Just A Thought Or Two . . .
Now Is The Time To Claim Our Holiness
Guy de Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace,” has a lesson to teach us. A young woman named Mathilde is married to a common worker. She longs for the fancy life. One day she is invited to an elegant ball. She wants to make a good impression, so she borrows a very expensive necklace from a wealthy friend. She has a wonderful time at the party but suddenly discovers that the borrowed necklace was missing.
She just couldn’t confess to her friend that the necklace was missing. Finally, her husband agrees to replace the necklace. He goes to the bank and to friends and borrows money from every possible source. Mathilde returns the replacement necklace to her friend without telling her what happened.
For the next ten years, Mathilde and her husband both work two jobs to pay back the money they had borrowed to replace the necklace. They moved to a tiny apartment so that the bills could be paid. Finally, they were able to pay off the last of their debt.
One day Mathilde runs into the friend who had lent her the necklace. Her friend almost didn’t recognize Mathilde because she looks so worn out from the years of hard work. Mathilde confesses to her friend that she had lost the original necklace and had worked all these years to pay for the replacement.
It is only then that she learns that the original necklace was not made with diamonds but with fake gemstones that were worthless. She and her husband worked and suffered all those years because appearance had been so important.
We shake our heads. The story characters made poor choices. If we are honest, we would acknowledge that there have been times when we’ve been tempted by the expectations of the media, the neighbors, or even our own relatives.
Sunday’s Scripture readings remind us that we are holy people. In the First Reading from the Book of Leviticus, God says to Moses, “Tell the people, be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.” Yes, we believe that we have been created in the image of God. We are holy. That is simply what we were created to be. We can assume other behaviors but they are as fake as the necklace in the story.
In the Second Reading St. Paul tells the Corinthians, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Christians have what they need to attend any event. With confidence we reclaim our goodness and know that we need not be tempted by the expectations of others.
Please come and pray with us:
The 5th grade and the Pre-K will host the 10:30 liturgy on Sunday, February 23. See you there!