FEBRUARY 2-3, 2019
4:30 PM, 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
Edgar Guest was born in 1881 in Birmingham, England. At the age of 10, his family relocated to the United States, settling in Detroit, Michigan … where he began working as a copy boy and eventually a reporter for the Detroit Free Press. He published his first poem at the age of 17. He became a naturalized citizen when he was 21. For 40 years his column was read throughout the United States and Canada. He also had weekly radio and television shows for about a decade each.
He wrote over 11,000 poems, and is the sole poet to be named “poet laureate” of the State of Michigan. He died in 1959, and is buried in Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery.
One of Guest’s better known poems, published in 1927, is entitled Good Enough. And it bears a valuable lesson.
My son, beware of “good enough,”It goes on for four more stanzas, ending with the line:
It isn't made of sterling stuff;
It's something any man can do,
It marks the many from the few,
It has no merit to the eye,
It's something any man can buy,
It's name is but a sham and bluff,
For it is never “good enough.”
Only the best is “good enough.”Today is the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time.
In Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, we hear what is often considered A Hymn to Love.
Yet in examining the context, we can realize that Paul was writing to a community experiencing many difficulties. Rather than a Hymn to Love, the purpose of what Paul is writing is an exhortation to go beyond the minimum effort.
In speaking of “love,” Paul is writing in the Greek language which has not one, but three words for love. The first kind of love would be called fraternal love or friendship. The second kind of love would be romantic love … sort of a “Valentine’s Day” kind of love. The third kind of love – that is, what St. Paul is speaking about here – is a sacrificial love or a love born out of a heroic virtue … in other words, a God-like or Divine Love … what we see in the person of Jesus Christ.
The church in Corinth was struggling because individuals were not going beyond the mere appearances of Christianity. And while that may “look good,” Paul points out that it is most certainly not good enough. And so, he exhorts his readers, and us as well, to
[s]trive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.And to embrace
a still more excellent way.He indicates that with human efforts we can only partially know … and indistinctly perceive the things of God, and whatever we do under our own efforts
will be brought to nothing.In order to completely understand and clearly see the things of God, we must separate ourselves from those things which hold us back … some of which he names: jealousy, arrogance, self-interest, anger, revenge, provocation, and wickedness.
Indeed, this theme is repeated throughout today’s readings. The prophet Jeremiah is told that while many “will fight against [him,] they will not prevail over [him].”
And as was foreshadowed in last week’s Gospel, at the beginning of the story, “all spoke highly of [Jesus],” but by the end of the reading
they were all filled with fury. … rose up, drove [Jesus] out of the town, … to hurl him down [a cliff] headlong.So much for critical acclaim.
The world has no place for the love of God. Rather, the world presents a false kind of love … a cheap imitation … a syrupy, feel-good, counterfeit love … which is more like a drug … and most certainly not a remedy for any spiritual need.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us “strive for the greatest spiritual gifts,” and embrace God’s “still more excellent way.” Let us realize that our own way … or the way of the world … is never good enough and instead allow God’s grace and God’s mercy to penetrate our hardened hearts so that we may see more distinctly and understand more completely … the Way, the Truth, and the Life … embodied in the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
