ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET

Evensong Trinity I

Fr Ivan Aquilina

The prophecy of Jeremiah that we shared tonight calls us for a life of integrity. Paul in the second reading exhorts us to trust God.

These two concepts: integrity of life and trust in God are basic to our call and are the sure foundations on which to allow the Holy Spirit to build our lives in wholeness and holiness.

Let us have a closer look.

Integrity of life.
It is easy to forget that we are Christians 24/7. Some find it very easy to compartmentalise life and so have a Sunday and maybe also a week day God-slot but the rest of the time we allow social mores and dictates to rule our life rather than the eternal truths of our Gospel of Life. How many times are we going to hear the word theft replaced by business policies, or the word injustice replaced by socio-political measures?
A life of integrity is a life that suffers no remorse. The Light of Christ that still shines brightly on us since the Holy Vigil Easter is our only guide in all that we do whether at work or play. With this there is no compromise: “He who is not faithful in the few can not be faithful in the many”.

To live a life of integrity we need conversion, turning towards God, we need a life of prayer, we need also to seek teaching in the Faith through the study of Sacred Scriptures and other ways that help us live the Christian life. A recommended method is the one practised and thought by St Vincent de Paule. Before embarking upon anything he would ask himself: “What would Jesus do if he was faced with this?” Following the answer to that question is leading a wholesome life.

So I take the life of integrity to mean not how many pious exercises we do in our life but how we integrate the meaning of what we do in our daily business. This is the only way in which the Light of the Gospel will shine through us upon those around us. More will want to join us, and it will not only be a restoration programme that we need to embark upon but fitting in a gallery to accommodate more people.

Trust in God.
The second message tonight supports the first. Living a life of integrity is everything but easy. The worst thing we can do is to rely on our own inner strength. Through the letter which Paul is writing to the Romans we are asked today to trust completely in God. In this section of the letter that we shared tonight the glorious St Paul is facing a dilemma. “Why are the Jews saying No to the Gospel, while the Gentiles are queuing up?” Is God saying No to hard headedness of the Jews. But did not God use Pharaoh’s hard headedness to save his people? Is the Pharaoh condemned because of something God allowed and used? Echoes of these thoughts are found in those who argue that Judas Iscariot should be regarded as saint as it was through his betrayal that we were saved. It is interesting that Paul has no answer to these questions. However, what he says is significant. Does a piece of clay complain to the potter? Just as the clay allows itself to be shaped, so we need to be silent and allow God to shape us and trust him and his will for us. The difference from the clay is that trusting God is not remaining passive but co-operating with him by fulfilling in our lives his ways – this is the life of integrity which today we are called to live.
Yes it is difficult, but again who said that Christianity is for the faint-hearted?