I went back into my photo gallery and found a God moment when we invited the children in the parish to wear their Halloween costumes for Mass on Sunday. It reminded me of the following movie and the message of Jesus in the gospel to “lose the cape.”
In the movie, “The Incredibles” a family of superheroes try to save the world from destruction. In Bob Goff's book "Love Does," he writes about the superhero dad in the movie. He is an insurance claims adjustor, but he really wants to use his superhero powers. He begins drawing pictures of the superhero suits he wants to wear. Of course, all the suits he draws include capes.
The dad has a friend named Edna who makes superhero suits and she keeps telling him that he needs to lose the cape. She mentions how capes cause big problems for super heroes. They get caught on things like fences or jet engines. Edna is famous for saying, "No capes!" You get a lot more stuff done if you lose the cape.
Bob Goff thinks Jesus agrees and so do I!
You know what I think will draw the world to Christ? When Christians lose the cape. So many of us who follow Christ do it with a cape representing something - an issue we are against, our opinions or judgments - a cape symbolizing our denomination or political views or how we interpret Scripture. Soon we become known by our capes and not by Jesus. Our capes hide our light.
Another problem is that if we go around serving Jesus with capes, they eventually get snagged on something - our pride, other people's feelings, people's perceptions of Christians. Our capes get in the way.
Goff reminds us that Jesus never wore a cape. Jesus hardly ever talked to anyone about what he had done, the way he loved people. He just did it. And all that mattered to him was that God knew it. When we lose the cape, we don't get confused about what our purpose is, which is to love. We don't forget that it is God who is making things happen. All our energy is channeled into doing great things for God and loving the world like crazy.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends.. Let's lose the cape as Christians and just go out and share the light and love of Jesus. When we serve Jesus without a cape, people will want to know more about Jesus. If you prefer, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!" Lose the cape and let your light shine!
