June 25, 2006
Summer invites us to step back, slow down and take "the long view". It's time to celebrate our lives and to acknowledge that our work ~ what we are about ~ is simply one small step along the way of God's work, His plan. The contemporary martyr Archbishop Oscar Romero reflects on this in his prayer called "The Long View".
The Long View
It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen
Archbishop Oscar Romero
May we slow down, be at peace and take "The Long View" as we enter this Summer.
Peace,
Fr. Chuck
351