Accountability

I have a pile of paper that sits on the corner of my desk at home. It is filled with one-off “adulting” stuff: the new auto-insurance policy, the random bill from a doctor’s office, order forms for school pictures, a coupon for the local dry cleaners, etc. This pile grows over the course of four to five weeks until I can’t take it anymore, at which point I spend an hour whittling it down to a fraction of its size and then it starts growing again. It never goes away completely. It is a constant reminder of the things I need to do. It is an unpleasant pile. I don’t like to look at it. I don’t like to think about it.

When the pile starts to get large, I verbalize the need to deal with it. This happens at least two or three times before I actually sit down and make myself do it. At this stage, I can get a little tense and look for distractions - baking, laundry, closet organization - to avoid the inevitable. I have found myself pointing fingers at other things that need to be addressed in the house. It is much easier to tell my daughter to pick up the three pairs of shoes she has laying around than to pick up my own papers.

The first reading today reminds me of my pile. The wicked refer to Jesus, even the sight of him, as obnoxious - extremely unpleasant. They rattle off a list of reasons to justify their claim, but perhaps the real reason is that he held them accountable. Accountable to the ideals and laws they set forth. Accountable to a better and more virtuous life. He challenged them to look inward and reflect on their own lives. In the face of something that is unpleasant and hard, it is easier to avoid, and deflect, and point fingers.

At the end of the day, my pile is still there, waiting for me. Quite honestly I need the pile. It holds me accountable to do all that “adulting” stuff that might otherwise slip by. More importantly, I need Jesus. In my imperfection, I need his constant message of love and forgiveness. He holds me accountable to answer his call and follow his lead: to love and forgive and to pay attention to the important things that might otherwise slip by.

Author: Michele Williams, Asst. Principal