How to Be Known by the Lord: 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time Reflection

The following is a reflection from Fr. Paul Scalia, the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Fr. Scailia is a priest for the Diocese of Arlington

“Actions speak louder than words,” we say, and “He’s all talk,” phrases used to describe the man who says a lot and does nothing. Or simply, we may say, “Talk is cheap.” These phrases all express the same basic point: words and actions must go together. They do not mean that words are useless. On the contrary, it is precisely because we believe words have importance that we fault those whose actions contradict what they say….

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven…. The faith we profess
must be lived. Our words must become flesh…. This demand for integrity of word and action helps explain the Church’s rules, restrictions, and requirements. Mother Church wants to keep us from hypocrisy—to ensure that we live according to what we believe…. John Paul II called this “practical atheism”—professing the faith of the redeemed but not living as one redeemed.
And the world longs to see in us this integrity of faith and action. How will the world believe in a Redeemer unless we live as a people redeemed?

Catholic worship likewise depends on such integrity, on the unity of interior devotion and exterior action. Our thoughts, words, and actions must be one in a common movement to God the Father…. So Mother Church trains us in the integrity of worship. In the Mass, she unites our words and actions. As we make the sign of the cross, we say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” As we say that we have sinned through our own fault, we strike our breasts. As we confess the Incarnation, we bow low. Our words become flesh…. Likewise, Catholic morality is simply the living out of the faith we profess. Especially by works of charity, we give flesh to the words God is love (1 Jn 4:16)….

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Our approach to God follows the same pattern as his approach to us. As the Word became flesh to save us, so we attain salvation when our words become flesh in worship and daily living. As the world came to know God through the Word Made Flesh, so it continues to know him through our words made flesh.