A Bumper Sticker

Father,
may everything we do
begin with your inspiration
and continue with your saving help.
Let our work always find its origin in you
and through you reach completion.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
-- from today’s Morning Prayer

In our pastor’s usual well-done homily yesterday he mentioned a bumper sticker that he liked. It read: “Jesus said: You catch ‘em, and I’ll clean ‘em.” I like those words, too.

In recent days I’ve been reflecting on the relationship of body and soul. To my way of thinking, the soul is our spiritual side, and our link to the spirit of God. To it come all the graces the Lord provides us; it is a channel of his love. It provides nourishment for our body, to help the body grow in holiness together with the soul, for they will be together in eternity – one won’t go without the other. Our Lord said so, and he demonstrated it himself, when he arose with his body to heaven. But this soul-to-body link isn’t one way. The body also in some way impacts the soul. This must be true or else how could anyone end up in hell? Would God allow a wonderful, soul which he filled with grace to go to hell just because its body chose to relish evil? That wouldn’t make sense; it would be like God allowing his very spirit to go to hell. No, that can’t be true. What is true is that the body can influence the soul, it can tarnish it with sin; it can darken it by taking some inclinations the body may have towards evil and turning them into desires for evil. And as the body seeks even more evil, the soul rejects the graces for good or ignores the ones it has – it can’t give the body these things anymore, it doesn’t want them! Thus as many saints have told us: God does not condemn anyone to hell, they freely choose, body and soul, to go to hell. It’s like the fire hose of God’s grace pouring on a raging fire: there are some fires that get such a head start, where they burn the building so completely, in all its nooks and crannies, that the hose cannot overcome it, and it burns the building down completely. There are other fires where help comes soon enough, and the fire is quickly extinguished, and the building can continue to be used for the reasons it was built.

The fireman and his grace are always there. Always vigilant, always waiting and wanting to help, never running out of the waters of grace. What I’ve been dwelling on in recent days is the question: What makes the fireman and his grace put out the fire? What prevents the fire from growing too strong and negating any chance for the waters of grace to work? What makes the waters of grace take effect soon enough, so the fire can be put out? Can the building, which represents our body, really “choose” to pour the grace upon itself? Surprisingly, in a way the answer is: “Yes”.

Some building can have automatic sprinkler systems. Other buildings can have automatic smoke and fire sensors, which call the fire department at the first signs of fire. Other buildings exist in an area which has a neighborhood watch, which seeks to protect the buildings from all harm and call the fireman at the first signs of fire. So you see, in a way, the building can pour the hose of grace upon itself and put out the fires of evil. Kind of; in a way; maybe.

Ok, ok, ok. I can hear some of you talking to your computer screen: That’s not a good analogy. The building didn’t build those sprinkler systems or smoke detectors, nor start that neighborhood watch. Someone else did. Ok, I concede your point. At the point of the start of a fire, a building “could” call for help, and in a way protect itself, but all buildings don’t start out that way. Someone else built in them a measure of self-protection. So who did that? Hmmmmmm? I think we’re back to that bumper sticker quote we started with: You catch ‘em; I’ll clean ‘em. Do you have some idea now who that “You” is?

The original source of that quote was Jesus, and he was assumed speaking to his apostles, the fishermen who he turned into fishers of men. But Jesus’ example and words were meant for us also. While we are meant to make sure that we get ourselves to heaven, we are also meant to make sure we get others, also. I always thought it interesting that the second great commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself” starts out with saying to love your neighbor. As many have said, “Yes, but you have to love yourself first before you can love your neighbor as yourself.” True, but why did Jesus arrange the words in the reverse, saying to love your neighbor first? I think it’s because it’s the most important. It’s up to us neighbors to ensure that others are protected, or can protect themselves from evil – just as someone did that for us. We enlighten the minds of others to the existence of their souls, to the ready availability of grace, to God’s eternal love. Jesus told us to do that. We do that for every baby we have, for every child we become godparents to, to every member of our family, to every person we meet, or who even sees or hears of us. We DO love ourselves when we show others how much we love God, but we are showing them also. By our words, our examples, our admonitions, our prayers, we are giving their bodies knowledge which they can use to arm themselves against the fires of evil.

No one can conquer evil by themselves, but they can be prepared for the fight. Jesus, Mary, the apostles, the scripture writers, the saints, our parents, our fellow church-goers, and our pastors have helped prepare us to win the battle, with God’s grace, against the fires of evil. They taught us how. We need to be the ones to prepare others; we need to love our neighbor, and always be trying to think of him first. Truly, we will be the ones “catching ‘em” so that He can pour out His graces and “clean ‘em”.

I pray that none of us may ever let the temptations, the fires of the world, lead us to choose hell. I pray that there will always be a neighbor who loves us enough to help us prevent that. May you be that neighbor for others, as I shall try to be for you.