The Wisdom of Age

A Reflection on the 2nd Reading for September 4th, 2022:
​Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Philemon
9b-20, 12-17

Beloved: I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. 

I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the Gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. 

Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother – especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 

So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.

The letter of Paul to Philemon is a very short one – we see most of the letter represented in our second reading for this weekend. I find myself feeling a lot of empathy for Paul as I read this selection. In it, he reminds his audience that he is an old man and that he is imprisoned, as he has been often throughout his time of ministry. Despite the challenges that he is facing, he still endeavours to do his best for the community that he perceives as his to serve and to care for. The tone of his letter is encouraging – in the parts that we do not read today, he says that he hopes to be released and to come stay with them again. Paul addresses the members of the church to which he writes by name, and there is a tenderness to his writing that maybe we don’t see in his earlier writings. The Paul who is speaking here strikes me as a wiser, perhaps gentler version of Paul, who has learned through years of ministry to take a softer approach.  

Most of all, I am moved by the way Paul speaks of Onesimus, as “my own heart”. Paul is clearly comforted by Onesimus’ presence and care, and has grown to love him as his own son. Despite this, he willingly sends Onesimus back to his community; as a good father, he prefers to set his son free rather than hold on to him for his own comfort. How difficult it can be for us to love this freely. To let the ones we love choose to follow their own paths even when it leads them away from us. To prefer their good to our own good. This is something that we can think of as almost “inhuman”. It is natural and normal to seek our own good and our own comfort, to want others to be and act the way that we would most prefer. When we are able to choose the good of the other over our own way, we participate in God’s loving action, who enables us to let go of the other because we are held by Him, the good Father whose care is unmatched. He sets us free, and in this we are able to free those we love as well. Like Paul in this letter, this freedom so often comes to us as we age, as we learn not to rely on our own strength but to trust in our good Father, who catches us each time it looks like we will fall. It may take our whole lives to learn to love so freely, but it is a wonderful journey to be on.




Sr. Gemma

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