Jesus said to the crowd: “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light” (Luke 8:16).

God blesses us freely without cost, he freely gives himself to us. He has done great things for us and he is the source of our joy! We do not earn nor is there anything that we can do to gain God’s grace. But we can lose the gift we have been given. This happens either by not receiving or refusing what has been offered, or once accepting and receiving not doing anything with our gift. If we are people of faith in name only, but not followed by action, we are concealing the light we have been given.

Since our Golden Retrievers have passed away, our last of three, Lexi, just a few months ago, the little exercise I did walking with them is now almost non existent. Premature aging of my heart, weight gain, lower back and body ache, as well as a series of pulled muscles, are all subtle hints that my lack of attention on exercise is exacting a cost on my health.

The same can be said for our faith. If we do not exercise our faith, we will receive signs of atrophy. Not to even acknowledge the presence of God in our life, the free gift of his invitation to be in relationship with him, our life will be limited at best. For whether we believe in God or not we hunger to be in communion with him and one another, so we will be looking for other apparent avenues of happiness that will fall short of fulfilling us. If we do accept that there is a God, yet don’t participate in worship, fellowship, service, and prayer, we are not much better off. I can believe that my car will get me to school in the morning, but if I do not put the key in the ignition, turn on the engine, put the car in drive, I will remain stationary and stay where I am.

If we claim to be people of faith, we need to put our faith in action. We need to daily: spend time in prayer, read Scripture, study our faith through spiritual reading, cd’s, dvd’s (I at first wrote cassettes and videotapes!) and/or podcasts. We need to consistently participate in worship, the sacraments, and serve one another. We need to see God in our everyday experience and see how we can collaborate with him in all we do. We must resist the tendency to privatize our faith, while at the same time resist getting in someone’s face. We are to be present, care, understand, support, and accompany one another, even others of no or different faith traditions.

May we be open to being conformed today and each day to the love and mercy of Jesus, most powerfully shown by his giving his life for us. Let us resist the darkness of our prejudice and fear. Let us instead seek to encounter one another, to realize how much more we have in common than not. May we seek in each interaction to bear the presence of Christ’s light, radiating such joy and hospitality in such a way that anytime we come together, God happens.

Link for today’s readings:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/092517.cfm