Mark Them That Walk
THE TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
It's hard to imagine, but we're just three weeks away from Advent, indicating the end of Trinitytide and the beginning of another Christian year! As in most things, endings usually signal a new beginning. Advent points to the coming of the Lord, preparing us to receive the King who will be born of a virgin in an obscure town in a cave hewn out of stone because there wasn't a room available, and placed in a manger, a common feeding trough for livestock. The Advent season is a time of anticipation and preparing oneself to receive the Divine visitation of the Lord. But we could say that the entirety of the Christian year and the Christian life is but one long exercise of preparing for the coming of Christ: that future day when he will return on the clouds to come and judge the quick and the dead, the Christian life is the Advent life; waiting, preparing, waiting, and preparing.
Given this perspective, we might think of this long season of Trinity Tide (some twenty-five weeks) as one great exercise of "getting ready." And the chief concern of your mother, the church, and her ministers (like me) is to prepare you to meet the Lord, to present you to him without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that you might be holy and without blemish (Eph 5:27). Remember, Trinitytide is most interested in spiritual growth: growing in our love of God, charity to neighbors, the mortifying of sins, and cultivating virtue, godliness, and holiness. So we have turned to the Psalms over these many weeks to find Christ within them, hear and recognize his voice, and follow Him. Following the Shepherd is what we call sanctification, and sanctification is the Christian work of preparing ourselves to meet him when He comes.
Diligence and commitment to sanctification are to be like those five virgins who wisely trimmed their lamps as they awaited the bridegroom's arrival. And when he appeared, the five foolish virgins woke up in a panic because their lamps weren't ready! They had to run off and buy oil because they hadn't trimmed their lamps. But those five wise virgins who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut (Mt 25:10). We trim our lamps (so to speak) by growing in love and obedience to our Lord. But we often forget that love and obedience are the mortar by which the Holy Spirit repairs and rebuilds our souls: to grow in these not only draws us nearer to God but is the necessary medicine that truly cures our ills. But there is a third beneficiary when the selfless and humble exercise of these two Christian virtues is individually pursued, and that beneficiary is the family of God, those who are counted among a Christian parish.
The very first Psalm tells us that the person who plants their life in the life of God, who meditates and willingly follows His will (doing the commands of God or pursuing sanctification) this same person prospers like a tree planted by streams of living water and bears an abundance of good fruit. The same holds true for a parish as each Christian member stays rooted in the truth, holds steadfastly to the faith, and upholds unity by seeking peace and living a holy life. The Lord shall prosper the parish that does these things. Not so the wicked, says the psalmist, who shall perish like chaff on the wind.
And sadly, what's true of a wicked congregation is true for the soul of one whose life trajectory is moving away from Christ. Their soul becomes parched, seeking water yet finding none. As the soul drifts further and further away from Christ, it seeks comfort from vain and corruptible things that never quite satisfy the deep longing to love God and to be loved by God. Weary from toil, it longs for peace but finds no rest as it draws nearer to the allurements of the world and further from its creator. "You have made us for yourself, O Lord and our heart is restless until it rests in you."
By these famous words, St. Augustine teaches that the further one is from Christ, the more restless the soul. Sin obstructs our embracing of God. We were created to enjoy unimpeded union with Him eternally, so the soul's natural movement is to return to its creator. But unrest comes from sinful choices that elevate guilt and riddles the conscience. People ache to return but don't know the way home or even how to go, willfully setting out on the road to error that often ends in sin.
Sin obstructs and delays heavenly progress, wreaks havoc upon the sinner, and damages others. We sin by willful action and inaction, those sins of omission, not having done what we should have. One moment, we are flourishing in the grace of God, and the next, we fall into sin. St. James reveals our susceptibility to double-mindedness in writing, "With the tongue, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be!" (Js 3:10).
St. Paul was quite familiar with this spiritual vacillation, writing, "I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom 7:244-26) My friends, what James and Paul are describing is the spiritual life. It is an ever-constant tug of war in the soul.
And yet we remain steadfast in hope firmly established in the Grace of God, and we press on in sanctification. We keep on "trimming our lamps," doing our part through prayer, tithing, service, acts of mercy and charity towards all men, while humbly entrusting the reformation of our souls to the power of Divine grace given through the indwelling Holy Spirit: we entrust our becoming like Christ to Christ, for God is mercifully building the city of our soul. Grace compels us to follow after God while the Spirit empowers our work in sanctification.
