Lectio Divina — Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Theme: clean
1. Lectio — What is God saying to me?
«“…cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.”
— Matthew 23:26»
Jesus confronts me today with the difference between appearing clean and actually becoming clean.
The scribes and Pharisees are concerned about what can be seen. Jesus turns the cup around and directs attention toward the inside. He does not say that the outside is unimportant. Rather, he establishes an order: cleanse first the inside, and then the cleanliness of the outside can become something more than appearance.
That word first challenges me.
I can become preoccupied with correcting what is outside of me—the Church, society, politics, technology, agriculture, the economy, or the environmental practices of others—while leaving my own habits largely untouched. Yet Jesus begins much closer to home.
He begins inside my cup.
What am I trying to make look clean on the outside while resisting the conversion necessary to make it clean from within?
2. Meditatio — What is God saying to my life?
Here at The Glenn there is minimal access to clean and renewable energy. That fact makes today’s Gospel uncomfortable because it is easy for me to talk about the ecological conversion that ought to happen somewhere else.
I can point toward governments, corporations and people with far greater resources than mine and ask what they are doing about climate change. Yet am I not behaving in a smaller way like those who possess greater economic or political power when I merely mask problems, conceal symptoms, or make modest efforts to reduce negative impacts without seriously reconsidering the source?
Jesus tells me to clean the inside of the cup.
Perhaps the “inside” for me is not an abstract opinion about renewable energy. It is the actual energy consumed here at The Glenn. It is the electricity I use, the structures I maintain, the decisions I postpone, and the possibilities already available to me.
That brings me to solar energy.
Is it time to move beyond thinking about a solar array and begin determining what is actually possible? Could flexible solar panels on the dome turn an existing surface toward producing clean energy? Could solar-panel shade shelters provide my sheep with needed protection from the Texas sun while simultaneously generating electricity?
That would be an interesting form of ecological conversion because the same structure could serve creation in two ways: giving the animals shade while receiving energy from the sun.
But today’s Gospel prevents even solar panels from becoming merely another way of polishing the outside of my cup. Installing something that looks environmentally responsible does not automatically make my relationship with creation clean. I must first examine my consumption, my convenience, my waste and my willingness to change.
The question is therefore larger than, Should I install solar panels?
It is: What conversion within me would make clean energy an expression of a cleaner relationship with creation rather than simply another possession?
3. Oratio — What do I want to say to God?
Lord Jesus, cleanse first what is within me.
Purify my motives, my habits and my use of the gifts you have entrusted to me. Give me wisdom to recognize what I can change and courage actually to change it.
May my care for The Glenn become an outward sign of the conversion you are accomplishing within me.
Amen.
4. Contemplatio — What word will I rest in?
Clean.
Magnifica humanitas brings another dimension to this word through subsidiarity. Responsibility should not always be pushed upward toward someone with greater authority. People and communities capable of acting should be trusted, supported and allowed genuinely to exercise that responsibility.
That principle challenges me both at The Glenn and in the Church.
At The Glenn, I cannot wait for governments, utilities, corporations or wealthier landowners to make creation clean for me. Subsidiarity asks what responsibility belongs to me, here, with the land, resources, knowledge and possibilities actually entrusted to me. Perhaps flexible panels on the dome or solar shade structures for the sheep are small compared with global energy problems. But smallness does not make an action meaningless when it is the action that properly belongs to me.
The same examination reaches into ecclesial life. If the Church speaks of subsidiarity while participation by the baptized remains merely nominal, then we risk cleaning the outside of the cup while leaving the inside untouched. Genuine participation means trusting the charisms and skills of the baptized, allowing responsibilities actually to be exercised, and creating structures in which listening can influence decisions rather than merely decorate them.
Jesus therefore gives me a demanding order:
inside first, outside afterward.
Clean motives before clean appearances.
Clean participation rather than nominal participation.
Clean stewardship rather than ecological rhetoric.
Clean conversion before I congratulate myself for clean energy.
Today, when I look at the dome, the sheep needing shade, and the Texas sun pouring down upon both, I will ask a very practical question:
What can I begin cleaning from the inside today, rather than waiting for someone else to clean the outside tomorrow?
Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time
