Sir.

27:30 28:7
Cycle A Rom. 14:7-9 17 September 2017
Mt. 18: 21-25
 INTRODUCTION:
Let us focus today on our very
brief but very significant
2nd Reading from Paul's
Romans 14.
This is towards the end of the
Letter (Romans has only up
to 16 chapters) but our text
for reflection today is one of
the pithiest but most
memorable quotes from Paul:
1
None of us lives for
oneself and no one
dies for oneself.
For if we live, we live
for the Lord and,
if we die, we die for
the Lord."
(V. 8)
1 The verse is a variation of
Paul's typical greeting
calling himself "a slave of
Christ Jesus (doulos
Christou Jesou) in Rom. 1: 1.
1
During the time of
slavery, no one missed
its meaning that he is a
property of the one who
owns him. In other
words, My life is not
mine! Your life is not
about you!
1
"It is no longer I who lives
but Christ living in me!"
(Gal. 2: 20)
These are functionally
equivalent statements.
2
Fr. Richard Wore has done a lot of work on
the initiation rites of primal people.

He speaks about how a

young boy across cultures
becomes a man. This always
involves some ripping away
of a child from the comforts
of the home.
2
He sums up this process in five formulas:

a) Life is hard!
b) You are not that important!
c) You are not in control!
d) You are going to die!
e) Your life is not about you!
2
This is always in contrast with childhood:

Life is easy!
You are so important!
You are in control!
You are not going to die!
Your life is about you!
2
The Initiation Rites are
described to meet each of
these steps but it always
culminates in some
encounter with the Sacred.
3
The I-Gen refers to the young
cohorts born between 1995-
2012 characterized by the
delaying of the maturation
process of adulthood or
aversion to adulting.
3 Fr. Richard Wore says that the
ultimate goal of this process is the
encounter with the power of God.

Your life is not about

you but about God and
his purpose for you.
3 Once God's purpose for a
person is defined, in the
Bible his name is
changed like Simon to
Peter; Saul to Paul;
Abram to Abraham.
3
Our culture today remains in perpetual
adolescence, worrying about safe
spaces, concerned about the violation
of their rights and prerogatives and
defining themselves.
3

Emmanuel Levinas
made the same point as
Paul when he said that
the claim that others and
God have on us defines a
person more than being
concerned with himself.
3

This reminds us of the Tolkin's Story about

Bilboe and Frodoe, symbols of the safe space
where everything was so cosy and nice but
they had to be called by Randolph for
adventure and life became more exciting!
 CONCLUSION:

Finding yourself is not the

point as discovering the
treasure God has gifted you
with. My life, my death, my
choice! This is not what
Paul is saying.
+ART
 CONCLUSION:
This is a summary of perpetual
adolescence! Rather what Paul
is saying is My life, my death,
I entrust to the Lord.
That is the voice of a
spiritual grown-up!

+ART