Growing Up to be Children

THE WORD AND THE SAINT

September 30, 2019: Remembering St. Jerome
Zechariah 8: 1-8; Luke 9: 46-51

"They shall be my people and I will be their God" - the crux of the faith that has been handed down to us through centuries, is this covenant that God made with our ancestors in faith. God has remained faithful ever since. St. Paul reminds us in his letter to Timothy, even "if we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself" (2Tim 2:13). 

Being God's people means being God's children - and that is being focused totally on God, taking directions from God, and always remaining open and docile to God's promptings, as do the children who are fascinated by their parents. This is where the Word of God comes into play - the Word that came down to reveal the fullness of God to us, is the Word that continues to come down to us, continuously even today, to make us aware and attached to the will of God here and now. But if we do not know the Word who once came down, we will not know the Word that continues to come down even today! 

St. Jerome said that in simple terms: not knowing the scriptures is knowing Christ. Not to know the Word made flesh in time and history, is not to know the Word that comes to us here and now, because the Word is a living Word, a living person, a presence that surrounds us today, here, now, in the very context where we need to make our choices, for or against something.

To be children of God, we need to grow up! It is not growing up from being children, but growing up to be children. Children who are mindful and focused totally on God and what God wants from us, that we do not give into our divisions, partisan feelings, ego trips and self-fulfillments but always remain faithful and attached to God and God alone. Growing up to be children, though it may sound a paradox, let us grow up to be children, only then can we inherit the Reign!