Daily Reflection Thursday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time

“Don’t forget the power of the personal note”  – advice from a speaker I once heard with tips for improving outreach to young adults in the Church.  Isn’t it so true?  When we paw through our mailbox, the first item to reach our attention amid the flyers, catalogs, and bills is always the card with a handwritten name and address. I am ripping it open with anticipation even before I reach my front door.

Our first reading today invites us into that same handwritten-note itimacy – this time Paul’s letter to his friend Philemon, his only private correspondence preserved in Scripture. (All of his other writings, whether to churches or to co-workers, relate to his ministry.) What a delight to ‘eavesdrop’ on this letter written most probably during Paul’s imprisonment in Rome, giving us fresh insight into his character and personality. Paul’s appeal to his friend and fellow companion in the faith is a bold one – a plea for openness to receiving back the runaway slave (and thief?) Onesimus, with a welcome recognizing him now as brother in Christ. Paul’s plea is not based on coercion nor on his authority as apostle but only on love for this person ‘who is very dear to me,’ ‘who is my very heart’–  a love that will require him to forego a treasured partnership in evangelization, to surrender his own yearnings for care and companionship at the end of his days.

In his letter, Paul does not deal directly with the institution of slavery accepted at that time. We expect too much.  But he does express an idea and ideal revolutionary for his day and ours…. There are no divisions or barriers for those ‘in the Lord.’ His public letter to the larger community at Colossae will state his claim more boldly: “There is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”

The outcome of this story is never told. We do not know if Paul’s letter had the impact and outcome he sought. But I find the linkage of our two readings today insightful. In our Gospel passage from Luke, Jesus is responding to the Kingdom questions of the Pharisees.  “Do not look for external signs,” he admonishes. “The Kingdom is already present in my preaching, teaching, and healing ministry. It is within your very yes.” And it is present in our own day when we, like Paul, surrender even our well-placed yearnings for the flourishing of the other, or when we have the imagination and courage to let go of labels, assumptions, or categories that separate us from those in the Lord. This is an outcome we can craft and count on.

As a take-away, how might we embrace the power of the personal note today? No text or email or phone message this time around, but a lovely notecard with a stamp or two.  A note of encouragement, an outreach to revive a dormant friendship, an invitation to set up a time for a difficult and deeper conversation that just might lead to reconciliation. Someone’s mailbox is awaiting the good word. Let’s pick up the pen.