Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. The cliché phrase is: there are two sides to every coin. Some use this phrase to talk about how there are different points of view. Others use the phrase as some Manichean view that good and evil are balanced. The first is an important consideration. The second is just wrong. But I want to use this phrase as the two ways to approach growth in holiness and preparation for heaven.
This via negativa is important, and is one valid way of approaching holiness. We need to know the things that we shouldn’t do because they are contrary to God’s law, natural law, or legitimate human law. Think about it like driving: you need to know that you can’t drive through an intersection at a red light or at a stop sign, or you can’t drive the wrong way down the road. Such things will get you (and others) injured or maybe even killed. It’s not like we just tell 16 year olds to drive safely, and then give them the keys to the car without letting them know there are things they should not do. A world without the word no while driving is like driving in Flint sometimes, where some people just run red lights and stop signs or speed because they do whatever they feel like.
Or, think about it with the image of food. We teach children what to eat and what not to eat, not merely in a dietary sense (eat healthy foods, avoid junk food), but even in the sense of foods that might do you harm. We don’t simply say, “Just make sure you’re eating the right types of food,” and then let a kid chomp down on some raw chicken, or let the child figure out that bread which looks like it’s growing green fur is not a good thing to eat. We tell that person there are things which should not be eaten at all, and things which need to be cooked before we can eat them. The no that we teach kids and young adults when it comes to food can end up saving their lives.
But let’s say that you’ve handled the negatives well. You stop at red lights and you don’t eat moldy bread. Still, you feel like there is more. That’s because there is. The other side of the coin, we’ll call it heads, is the positive things that we do. St. Paul talks about these, too: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” You might say that you don’t struggle with sexual sins, or bouts of rage, or seeking to divide people, or worshiping false gods. Good! How are you at loving others, especially those who don’t treat you well? Can you maintain peace and joy when things don’t go your way, and you cant’s understand the customer service agent on the other end of the phone? How do you give to others, whether your time, talent, or treasure?
These things to which we say yes are important, too. There is an ease to driving when we know how, beyond simply the “don’t do these things.” It can become enjoyable, even relaxing, in the right context. Or a good cook can go beyond not eating raw chicken or moldy bread. He or she knows how to combine different flavors, how long to cook the meat to keep the flavor but avoid sickness, and how to provide not only sustenance, but enjoyment in dining. This past Friday I buried a Polish woman who loved to cook traditional Polish foods. As her child and grandchildren got older, they wanted to know how to make the food she did. But the struggle was that the amount of spices she used were not measured by spoons or cups, but by shakes and pinches. The dough was ready when it felt a certain way between her fingers. She had moved beyond the restrictions of what not to do, to making those foods without much consideration because she knew how to in the core of her being.
We priests can often preach about what not to do, and that’s important, especially for those who are young in the faith. But as we mature in the faith, we also need to emphasize the things to do, the ways that we can say yes to God, not simply no to sin.
And this can even be seen in our Lord’s teaching on worrying. He tells us not to worry about what we are to eat, drink, or wear. God, He tells us, will take care of us. The no, in this case, is no to worrying. The yes in this case is to seeking the will of God. But contained within those are other things to avoid and things to pursue. Don’t buy a new toy, when you haven’t paid for your basic necessities according to your vocation. Do pray to God when you want to make a big purchase. Don’t become a penny-pincher whose only concern is material stability, where money or mammon becomes a false god. Do trust in God with your life and security, and have confidence in giving to those who are in need. Christ knew when to walk through fields of grain, and He knew when to go to Martha and Mary’s house for a good meal. The Apostles kept a small money bag for their needs, but also trusted that God would somehow provide at the feeding of the 5,000.
Lastly, the negatives don’t go away because we are advancing in the positives. Some things are always wrong, no matter how much we’re progressing in our relationship with God. It’s not like we can say that we’ve progressed so far in kindness, that we can be as divisive as possible on occasion. Or that we so love God that a few times of adultery won’t make a difference. We need both no and yes in order to live holy lives.
Consider today where you are at in your relationship with God. Do you still need to focus on what not to do? Or can you focus on what to do and doing that better each day? That probably depends on the area of your life, as you will have some where you simply focus on what not do, while in other areas you can grow more deeply in what to do. And don’t try to do it by yourself. All of this is made possibly only by the grace of the Holy Spirit, who with the Father and the Son live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.
