This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
In today’s gospel, Jesus talks about building on solid rock by acting on His teachings, unlike the foolish builder who builds on sand, whose building is ultimately destroyed by the forces of nature. Christians build a vulnerable spiritual building, destined to destruction, when they do not ground that building on the rock of a committed life lived in accord with Jesus’ teachings.
We see this in the world today. Many of those with whom we come in contact are “good” people–honest-to-goodness nice people, with whom we enjoy a positive relationship of mutual good will. But of these, many unfortunately feel the attraction of the Christian message, but consciously avoid adopting it in its fullness. They build their houses on sand. Why? Because of one word: Sacrifice.
The Psalmist asks today “How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me?” And his response: “The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the LORD.”
There are beautiful layers to this psalm, in the light of the New Testament. In a very real way, the answer to our quandary about how to “repay” the Lord for what He has done for us is to take up the Eucharist, prefigured in the psalm by the cup. We can repay Him by taking up, that is, receiving, the sacrament of salvation–and thus, by making His sacrifice for us fruitful. It is not so much a “repayment” as a bringing to fulfillment His gift by letting it come to fulfillment in us.
But this also means taking up our own allotted cup of sacrifice, the sacrifice of faithfulness to our Christian life by giving up our lives in the day-to-day for others within our vocation. “My cup you will indeed drink,” Jesus tells his disciples James and John in Mt. 20:23. Indeed we are to drink to the dregs the cup of sacrifice allotted to each of us in our own life, in imitation of and collaboration with our Master.
Ah, but there’s the rub. That’s the one step that is so difficult for many to take. Jesus wants us to lose our life in order to find it (cf. Mt. 16:25). Not easy. Many otherwise good and nice people simply decline.
But the entire first reading teaches us something important in this regard. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t be a Christian without the personal sacrifice. As Paul poignantly points out, you can’t participate in the Eucharistic table and then sacrifice to demons by remaining in selfishness. With Christ, it is all or nothing.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Think about the relationship between Jesus’ Cup of Sacrifice in the Eucharist, and the sacrifice of your own personal gift of self to your vocation and to others in the day to day. And how you can offer your cup of sacrifice in your heart with the mundane gifts of bread and wine that go to the priest’s altar each day, and receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity–Jesus’ sacrificial gift to you–in return. Adore Him, praise Him for the incredible, disproportionate “economy of gift” that He has set up for you because He loves you.
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