It’s interesting to note that the word “Gospel” means “good news”, not “good advice”. The gospels are not so much a spiritual and moral theology book that tell us what we should be doing, but are more an account of what God has already done for us, is still doing for us, and the wonderful dignity that this bestows on us. Morality is not a command, it’s an invitation; not a threat, but a reminder of who we truly are.
Ron Rolheiser, OMI
GOSPEL CHALLENGE
In essence, we all have two souls, two hearts, and two minds. We are always both, grand and petty. The world isn’t divided up between big-hearted and small-minded people. Rather our days are divided up between those moments when we are big-hearted, generous, warm, hospitable, unafraid, wanting to embrace everyone and those moments when we are petty, selfish, over-aware of the unfairness of life, frightened, and seeking only to protect ourselves and our own safety and interests. Either of these can manifest itself from minute to minute.
If John of the Cross were your spiritual director and you went to him with some moral flaw or character deficiency, his first counsel would be: What are you good at? What have you been blessed with? Where, in your life and work, does God’s goodness and beauty most shine through? If you can grow more and more towards that goodness, it will fan into an ever larger flame which eventually will become a fire that cauterizes your faults. When you walk tall there will be less and less room for what’s small and petty to manifest itself.
But to walk tall means to walk within our God-given dignity. Nothing else, ultimately, gives us as large an identity. That’s useful too to remember when we challenge each other: Gospel-challenge doesn’t shame us with our pettiness, it invites us to what’s already best inside us.
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