26th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Cycle A
October 1, 2017
My Wrongdoing
Today’s readings lead me to remember something from
when I was about six-years-old.
One day, two of my neighborhood friends – Jack and
Steve – and I were playing in Jack’s yard.
It was a summer afternoon and one of the things we did was to play some
kind of simple card game.
Well, the afternoon wore on, Steve went home, Jack was
called inside his house and I got on my bike to ride home. But, before I did, I put Jack’s deck of cards
in my pocket and took them.
Sure enough, my mother quickly noticed the cards and
asked me where I got them. As you can
guess, I got lectured about not taking things that belong to somebody else.
Then my mother told me to get on my bike and take the
cards right back to Jack. I did that and
was really lucky.
No one was in Jack’s yard and I was able to put the
cards back where they were without being seen.
But I still felt ashamed and really learned a lesson.
Today’s Readings
The
Scripture readings today talk about doing what is right or wrong.
With
these readings as our background, I want to make two recommendations for us
today – about being aware of ourselves and our behavior.
Recommendation 1
My
first recommendation is to take an inventory of our lives sometime this week.
I
want us to ask ourselves this question: what are the sinful areas or dark sides
or growth edges or imperfections in me?
Frankly, I don’t think the word or what we call this is so important.
The
important thing is to look at ourselves and develop a list of our stuff. My bet is that each of us will be able to
name about five things – at least I know that I can do that for myself!
So
do this inventory. To help with this,
think about the Ten Commandments, but go beyond what we call sins of commission
to sins of omission.
For
example, one commandment calls husband and wife to be faithful to each other. But also consider whether you are making time
to communicate well and to do things that are thoughtful and will enhance the
relationship.
In
this inventory, it is also important to think about the Beatitudes – Jesus
calling us to be compassionate, humble and peacemaking. And definitely think about Jesus’ emphasis on
caring for the poor and anyone who is suffering.
Again,
the idea is to identify our sinful areas or dark sides or growth edges or
imperfections. And by the way, develop just
your own inventory – please don’t develop mine even though lots of you could
probably do that!
Recommendation 2
Now with this inventory as a benchmark, my second recommendation
is to do an examination of conscience each day.
This is simply a review of how I did today or yesterday, depending
on the time of day we do this. So look
at each area on your personal inventory and ask: how did I do on that
yesterday?
Probably we’ll do okay in some areas and not okay in others. After we own up to where we faltered, then
make an Act of Contrition, or what I like to call a Prayer of Resolve.
This is a prayer asking for God’s forgiveness and also for God’s
strength to do better. You can pray a
prayer that you know by heart or just speak to God in your own words.
Again, an Act of Contrition is a prayer asking God’s forgiveness
and expressing our resolve to do better.
And we ask God’s strength to help us to do that.
Conclusion
The
last thing I want to say this morning is that all of this is about our personal
and spiritual growth.
I find
this to be a very positive practice. The
personal inventory and daily review or examination of conscience is not a negative
downer but a positive way to keep growing in the Lord each day of our lives.
Addendum to Homily: A Sample Act of Contrition/ Prayer
of Resolve
My
God,
I
am sorry for my sins with all my heart.
In
choosing to do wrong
and
failing to do good,
I
have sinned against you
whom
I should love above all things.
I
firmly intend, with your help,
to
do penance,
to
sin no more,
and
to avoid whatever leads me to sin.
Our
Savior Jesus Christ
suffered
and died for us.
In
his name, my God, have mercy.
