October 22
Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Give the Lord glory and honor.”
Readings
Reflection
God creates all, loves all, and sees us all as one.
We, as humans, tend to categorize people. We long to be the Insider, the one who belongs to the right group. People do not want others to view them as an Outsider. This is all human construct.
Perhaps the question we must ask our communities and ourselves is “why do we want to put people in categories, insiders vs. outsiders?” Certainly, our beliefs may be different, we may even express our desire for closeness with God in differing ways, but God sees us all as his children. We, however, often see each other as the outsider, the enemy.
As I write this, Israel is threatening a ground invasion of Gaza, in retaliation for the attack of Hamas against Israel. How odd it is, as an apparent outsider in this situation, to see two distinct sides, good vs. evil, Jew vs. Arab, and then to remember that what God sees is his children fighting each other.
I believe that God, the creator of us all, would ask us to consider how important universalism and the breaking down of boundaries is within our religious traditions. God calls all peoples and lands to love and praise God. Seeing that God is present in each of his creations, perhaps we could honor that presence and cease trying to categorize people as insiders or outsiders, in exchange for seeing them as children of one God.
Peace,
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