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Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Fr. Tom Wilson August 11, 2019

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about 20 or 25 years ago a group of relatively large group of religious sisters was invited by a team of medical people who are who wanted to put together a very long time turn study on brain disease memory loss Alzheimer's those sorts of things the sisters were a good a good pool of people to to test for those diseases because of their common life together their car lifestyles of the fact that there was a lot of data and information recorded and easily available from their their middle to late or teenage years until there until there in into senior citizen and end in old age so they were good candidates for the Sisters agreed to participate in this study and a few years after the study began that it was there was a brief report a story that that was out on it and I remember it very very clearly one of the medical people who is who is working on the study with the with the sisters and providing medical treatment and such to them as part of that I was having conversation with a with an elderly sister who he had to he had to tell she was entering into memory loss Alzheimer's some sort of some sort of dementia than she she had that she she add some sort of some sort of a disease I don't know if was exactly diagnosed that at the time and when he told this this elderly sister that that she had the that she had the disease and her memory was I was declining her first reaction is probably not what many of us probably would react to or many of us would expect she didn't say what kind of a burden am I going to be on my sister's what kind of chair how much is this going to be to my family what kinds of things in my life are am I going to be limited how is this going to be inconvenient in the way that I live my life every day that she'd that that was not those not the first thing she said the first thing she said to this person in the in the in the medical study was will I forget Jesus will I forget Jesus and that that that the question in her response to the reality of physical memory lost I think is both humbling and insightful for all of us in terms of our own discipleship of Jesus and recognizing the most important things in life and the and the the truth is at that memory of Jesus is the most important thing I think it also says so thing about her in terms of her own love of the Lord her own service of the Lord and not wanting to forget the most important thing in her life she did not want to forget the most important something in inner life but she also she also I think puts us onto to Something in terms of the importance of never forgetting she had to eat weird to never get Jesus and frankly her probably own understanding of the real disaster that can happen individually and maybe even communally if we do and our readings today are bringing together or bringing together a number of different things that kind of intersect questions Ativan  from time immemorial about a relationship with God that knowledge of God when he those things does he know things in the future and how what do we know how do we react what is our what is our faith that all those things kind of intersecting together and we ask those questions because they are important we may ask those questions about about what God knows and when and all that out of out of sheer human curiosity we may also ask those questions frankly to begin to say where are you got if you knew how could this possibly happen how could this possibly happen and it's questions that have been asked for it for thousands of years and yet in the midst of in the in in the midst of that we have the hearts we have the heart of all those questions which is for the people of God to remember Jesus to remember Jesus the book of wisdom reminds us the book of wisdom reminds us that the people of the Old Testament that the people of Israel knew in advance when the plague of the loss of the first born children in in Egypt what's going to happen and God in his Dennis reveals to them that this is going to happen and all you have to do is celebrate the Passover meal take the blood of the lamb and put it on the doorpost and it will pass over you it will not happen to you I'm intervening in your life I am giving you knowledge ahead of time trust me and this thing that you know is about to happen will not happen to you don't forget don't forget we also know rest of the story of the same people who benefited from the from the Passover they end up escaping Egypt they also end up in time in the desert and constantly they are forgetting the goodness God constantly they're forgetting the promise of God they even get to the place where they create a false god to substitute for him they forgets and when they forget God disaster happens not because God impose did upon them but they took it upon themselves in their forgetfulness of who he with who he is and that in fact he should be trusted Hebrews reminds us of the role of faith is is that the author of reminds us of the experience of Abraham Abraham who trusted God in an impossible situation Abraham and Sarah were too old to conceive a child ever be on child bring years did Abraham trusted at the promise that God had made to him that he would have descendants it would be more than the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky how is this possibly going to happen at sea should elderly age but he's still trusted and believed and lo and behold his faith is rewarded Abraham remembered the promise of God and trusted in the province promised God and then was rewarded with a fulfillment of that promised in all of those descendants and then finally cheese is in the in the parable talks about the reality of of the master passing on response abilities duties and things to Stewart they are stewards are there to take care of the people to take