The truly amazing eludes us. It is too large, too encompassing to take in. Not long ago, the phrase “There’s an app for that” would have meant nothing to us. Now we shrug as new applications arrive daily for the portable computer we call our smartphone.
Apps that rely on GPS tracking are changing our patterns of life. We now expect our phone to offer weather forecasts on demand and to inform us of commercial services in the town we are approaching. The dating app Tinder tells you if the people in the photos you have swiped are nearby and if they have expressed any interest in your picture. Uber finds you a car and driver, already in your area.
Too bad there is not an app that tells us when Christ is near and asking something of us. Remember, our Lord has serious expectations of us:
I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses
that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:20).
Yet we probably do. Many of us are exhausted because we do give ourselves over to righteous causes. We have altered how we live because of the environment, because of the poor, because of the needs we see. And our planetary and personal causes align. As the crowd scatters, we are the type that stays to clean up. We are focused on the people who need us most. We are the volunteer our community depends upon. We are raising our children, looking after an aged parent, making ourselves available to a friend who needs us.
Like the scribes and the Pharisees, we give most everything of ourselves that we can. If righteousness is determined by doing what we see must be done, then, truly, we are righteous. We have even learned not to complain. Who will listen? So what does Christ the Lord want of us? How are we to go beyond those dogged scribes and Pharisees?
If only there were an app that alerted us every time that Christ was near, every time that Christ wanted us to let up on our worthwhile labors long enough to look at someone we love.
Remember in the musical “Camelot,” when an exasperated King Arthur does not know what to do for his wife Guinevere? He plaintively asks how to handle a woman.
“There’s a way,” said the wise old man:
The way to handle a woman
Is to love her...simply love her...
Merely love her...love her...love her.
That is what Christ wants of us as we work so hard to serve those whom he has given to us. You see, we naturally focus on what needs to be done. We forget that what matters most to God is a heart clearly choosing to love. Really, if we are not reminded to love those whom we serve, we grow restless and resentful.
Falling in love takes care of itself. Choosing to love requires a pause and a prayer. If only there were an app that alerted us every time that Christ was near, every time that Christ wanted us to let up on our worthwhile labors long enough to look at someone we love.
Sadly, no such app is coming. Why, it would need to draw our attention to most every face we see! Or is that the app God that intended for us to use as an aid, a reminder to stop and to love? The human face.
Readings: Sirach 15: 15-20 1 Corinthians 2: 6-10 Mathew 5: 17-32
