thoughts for September 27

“We tried to prevent him because he does not follow us." So said the apostles to Jesus. Jesus answered, “Do not prevent him.”
"Moses, my lord, stop them." So said Joshua.
But Moses answered him,
"Are you jealous for my sake?
Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!
Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!"
They aren’t part of our group. They don’t follow us. They aren’t of our party. They don’t belong to our church. They aren’t Americans. They aren’t orthodox believers. They aren’t Catholic. They aren’t . . . You can complete the sentence in hundreds of different ways. Our response always seems to be the same. How dare they! Stop them!
That is not the answer of Jesus or of Moses. It’s not the answer of a true follower of Christ or of God.
These facts bring to mind many memories. One is of a delightful Irishman who taught Scripture at Catholic University of America. He once commented, “Gentlemen, you can thank God everyday that God does not read our Canon Law books or our moral theology books or our other pronouncements before he decides what to think about people!”
The other is a response I heard from an international authority at a conference. Someone asked him about the need for standards and certification and quality control. He answered, “No. I’m just grateful to God that I’ve learned what I’ve learned and no one needs my permission to teach it to others. And the only control I’m interested in is self-control. Beyond that, I’m interested in reaching out in ever widening circles to anyone who wants to learn this and together pursuing ever higher standards.”
Inspiring answers! How far they are from the partisanship and possessiveness and rancor we see around us!
Can we aspire to that? No one needs our permission to do good or to speak the truth. The only control we are interested in is self-control. Beyond that, we are interested in reaching out in ever widening circles of friendship.