Do I Know You?

The tone in the room was light. They were laughing. I had asked them to think about a series of questions about what they valued. It was the first day of our unit on end-of-life issues in morality class. I needed to know my starting point with these sixteen-year-old girls.  How did they see the world? What mattered to them? The particular question that we were working on was, “If you had thirty days to live, how would you spend them?” One said that she’d to go climbing in the Alps. One laughed that she’d throw a big party for all of her friends. Another said that she’d eat doughnuts and cake and ice cream, everything she ever wanted and not worry about getting fat.  A giggle ran around the room. This was pretend. It was fun. 

When I was a chaplain in the hospital, I worked with people who lived and breathed that question. Maybe they had more than thirty days left. Maybe not. As they prepared for death, their values became clearer: Make things right with my family. Forgive. Get my affairs in order. Record a message of love to my grandchildren. It was not pretend. It was serious. 

In this part of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has set his face toward  Jerusalem. Does he know for sure that he is headed toward death?  Maybe, maybe not. But he grows serious about forming his disciples.  You can hear it in his tone when he is asked, “Who will be saved?”  His response is urgent: enter through the narrow gate; no shallow discipleship; any old slapdash way of following me isn’t going to work. Be true. Focus. There will be charlatans among you. Some of you follow for egotistic reasons. Some of you are pretending. Go deeper. This is serious. Come, follow me. 

Consider/Discuss 

• Life has its seasons. In the moment of life that you are currently in, take stock of your situation. How much do you value following Jesus? Are you pretending? Are you serious? Maybe a mixture of both? At the end of life,  the possibility exists that Jesus might say to you and me, “I do not know  you.” While we have the time still available to us, how can we purify our hearts and our interactions and our prayer so that Jesus is thoroughly familiar with us? 
• We are those who eat and drink in Jesus’ company: at Mass, we eat his Body, we drink his Blood. Yet even then, whole moments of liturgy can pass us by without our paying attention. Jesus is present. We don’t always notice. In what ways could we focus so that we worship more conscientiously? As this new school year begins, make one resolution to strengthen your liturgical practice in this upcoming season. 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Lord, you call all the nations to you, from far and from near,  those who know you and those who don’t. Why should we come to you? You are our good. You are the One who has created us and has cared for us. In your love, you work to steer us straight. Your  corrections can hurt. We do not see where our knees are weak and our hands droop. Show us our faults. You want us to bear the fruit of righteousness. When we come to the end of life, we want to hear you say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We do not want to hear, “I do not know you.” This is serious stuff. Lord, have mercy on us and teach us your ways.