17th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A - 30th July 2017
A number of years ago, a young author cum journalist and TV presenter was asked by a total stranger: “Are you somebody?”
The questioner was really asking, ‘are you somebody of importance – are you somebody I should know?’
Everyone is a somebody! Each of us is a somebody, of course. We don’t need celebrity status to establish this identity. If we live and breathe we are always a somebody, a somebody created by God.
So, who do you think you are?
There was an answer in the old catechism which said: “God made us to love and serve him here on earth and to be happy with him forever in heaven.” So, that is who I am – someone who existed in the mind of God before time began and someone destined to be with God when earthly time has ended.
What’s the story then?
Men in prison use this greeting all the time: “What’s the story then?” They are asking a deeper question than they realize. (I often wonder what their personal stories are?) Our own story is what will make us saints – yes the whole of it, the good and the bad – you must embrace it all. Looking at your whole story is like drawing interest on the deposit experience of your life – give it all to God. (We saw the authentic story of the two Princes this week on TV as they recalled the memories of a very loving mother and, indeed some childhood challenges – their stories will call them to be the people God is calling them to be.)
What will make you “a somebody”
Today the great King Solomon, son of David, the builder of the Temple in Jerusalem only wanted one gift from God, the gift of discernment, to know the difference between good and evil. God was so pleased as he did not ask for a long life, riches or power and so, gave him “a heart wise and shrewd” as no one ever had before or since. This is a treasure each of would love to have. How we would love to have the wisdom always to say the right thing; the strength of character always to do the right thing. We would give up everything to have this gift, this pearl of great price, as the gospel states today.
Finally, the holidays or holy days!
The word, “Holidays” comes from “holy days” – days that refresh body, mind and soul. May everybody be a somebody in our eyes and attitudes in these holy-days ahead!
Fr. Michael McCullagh C.M.
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