Daily Reflection Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time St. Rita of Cascia, Memorial

The goal of contemporary advertising is to entice the consumer to buy a product, support or reject a political position, embrace a movement. James instructs us to “know the right thing,” to understand and live out what God wants of each one of us. Responding to John and to us, Jesus says, “Whoever is not against us is for us.” Our calling is to know and to make the right selection. So, how do we respond to daily product advertising and political arguments?

No matter what happens in our lives—from daily minute choices to serious—sometimes life-changing decisions—we need the counsel and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. The only way we can use these gifts is to sit with our God, listen and discern which voices are not only good but also encourage moral behavior.

We are called to be persons rooted in Jesus—not slither away when we are faced with difficulty and suffering. It is so easy to overlook poverty—even poverty within ourselves. We are rich in Jesus when we accept people of a different faith tradition or hold opposing political views. Wisdom and understanding enable us to assume other people’s goodness until their actions show us otherwise.

   Today we also remember St. Rita of Cascia. This fifteenth century saint endured innumerable abuses and infidelities from a violent and abusive husband for eighteen years. Her husband and her two rambunctious sons died early and violent deaths. From my perspective, Rita had reason to become a lonely and isolated individual. However, she did not drown in her sorrows. Instead, she identified her pain with that of Jesus and reached out in ministry to others. Is this not also our call?

In one of his homilies, Bishop Kenneth Untener explained that we cannot do everything, but we need to choose well what we do. “We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and to do the rest.  We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.”