care of the estate to take care of the stuff and he also in the parable reminds us of what happens when we forget where it comes from the stewards forgot deliberately or otherwise that they're the role in the position and the responsibilities that had been given wasn't theirs it belonged to the master it belonged to the master and then they choose to abuse it they forget where it came from play forget where it came from and that forgetting then leads to Ultimate disaster for them as well as disaster for what they were responsibility had responsibilities and stewardship for there is a ring there is a great risk in forgetting where things come from there is a great risk of forgetting Cheese's I think it would be very very difficult to get into a discussion and suggest that we don't live in a culture right now especially in the western world that has for God's and Jesus we live alone in the things of Jesus and the culture the civilization that has passed down things very very basic and simple that we take for granted every day things like hospitals things like school for for the masses educate ocean for everyone things like things like contract law and being honest with each other are direct fruit of Jesus and a Christian civilization been established around him and yet we forget we forget that and when we and when we forget the potential for disaster within ourselves as individuals but also the world around us Rises exponentially and we see and one of the first consequences I believe from Forgetting Gees as culturally and as a as a society begins with the disregard for human life that disregard for human life because we forget where human life came from it came from God every single one of us is a human being created in the image and likeness of God whether we happen to like that other he I'm being or not whether we agree or not with another human being they are still created in the image and likeness of God but when we forget that when we forget Jesus it opens up a porthole and that portal opening to evil in which we can begin to treat people as things and have complete disregard for the sacredness of human life and we see that in all sectors all places in the world in which we live creates the justification that says that we can tear down the reputation or even take the life of somebody that disagrees with us it's crazy we know that that is a direct consequence of forgetting and we see the consequences that overflow around us all the time the violence and all those things that make that make news and they did their they're constantly on cable news for days and days and days at a time I prayed all sorts of consternation and division among people that is a direct result of forgetting Jesus and the reasons for forgetting cheeses are many they are they can be as as basic as simple raw human Pride God I don't need you I can do just fine on my own it also can result in reality of of human hearts that we are wounded human people and we don't want to be wounded we think that God could have prevented that Woon and so we forget Jesus it can come from the reality of seeing peep who are supposed to be examples of living for Jesus not doing so and so then we can say forget it if they're not doing it I'm stepping away and we forgets and we potentially forget Jesus this is a high-risk proposition is a high-risk proposition we've been talking about Freedom a lot over the summer the truth is when we forget whether it happens through a Drifter whether it happens to our own stubborn Pride or not we go from a place of freedom in Christ to a place of imprisonment in the world in which we live and with imprisonment comes the possibility of really horrific things which we see unfold before us before our very eyes in the world in which we live that elderly sister understood I think in her own Simplicity in her own life and frankly beginning to embark on a very very serious challenge in her own life that among all the challenges that she would face in her memory lost the greatest one would be lose in the memory of Jesus losing the memory of Jesus and truthfully I boot I believe absolutely in the depth of my heart that that's simple none never forgot Jesus because remembering Jesus is not simply a chemical action of the brain it is not it is a disposition of the hearts it is a disposition of the heart that knows under and loves and trusts Jesus and because of that disposition of a heart he cannot be forgotten but that dispositional heart isn't there in the first place he can easily be forgotten both individually and community and collectively that risk is high and we see it in the world in which we live it may seem very basic very simple and very fundamental particularly to us who have re-engage in a life of a of a Christian Community and all that to think that our first responsibility as Disciples of Jesus Christ is to remember Jesus to remember his promise to remember what he asks us to do to remember that he has a gift of eternal life waiting for us and if we remember that if we remember that we are then in a play when we can look at the reality of the evil that has come through the portals of the hearts of human people in the world in which we live and say Jesus is still in charge and I will never forget that's because Jesus is there because I remember Jesus I will treat the people in my life and I'll treat even the people that I don't like and disagree with with respect and dignity that they deserve as human beings.. there is great risk that we live in a culture we live in a culture Western world that has forgotten largely Jesus and we as Disciples of him have to be the one The Forum at base of memory I'd I do believe in my heart that that that that sister truly remember Jesus not in a chemical reality of her brain in the disposition of her heart which needs to be the same disposition of heart that every one of us has that we never want to forget Jesus

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