And this sanctified life is worked out incarnationally within the life and worship of Holy Mothe Church. Sanctification naturally occurs in the School of Christ, in parishes like ours with its quirky personality, a multifaceted tapestry of people, each with unique gifts and peculiarities, our frailties and imperfections. And God entrusts the care and cure of souls by setting apart imperfect men through the laying on of human hands to care for his flock and to feed His sheep with Word and Sacrament. From the very beginning, Christ has given Bishops, priests, and deacons as worthy examples (not perfect examples) but saints worthy of imitation whom we follow in sanctification.
"BRETHREN, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample." The Apostle is telling us to follow him, to mark his life, his walk (in fact, any who walk worthy of emulation) because God has given us their example to follow into holiness. Paul told the Corinthians, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ." In one sense, sanctification is imitation; it's becoming like Christ; it's a life that looks a lot like Jesus. But like a student needs a teacher, we learn the pattern of Jesus' life as we walk alongside Christians whose example is marked by the imitation of Christ.
My friends, you will find humility at the heart of every Christian worthy of imitation. Any Christian life worthy of emulation holds fast to humility and keeps it close because pride dissipates the Christian life. CS Lewis says this about pride, "the essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through pride that the devil became the devil." Pride unchecked destroys everything; nothing escapes its grasp.
If humility forms Christ-likeness, then pride forms the exact opposite. The brother of our Lord says, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up" (James 4:10). The prideful soul will not go up to the house of the Lord, nor attain union with Christ, for it refuses to humble itself under His Lordship and the care provided through the God-given shepherds of his church. Pride is easily offended and dwells in isolation, refusing the grace of God; it perceives no need for repentance, healing, or reformation, refusing to see personal fault, sickness, or brokenness. But without humility and true poverty of Spirit, there will be no progress towards Christlikeness: you will only exalt yourself, blame others, and reject the medicine necessary for healing because the proud do not need a physician. No one grows in sanctification apart from grace, inspiring humility.
To imitate Christ is to willingly release any position or status, whatever promotes and puffs up the self. Unless we are willing to be stripped of titles, positions, influence, power, prestige, authority, wealth, possessions, or whatever is fostering pride in the soul and impeding our sanctification and willfully become low by putting on the form of humility, submitting ourselves under the care and cure of Jesus, the chief Bishop of our souls, and, to His church, if we refuse humility, we shall surely perish. Like Jesus, humility willingly submits itself to the voice of the Father, and we follow Christ's pattern as we give ourselves to the care and concern of His church instead of resisting and disregarding the admonition, advice, and correction of those whom God has placed over us.
Like you, I am a man under authority, and like Christ, we would do well to listen to those whom God has given charge over us- for they are given for our sanctification, protection, and care. Remember, those Christians most worthy of imitation intend the best for us even when we don't understand, agree, or like it. A parent's love is often misinterpreted by a child but understood in time. Humility is the hallmark of those to be imitated; the other is love. The imitation of Christ instructs us to fulfill the great commandment of loving God "with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and, to love thy neighbor as thyself."
Learning what to love redirects self-love, which is of great importance because the love of self (nowadays, we call it narcissism) is the greatest hindrance to enjoying union with Christ. Our self-absorption makes it impossible to absorb Christ, stuffing the soul with good things but with wrong intentions while pushing out the very best thing, which is a vibrant relationship with Christ and a life lived within the communion of the saints (with each other). We need to pray for grace and wisdom to redirect our hearts away from idolatry and materialism and open our hearts to the grace and goodness of Christ's church.
Love of self brings nothing but misery; the love of God and neighbor brings vitality, purpose, and meaning to existence. Look for the Christian who gives themselves away, who is always there to serve, who is selfless, generous, grateful, joyful, patient, and kind. That's the given life, not the self-absorbed life; follow her; emulate him. Friend, you will not attain perfection by aiming at yourself: aim at Christ; seek and find someone worthy of imitation (they are here in this parish); ask them to mentor you; have the humility to see in others what you desire for yourself and then pursue them as they pursue Christ.
In all of this, Imitate the Lord: love deeply, selflessly, and sacrificially, just as He loves us. Set your heart, soul, mind, and will to do all the Father asks. Humble yourselves to God's good will for your life, just as his Son Jesus did, and we shall attain the perfection and beatitude of Christ. Remember, "our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." Ask for grace; he will surely give it. And do not squander what you are given. Amen+
