16th Sunday of Ordinary Time [A]

 

16TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME [A]


You are being assisted by the Holy Spirit, whether you realize it or not. That’s what we hear in St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, chapter eight. You are being supported, and it’s a measure of support that seems to be registering from WITHIN, from deep down inside of you. In other words, the Holy Spirit can be described as an “embedded” Spirit (see Rom. 8:9-27). You are made up of flesh and also of Spirit. The flesh and the Spirit coexist, in the same way the wheat and the weeds are coexisting in Matthew chapter thirteen (13:24-30). 


It’s not as if the weeds have been invited. They are clearly an uninvited phenomenon. Nevertheless, you understand that they are also an inevitable part of the picture. You learn to live with this particular disadvantage. And likewise you learn to live with the disadvantages that are associated with the flesh. It can be said that they parallel one another: the weeds and the flesh. Weeds not only appear, but they also spread. Similarly, the flesh asserts itself against the Spirit (Gal. 5:17). It’s not content with the notion of “coexisting.”  It wants to take over. 


Consider, for example, what happens to the Robinson family. They are forced to land on a remote planet, where the only life-forms are the plants. Initially they are coexisting with the plant-life. However, they soon find themselves being overrun. Why have the plants become so aggressive? It has to do with the fact that they are being fed. They are feeding off a chemical compound called “Deutronium.”  The Robinsons keep a store of Deutronium because it’s part of the mixture for their fuel supply. Eventually, through the use of their weapons, they manage to fight off the threat (see the original Lost In Space series, episode fourteen). 


The point of this illustration is that we need to be more concerned with feeding the Spirit than with feeding the flesh. If we underfeed the Spirit, then we will face what the Robinson’s had to face on that remote planet. You could call it a kind of “hostile takeover.”  Does this mean that we are being called upon to “starve” the flesh? There are Saints who would indeed make this recommendation. Still, from a Church standpoint, it’s more a question of proportion (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1809). Proportionally speaking, if the flesh is being fed more abundantly than the Spirit, then you are placing yourself at risk. 


Of course, it will involve some effort and some discipline, if you commit yourself to feeding the Spirit. There may be times when you feel as if you are faltering, as if you are disappointing the Lord. Still, it’s worth remembering that he is not a Lord who leans in the direction of anger or wrath. Rather, he leans in the direction of clemency and leniency. He’s capable of anger; he’s capable of wrath. But, if you refer to the Book of Wisdom, you’ll see that he prefers the lenient approach, the approach of clemency (Wis. 12:16-19). 

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