1 Peter 1:14-16
Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and
set your hopes completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Like obedient children, do not act in compliance with the
desires of your former ignorance but, as he who called you is holy, be holy
yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, Be holy because
I am holy.
Mark 10:28-31
Peter began to say to Jesus, “We have given up everything
and followed you.”
Our former bishop, now Archbishop
of Seattle, J. Peter Sartain, once described how we go through three stages of
Christian maturity. In each stage we
tend to use a peculiar word. In the
first stage we say “mine.” This lowest
level is usually that of a child. The
bishop said: “’Mine’ is typically a word spoken with quivering lips and the
tenacious tug of little hands. ‘Mine” is
a fighting word, rarely spoken in hushed tones.” I say that word every morning as I grab the
coffee pot from Fr. Pius, “Mine!” The
second stage often uses the word “ours.”
He explained: “’Ours’ is a civil word, a family word, one that can hold
us in pretty good stead through most of life.”
But the last stage is when we humbly say “yours.” The bishop goes on, “There comes a time,
especially in our relationship with God, when, with empty hands open in
poverty, we say only this: “Everything is yours. I can’t do it. Will you do it for me and in me…as you always
have?” These three words correspond
beautifully to the three stages of the spiritual life the classic authors
taught. “Mine” refers to the
"purgative way," where we learn to let go of our sinful selves. “Ours” is like the "illuminative
way" in that we’re growing in awareness of others and the need to love
others. And “yours” is the counterpart
of the "unitive way" because it is complete abandonment to God, “all
is yours” we finally say. Or, as John
the Baptist put it perfectly: “I must decrease and He must increase.” Mine.
Ours. Yours.
We see Peter going through these
stages in today’s readings. In the
gospel Peter asks, “We have given up everything to follow you.” It’s as if he’s complaining: I’ve given up
everything that is mine, and now I have nothing. Can’t you almost picture Peter saying that
with quivering lips? But in his first
letter as our first pope, written much later, we see Peter in the full blossom
of Christian maturity. He humbly says,
“Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, live soberly, and set your hopes
completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus
Christ.” Set your hops completely on
Christ. In other words, it’s not about
“mine” or even about “ours” but it’s all “yours” meaning “Christ’s.” Peter had reached the heights of holiness and
humbly confessed that everything is “your’s,” that is, God’s.
Each of us can evaluate our
progress on the road of Christian maturity using these three words “mine,”
“ours,” and “yours” as our guage. Where
would you say you are? We’d all
immediately like to say, “Heck, I’m at the end, in the full blossom of
holiness!” That’s nice. May I suggest to you that in reality we are
all pretty much still at the beginning, still worried about what’s “mine”? A good tool to use is to pay attention to how
often you use the word “I” in a conversation, when you write, when your think. Or better, notice how others do that, you’ll
see that much quicker. You'll notice how
everyone likes to talk about themselves!
But the point is, we are often, almost always, self-referential in our
conversations, turning the conversation onto some personal experience we’ve had
instead of focusing on what the other person is sharing. Watch how often people do that today. Here's another tool: can you walk by a mirror
without taking a glance at your appearance?
That’s another sign the ego is alive and well. Have you learned that the whole world is not
waiting with bated breath to see what you will post on facebook next? I will give you one guess what I’ll do with
this homily after Mass this morning. I
can't wait to see who "likes" me!
In other words, maybe it’s not just small children who say “mine!” with
quivering lips and a tenacious tug of little hands. We all do that, far more than we care to
admit. Man, we have a long way to go on
the road of Christian maturity. Good
thing Lent begins tomorrow.
Praised be Jesus Christ!
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