Sunday Reflections

This past week the Canadian Province of the Congregation of the Resurrection gathered for a community retreat, during which we focused on our Charism and Mission Statements. As a lay Apostle of the Resurrection, it was my first time attending the Provincial retreat, and it has been both a challenging and energizing week.  The readings this Sunday seem to highlight some of the main themes we reflected on: humility and power, and that true humility and true power both come from God.

Isaiah tells us that “the power of the Lord is with his servants”. All who follow God’s commandments and who seek solace in “Jerusalem” (meaning the Kingdom of God), will find prosperity and comfort.  This is the power of God, and in God’s love for humanity he extends that power to us and makes those who follow God, powerful in his name.

“The power of the Spirit forms Christ in us, and moves us to respond with love to the Father’s great love for us.”  CR Charism Statement

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he reminds us to be humble, and to “never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.”  We are to be truly humble, which does not mean proclaiming that we are worthless and can do nothing good.  True humility means recognizing that our successes are not our own, and that no matter how hard we try, on our own we cannot be the best version of ourselves, we cannot do the best that can be done at each task we undertake. In humility, we rejoice in the Lord and give glory to God for the talents and opportunities he has given freely to us, out of love. Our successes are due to God’s presence in our lives, due to his love, unconditional and powerful.

“We believe that God’s love for us is merciful and unfailing. … We are nothing, have nothing, and can do nothing without God.”  CR Charism Statement

Luke’s Gospel pulls these two truths together.  Jesus sends his apostles out into the world, to use the power given to them by God to share the Good News with all people.  The apostles are amazed and rejoice that “even the demons submit to us!”  But Jesus reminds them to “not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Like us, the apostles needed a reminder that their successes, their accomplishments, are because God loved them and they had accepted God’s love.

As Resurrectionists we are called to die to ourselves, to humbly accept our shortcomings and failings and embrace that God loves us, even when we fail, and offers us his power, so that we can “work together for the resurrection of society”. May each of us take today’s readings to heart, so that we can all be prophets to the world, transforming it through the power of God’s love.