Circle of Life

In the alternative opening prayer of the Mass for this Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, we pray: "Lord our God, in you justice and mercy meet. With unparalleled love you have saved us from death and drawn us into the circle of your life."

What sort of circle do I draw? Is it a circle of life where justice and mercy meet? Is mine a large, open circle where all are welcome or a small, closed one that only a few select individuals may enter? Who do I let into my circle? Just those who like me and who are like me, who stroke my ego and feed my complacency but never challenge me? Who do I exclude? Those who are different, who don't like me and possibly even despise me, who cross me and rub me the wrong way, who ignore me or treat me shabbily? And what about all those so-called nobodies who are actually somebodies but I can't see that for my self-absorption?

In today's gospel (Luke 14:25-33), our Lord Jesus tells us that "anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple." What do I need to give up so that I can follow Christ more closely and draw a circle of life with Him? My pride, my anger, my fear, my selfishness, my ignorance, my narrow-mindedness?

Oh dear Lord, give me your counsel and send me your holy spirit from on high that I may learn what is your pleasure and be saved by Wisdom (Wis 9:17-18). Teach me the ways of your love! Amen.