Are You an Innie or an Outie?

                No, I’m not interested in your belly button – with summer fashion being what it is, that’s hardly a secret anymore.  I’m wondering whether you consider yourself to be within God’s love or outside of it.  Each of the four readings from the Lectionary this Sunday speaks of the breadth of God’s love – how it extends to all who choose his ways.  So as we contemplate these readings at Mass this weekend, we should ask ourselves:  Am I an innie or an outie?

                If we accept that God is love, that God is perfect, and that God is infinite, then we must accept that God loves us perfectly and infinitely.  He has no choice.  It’s who God is.  That means that God never stops loving us, and God doesn’t play favorites.  He loves us all equally, and if you don’t believe me, check out this week’s readings.  Isaiah, Saint Paul and Jesus himself testify to the humbling and comforting fact that God’s love isn’t restricted to a select few.  “Foreigners,” “Gentiles,” and “Canaanites” – all of us are welcomed into God’s loving embrace.  Why does our Psalm call all the nations to praise God?  Because he “rules the peoples in equity.”  Put another way, from God’s perspective, we’re all innies.   

                Nothing can separate us from God’s love – except ourselves.  God’s life-giving love is, well, umbilical, but we choose whether or not we receive it.  Think of it this way, God’s love is like the electric current coursing through the wires in our walls.  It’s always there; we just have to plug into it.  Unfortunately, we don’t always stay plugged in.  Consciously or subconsciously, in our thoughts and in our words, in what we do and what we fail to do, we disconnect ourselves from God’s love – we unplug.  Now don’t get me wrong, God doesn’t stop loving us when we unplug; we stop receiving God’s love, and then, we become outies.

     

                How do we stay plugged in?  We love.  God calls us to receive his love so that we can share it with others.  Love is active, not static.  It has to move.  We can’t receive God’s love and hang onto it.  We have to share it.  Remember, Adam’s sin was grasping at what was not his to hang onto.  And what’s the first thing he did?  He ratted out Eve  - he failed to love God and Eve - and as a result of their sin, Adam and Eve became outies.  If we want to remain in God’s infinite love, if we want to be innies, we need to take a good look at ourselves, consider everything we say, think and do and make a choice.

-          If we choose to think that someone is inferior to us, we fail to honor that person’s God-given dignity and choose to be an outie.

-          If we choose to fight hatred with hatred and violence with violence, we fail to heed God’s Commandments and choose to be an outie. 

-          If we choose to tolerate differences without compromising the truth, we live in God’s peace and choose to be an innie.

-          If we choose to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, and shelter the homeless without regard to race, creed color, beliefs, past acts or omissions, we share God’s infinite love and choose to be an innie.

          It’s our choice.  Do we live in God’s love, or unplug ourselves from it?  It’s time to do a little navel gazing.  Are we an innie or an outie?

Readings: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Psalm 67; Romans:11: 13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28.