"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this
is not of your own
doing; it is a gift of God---not the result of works, so that no
one may
boast. For we are what he made us, created in Jesus Christ for
good works,
which God has prepared beforehand to be our way of life."
(Ephesians 2:8-10)
In Steven Spielberg's movie, Saving Private Ryan, Captain Miller
(played by
Tom Hanks) is sent with seven other soldiers to search for and
rescue Private
James Ryan. James is the last surviving son of the Ryan family
that has
already lost three sons in World War II. At the beginning of the
movie, we
see an elderly James Ryan with his family revisiting the
military cemetery,
in Normandy, where thousands of soldiers died during the D-Day
invasion of
Europe.
The movie then shifts to dramatize many of the horrible events
that were part
of that invasion. Near the end of the film, during the fierce,
final battle
between some American soldiers and a Nazi tank unit, Captain
Miller is about
to die from his wounds and tells the youthful Private Ryan:
"Kid, earn this.
Earn this." The captain meant, of course, that
Private Ryan should
appreciate and cherish the lives of all the soldiers sacrificed
in order that
he would be rescued and saved for his family's sake. And, even
more
importantly, Captain Miller was telling Private Ryan to
appreciate and
cherish his own life in a way that would bring credit to those
who died for
him and credit to his own family that had lost so much in that
terrible War.
The final scene of the movie shifts back to an elderly James
Ryan at the
gravesite of Captain Miller. As he prays over the grave he tells
the Captain
that every day he thinks of what the Captain said to him at the
bridge before
he died. Ryan adds that he tried his best to live a good life
and hopes that
it was worthy of all that the Captain and the other men who died
had
sacrificed for him. His wife and children then reach the
gravesite and find
James weeping. He turns to his wife and asks her to tell him
that he has led
a good life and that he has been a good man.
This scene was, for me, one of the most powerful illustrations
of a man
realizing how fortunate he was to have been "saved by the
grace of God," and
what a serious responsibility he has to live a life worthy of
such special
favor.
St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians (a portion of which was read
as this
morning's Epistle Lesson) is a magnificent expression of praise
for the
extraordinary gifts of grace that God has given us; ---gifts we
could never
earn or merit by ourselves, but which are given through God's
mercy and
generosity. In verses 4 and 5 of our text, Paul says:
". . .God is rich in mercy;
because of his great love for us
He brought us to life with Christ when we were dead in sin.
By this favor you were saved." (Ephesians 2:4-5).
St. Paul is of course, focusing here on the great redemptive
work of Christ's
death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. This act
of supreme
love and sacrifice reaches though-out time and, although there
are other
examples of great sacrifice such as that of Captain Miller and
the other
soldiers who saved the life of Private Ryan, the "Christ
event" can never be
repeated. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is,
therefore, a process
in which we are called to co-operate at every stage of our
lives---realizing
that, while we are indeed saved because of Christ's death and
resurrection,
Christ's saving work in us, first begun in our baptism, is not
yet complete.
In other words, "sanctification," the process of our
being saved eternally,
begun in our baptism, continues every day of our lives because,
at every
moment of our lives, we need God's mercy and love. Every day, we
need to put
to death the old self and take on a new self! It is a
process that is
highlighted for us during the days of Lent, Holy Week and,
finally, Easter---
a process that will, for us, be brought to completion only
through our own
death and resurrection.
The teachings of the Church explain all this. In particular,
that, while
Scripture promises us freedom and salvation in Christ, nothing,
not even the
death of Christ on the cross can free and save us from the
temptation to sin.
The "eating and drinking of Holy Communion,"
guarantees the penitent heart
forgiveness for the most unforgivable sins of yesterday and
today, but Holy
Communion cannot spare us tomorrow's temptations. Rather,
we must struggle
all our lives with the desires and attractions of the world
around us.
Whenever we review our lives, as did Private Ryan (and we all do
from time to
time), we can see how often God's grace sets us free to move us
forward---when the world around us is trying to move us
backward. We can see
how sometimes we are set free in a complete way and how, more
often, we are
set free in an incomplete way.
For instance, the alcoholic who no longer drinks but still has
to battle
every day with the temptation to take a drink. Or, any of the
many kinds of
compulsive behavior like "over eating" or "over
spending," that we might
bring under control but around which there looms constant
temptation to lose
control.
Time and time again we see that conversion without conviction is
not
conversion at all. "Change," without the will to make
that change permanent,
is not to be changed at all! As Christians, we believe that
through baptism
we became "Children of God," endowed with gifts of the
Holy Spirit that can
move us forward! Furthermore, we believe that, as children of
God, we can
"confess our sins" in full expectation of forgiveness.
It is with this sense
of knowing that God will forgive our "forward moving
mistakes" that we
believe we are capable of doing "good" more often than
not and empowered,
therefore, to do "good" more often than to do
"bad!"
A month or two ago I watched a segment of CBS's "60
Minutes" that told a
story of one man's personal conviction to do good; a story of
"grace- filled
giving," born-out-of, I would say, a personal sense of
God's own goodness and
grace."
Thirty-seven years ago, in Michigan, Bob Thompson began an
asphalt business
with an initial investment of $3500. Over the years the business
grew. In
fact, it grew so much that in 1999 a company from Ireland bought
it from Bob
for $422 million. But, instead of pocketing the money and using
it all to buy
himself a fleet of luxury cars and yachts, Thompson decided to
share his good
fortune with his employees.
He devised a plan whereby his employees would share in $128
million of the
profits. The hourly workers, most of whom had pensions from the
company,
received a $2000 bonus for every year they had worked at the
company. The
salaried workers, who did not have pension coverage, were given
bonuses
ranging from $1 to $2 million each. And, the bulk of the
remaining $294
million went to charity, leaving the Thompsons just enough money
to maintain
the simple lifestyle they had enjoyed for 37 years!
Conversion with conviction. . .
conversion with the will to be changed in ways that matter
and remain unchanged in ways that don't. . .
is true conversion!
Let us pray, in the words of Henri Nouwen:
Dear God, Speak gently in our silence. When the loud outer
noises of our
surroundings and the loud inner noises of our fears keep pulling
us away from
you, help us to trust that you are still there. Give us ears to
listen to
your small, soft voice saying, "and I will give you rest .
. . For I am
gentle and humble of heart." Let that loving voice be
my guide. Amen.
(Henri J.M. Nouwen, in Ann Z. Kulp, Spirit Windows (Louisville,
Ky.: Bridge
Resources, 1998).
