Reflections for Sunday

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - September 7, 2003

If you believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, you must show no partiality. If a man comes into your assembly richly dressed, and a poor man enters in shabby clothes, and you take notice of the rich man and say to him, "please sit here, Sir," but to the poor man say, "you stand over there," are you not making distinctions, and judging them?

Listen, my brothers! Did not God choose those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith? And did he not promise that those who love him will be heirs of the kingdom?

James 2: 1-5

Love Without Distinction

Jesus became man to bring the richness of faith to those who are poor in the eyes of the world. At the heart of his teaching is the truth that God looks into each of us and sees a child to be loved. God does not judge as we judge. The distinctions that we make about others mean nothing to God. Each of us is dear to him. In his eyes we are all equal.

The faith that Jesus left with his followers comes with the challenge to see others through the eyes of faith and to love as he loved. In the community of believers human distinctions are not admissible. The Christian assembly must be open to all who seek the Lord.

This challenge to love without distinction has always created tension in Christian communities. Only with great difficulty can we put aside our human ways of seeing things and see as God sees. Only with difficulty can we open ourselves to those who are different from us. But the Lord intended his Church to be different from every other human institution. He intended it to be open to everyone. And he challenges his followers, not only as individuals but also as believing communities, to make his Church a welcome place, so that all who enter may come to know the Lord, and walk with us in faith and brotherhood.

God our Father, you created us for love and you promised us eternal life. Give us the light of faith that we may love others as you have loved us. May we sit at the table of brotherhood in this life, and be joined with all your children in the banquet of heaven.

Forty years ago a great movement took shape in the United States to overcome racial discrimination. Many of its leaders were deeply Christian men and women who were moved by their faith to seek justice and equality for blacks. Among these leaders was the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who gave his life for the belief that all are created equal.

Listen to Dr. King's historic "I Have A Dream" speech, delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963.

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