6th Sunday of Easter Fr. Leo
There are many accounts of heroic people laying down their lives for others. The military man who covers a grenade to save his brothers. The person who rushes to get a child out of danger and dies doing so. Or the person who stops to help someone with a flat tire and gets killed in the process. Or the person who runs into a burning house and saves people laying down their lives.
We think of these people as heroes, which they are. When I think of them, a couple thoughts come to mind. First, what moved these men and women to respond so heroically? In each of these cases, I don’t think there was any reflection, only immediate action to do what was needed to save others. There was no question of risking their own lives. They just did what they had to do.
This realization leads me to consider these people just darn right good people! Their sense of values carried them. Embedded in them was the sense of “rightness” they came to in living their lives. Human values, family values, a sense of the noble and good was part of who they were deep down. Where it came from could be family values or Christian values, but the ultimate factor was the work of the Spirit in their minds and hearts over the years.
The second thought about these heroes that comes to my mind is the realization that calling someone a hero tends to make them “special.” Like the saints, we admire them, but surly we don’t have what it takes to be one. Here is where I object. As disciples, we are all called to be heroes! To love with the love of God in ways that calls for self-sacrifice. Even of our very lives. To get there we start with the small things. Being honorable with truth and integrity based on a value system that sees God and God’s people as most important. It is in our daily treatment of ourselves and others where the ground work of heroism begins. We strive not to be heroes, but to become the people who at a moments notice, will the life of truth and love of God that we have invited into our souls.
Let us pray to be saints and heroes, not to earn heaven, impress others, but to know the power of love only God can give us. Let us be grateful so we can be empathetic as always choose to do what love requires despite the cost.
Come, Holy Spirit, enkindle in us the fire of your love!