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Giving back to God: What he gives us
Larry has been a theater teacher at a public high school for more than 20 years. Although his entire life is intensely infused with his Christian faith, he knows he can't be proselytizing among students.
That's not his mode of operating anyway. But he says, "I've never backed down from saying to the young people, 'You need to know where your gift comes from, and it's not from me.'"
When Larry was coming of age, drifting in and out of college, trying to find himself, he found Jesus instead. It happened during a Catholic retreat to which he'd been invited by a friend. The friend must have been astute to recognize Larry's need for faith and a seeming desire to be persuaded. Once converted, Larry says now, "It changed my life." Totally.
28th Sunday
in Ordinary Time
(Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007)
2 Kings 5:14-17
Psalm 98:1-4
2 Timothy 2:8-13
Luke 17:11-19
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"I instantly wanted to give something back to God," he says. Within two months he had formed a theater company called The Agape Players, and at age 21 he was leading the troupe around his southern California community, bringing performances of Godspell and the stories of Paul (The Servant) and Peter (The Witness) to Catholic churches and smaller venues.
Larry hasn't looked back as his career has been alternately in youth ministry and theater - and often a combination of the two. Always, though, in his work with young people in the performances and original plays he produces he shares the basic message of Christ. His work has been unabashedly "for God."
I've heard conversion stories before. But the way Larry's conversion immediately compelled him to live every aspect of his life for God was a notably radical response to the gift of faith.
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Reflection questions
• When have you felt such gratitude to God that you desired to "give something back"?
• How can you translate that desire into a lasting response?
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In reading the Scriptures for this weekend, Larry's life-changing attitude came back to me in the passage from Timothy: "If we have died with him, we shall also live with him."
While the Gospel story about the leper may suggest the message is about thanksgiving, it was that reminder in Timothy that points us back to a message of conversion in the Old Testament story of Naaman who was drawn indeed by gratitude to change his life to live entirely for God.
This column is offered in cooperation with the North Texas Catholic of Fort Worth, Texas.
This week's readings
Week of October 14 - 20, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading I: 2 Kgs 5:14-17
Reading II: 2 Tm 2:8-13
Gospel: Lk 17:11-19
Monday, October 15, 2007
Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church
Reading I: Rom 1:1-7
Gospel: Lk 11:29-32
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Reading I: Rom 1:16-25
Gospel: Lk 11:37-41
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Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr
Reading I: Rom 2:1-11
Gospel: Lk 11:42-46
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Feast of Saint Luke, evangelist
Reading I: 2 Tm 4:10-17b
Gospel: Lk 10:1-9
Friday, October 19, 2007
Memorial of Saint John de Brébeuf and Saint Isaac Jogues, priests and martyrs, and their companions, martyrs
Reading I: Rom 4:1-8
Gospel: Lk 12:1-7
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Reading I: Rom 4:13, 16-18
Gospel: Lk 12:8-12
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Pope's Prayer Intentions
October General Intention
Minority Christians. That Christians who are in minority situations may have strength and courage to live their faith and persevere in bearing witness to it.
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October Mission Intention
World Missionary Day. That World Missionary Day may kindle a greater missionary awareness in every baptized person.
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A Prayer in Autumn for Country Living
GOOD and generous Lord, You have once more brought the year full circle, through planting and growing and ripening to harvest time, and autumn.
We thank You for the sun and the wind, the rain and the dew, the minerals of the earth and all the plants that grow and all the beasts and birds of farm and field. We marvel at Your wonderful ways of bringing food from the earth for the good of us all.
Dear God, help us to use Your rich gifts as You want us to. Teach us to share them with our neighbors when they are in need. Make us see, in the marvelous succession of seasons and in the growth and ripening of our crops, the merciful, generous hand of Your divine providence.
Help us to realize, too, that if we keep Your commandments and live according to the inspirations of Your grace, we shall also reap a plentiful harvest in the autumn of our lifetime: a harvest that we will be able to enjoy for ever and ever, where no rust can destroy, nor blight spoil any least part of it.
Amen.
Prayer courtesy of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference
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