This is a Jesuit feast day and so we interrupt the Monday of the 29 week in Ordinary Time to reflect. Perhaps a little historical recounting might help our prayer today and especially at the liturgy for the day.
Eight French Jesuits had come to Canada and upstate New York. They were spreading the Gospel among the various indigenous peoples of that region in the late 1630’s. All eight were eventually martyred by members of various tribes and nations. Some were tomahawked, others boiled and thrown into the flames. This is not easy to imagine and yet they are celebrated for their undying faith.
They had brought the faith, but they had also brought Smallpox and other diseases from Europe. The native people thought them to be agents of France or enemy tribes. Jean de Brebuf was killed near Midland, Ontario which is ninety miles north of Toronto. You may wish to visit there, where there is a Martyrs Shrine as well as a reconstruction of the fort which housed some of the native people and the Jesuits. Isaac Jogues was killed near, what is known now as, Auriesville, in upstate New York. All eight died from 1642 to 1648. This feast is named for these two and the other six are included under the title of the Jesuit Martyrs of North America. They all were canonized in Rome in 1930.
The Gospel for the feast is a wonderful story about personal and greedy treasure. A man has a bountiful harvest which leads to have a conversation with and about himself. His barn cannot contain all his collected crop, so he decides to build a bigger one and so he can live as high as his ego can reach in the “good life.”
God intervenes this inner-ruption with a suggestion that this man might reconsider his wealth and health. God calls the man a “fool” because he, the “fool” will not last as long as his treasure. He did not buy into what matters to God. What does matter to God?
Very simply, what matters to God, always and in every circumstance, is revelation! The man planted and harvested and planned to hide it all for himself. He had forgotten where the seeds came from and the rain and the sun and the very earth of it all.
The Divine Giver, Earth-Giver, Sun and Rain-giver shared it all and the Fool thought it was all his and for him and a revelation of himself and for himself.
In Latin the word grace, “gratsia” is singular, but the plural “gratias” means “thanks”. Gifts are meant to be opened, received and shared. The giver’s relationship is intended for revelation. The Giver shares and is revealed in the given. The receiver is gifted to receive and distribute. God is always revealing and we enter into this revelational relationship. We reveal the Giver by sharing our harvests. “Where our hearts are, there is where our true treasures are.” The barnless life is worth our livings.
Rev. Larry Gillick, SJ
I entered the Society of Jesus in 1960, after graduating from Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attending St. Norbert College for two years. I was ordained in 1972 after completing theological studies at the Toronto School of Theology, Regis College. I presently minister in the Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Creighton and give retreats.
I enjoy sharing thoughts on the Daily Reflections. It is a chance to share with a wide variety of people in the Christian community experiences of prayer and life which have been given to me. It is a bit like being in more places than just here. We actually get out there without having to pay airlines to do it. The word of God is alive and well.
