thought the kingdom of God was about – glory, power, and riches of an earthly nature.
In the final part of the gospel, Jesus provides the apostles with understanding about their roles as servants in the church – roles that he showed them as an example in his own life – and our roles as well:
- That it is not about being served – but serving others
- That it is not about getting anything but giving all we have
- That it is not about being first but being the last to put others ahead of us
The Kingdom of God is beyond anything we might imagine. In our human existence there is no comparison – we get close and get very brief glimpses of what it might be like through the mass and the sacraments, but like the apostles – we can’t fully understand it until the day comes when we are called to be with the Lord at the end of our lives or at his second coming.
When that happens – that which we do not fully understand right now – the mystery of what our existence in heaven and eternal life with God will be like – ends up being filled with clarity and joy because we will then be in the full glory of God to honor, worship and praise him forever – no more living in the extremes.
As Pope Francis recently said in conjunction with the Year of Prayer:
“Daily prayer, and especially the Eucharist, makes us pilgrims and missionaries of hope. We journey towards everlasting life in God and the nuptial banquet that God has prepared for all his children.”
So, we should understand that this earthly existence will not matter and the only thing that will is pure glory and praise because the will of God, that each one of us will be in heaven with him, has been fulfilled and he will continue to love us forever.
