Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
September 12, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091223.cfm

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Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we hear Paul’s beautiful encouragement to the Colossians to rejoice in their radical union with Christ. This unity, Paul points out, should be the cause for profound thanksgiving and steadfast fidelity.

The world against which Paul cautions his readers sounds similarly antagonistic as our own:

See to it that no one captivate you
with an empty, seductive philosophy
according to the tradition of men,
according to the elemental powers of the world
and not according to Christ.

Colossians 2:8

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The command to “see to it” is a bit intimidating. Paul is saying, “It’s on you, buddy, to stay on course now that you have chosen Christ.” Well just how am I supposed to do that, Paul, in this messy world????

Paul doesn’t leave us simply to our own resources. He reminds us of this powerful truth:

You were buried with Christ in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him
through faith in the power of God,
who raised him from the dead.

Colossians 2:12

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Through Baptism, and through living a Baptismal life, we have experienced our own Resurrection in Christ! We are no longer rooted in the destructible shell of this world. We are tethered to its heart which is the fullness of God.

For in Christ dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily,
and you share in this fullness in him,
who is the head of every principality and power.

Colossians 2:9-10

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In North America, we are coming into the heart of hurricane season. Even if our neighborhood doesn’t suffer a direct hit, we often feel the powerful fringe effects of a passing storm. Some of our trees stand fast in such winds; some do not.

So it is with us who set out to follow Christ. If we forget our roots, failing to nourish them in the graces offered us, the winds will overcome us. And the overcoming doesn’t have to look as dramatic as a hurricane. It manifests itself in the small, constant choices for self rather than others – those tiny, debilitating acts of uncharity, indifference, judgementalism, gossip, and self-indulgence. These small branches, when they fall one after another from the tree, eventually leave it bare against the heavens.

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Our Alleluia Verse reminds us that we, like the disciples in today’s Gospel, were not chosen to splinter in the wind, but to flourish in the grace of our call, bearing fruit toward eternity:

I chose you from the world,
that you may go and bear fruit that will last,
says the Lord.

John 15:16

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Poetry: from Rumi

Everything you see 
has its roots in the unseen world. 
The forms may change, 
yet the essence remains the same. 
Every wonderful sight will vanish, 
every sweet word will fade, 
But do not be disheartened, 
The source they come from is eternal, growing, 
Branching out, giving new life and new joy. 
Why do you weep? 
The source is within you 
And this whole world is springing up from it.

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Music: The Memory of Trees – Enya