MAKING LIFE-ENABLING CHOICES
Catholic Homily / Sunday Reflection
21 st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
August 23, 2009
All three readings today revolve around the basic idea of choice. In the first reading, we are presented with a dramatic call made to the tribes of Israel by Joshua, asking them to decide, that is, to make a choice between two false gods. Joshua, the same passage tells us, was clear about his own choice: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” St. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, illustrates as best he could, culling from the culture and practice of his times, what choosing to “live in Christ, as Christ loved us” meant. Choosing to live in Him entails, in concrete, a life of mutual fidelity to one another, a life of mutual service. Nowhere is this love of mutuality and selfless service to each other, coming closest to taking part and sharing in Christ’s paschal mystery – His death and life – as in the love that ought to reign between husbands an...