god
Not God, “What will you to do for us?” but instead, “What are we to do for you?”
For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mk 10:45).
As fully God and fully man, Jesus taught and modeled for his disciples a contrarian view of how to live in our world. He rejected the pursuit of worldly honor, power, pleasure, and wealth during his earthly ministry. Jesus redirected any attention drawn to himself to his Father. He epitomized the exact opposite of the cult of personality by emphasizing that what is most important is developing a relationship with God and following his will by serving the needs of others, even to the point of suffering and dying to open up access to heaven for us.
On our own, we cannot achieve this freedom of service. James and John showed that they did not understand Jesus’ call to service. Instead, they were looking for seats of honor and power. Though they had experienced, studied, and were mentored by Jesus, it was not until experiencing his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, and in remaining true and faithful despite their own failures, that they came to a place of transformation through their openness to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They came to understand that Jesus called them to serve and not be served. They then fulfilled what Jesus first saw when he called them to leave their boats and follow him.
This is true for us as well. Jesus sees not just our impulsiveness, pride, and selfishness, our wounds, and our sins, but who God has called us to be from the beginning and still is yet to be actualized. Jesus calls us to a way of life that embraces loving and serving as he loved and served, yet in the unique way and charism that our loving God and Father has planted in us. He has sent the Holy Spirit to guide, empower, and to transform us by his love, so to draw us deeper into the Mystery of God.
May we be willing to be led, as James and John were, away from our attitude of: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”, which is never a good question to ask the Son of God because in so doing we are feeding our E.G.O. We are Edging God Out of the picture and placing ourselves front and center. Instead let us open our heart and mind as Jesus did and embrace the inner disposition of a servant that asks, “God, what do you want me to do for you? How do you want me to serve? Not my will, but your will be done.”
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Photo: A time of quiet and thanksgiving looking at our new but temporary sanctuary in our parish hall. I was blessed to be able to greet and celebrate Masses this weekend together again with my Holy Cross family. We are beginning again and seeking God’s will on how to best move forward.
Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, October 20, 2024
The Holy Spirit is ready, willing, and able to help us, unless we say no.
“Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” (Luke 12:10).
This verse is often referred to as the “unforgivable sin” and it can be difficult to understand. Also, if you have been reading this blog regularly you may have read more than once my writing that God forgives us more than we can ever mess up, so, how is it that we can’t we be forgiven for blaspheming the Holy Spirit?
When I was a junior or senior in high school, one of my teachers commented that if we thought Stephen King wrote amazing tales, then we might find reading the book of Revelation from the Bible interesting. This was not a Catholic but a public school. As a reader of Stephen King and at that time I think he had only written seven to eight novels, that phrase stayed with me, and a few weeks later, I purchased a King James Bible from our local bookstore, Waldens, which I am not sure exists anymore (Waldens not King James). I don’t remember if I read it at all, I must have thumbed through it a time or two, but then placed in on my shelf, next to my a copy of The Stand.
A month or two passed and I remember being at a party and not having much fun, so I left. When I arrived home I had the urge to open my newly purchased Bible and when I did my eyes found not the words from the author of Revelation but Luke. He shared: “Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows” (Lk 12:7). After reading the section leading up to this verse, I felt God saying to me that I would not ever win the lottery, but like the sparrows, he would take care of me. He would provide me with the opportunity and the ability to work. He has continued to be true to his word through all the ups and downs of my fifty-nine years so far. God not only provided work, but has continued to provide something even more, an awareness of his presence in my life. These beginning stepping stones have led to others that would ultimately pave the way to me typing these words to you today. Because of each successive yes to the invitation and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and confessing those times that I did not, I placed myself in a better position each time to recognize and hear the word of God.
Now, that experience could have taken a different turn. I could have resisted the initial curiosity that welled up within me from my teacher’s discussion and instead of going out to purchase a Bible, I could have stayed home that day and opened up my copy of The Stand and given it a second read. Thus denying that invitation of the Holy Spirit, I would not have had a Bible when I went to that party. I could have followed through on the first urging to purchase a Bible but then resisted the second urge to leave the party. Choosing to ignore either or both promptings would have led to a higher probability of my not hearing God’s voice that night. Say each step did happen up to and including hearing God’s voice but then I denied that I heard God, instead attributing the experience to some bad pepperoni pizza from the party. Each one is an example of how I could have closed myself off to God’s invitations.
God invites us to share in his life in a myriad of ways. With each invitation, no matter how small, we can say yes, or we can dismiss these “encounters” as mere “coincidences.” With each denial, we further limit ourselves to the possibility of acknowledging an encounter with God. We can even begin to doubt and/or come to a place of denying that he even exists. We could then develop “a mentality which obstinately sets the mind against the Spirit of God, and as long as that obstinate mindset perdures, God’s forgiveness cannot be accorded to such a person” (Fitzmeyer 1985, 964).
God loves us more than we can ever mess up, so much so, that he gives us the freedom to reject him. He does not impose his will upon us. John the Baptist and Jesus got this, and this is why their emphasis on repentance was so preeminent in their preaching. If we turn to God with humility and contrition, true sorrow for our sins, God will forgive us and we will receive his healing touch.
The danger of a consistent and obstinate disposition against God is that like a muscle that is not used, it will atrophy, and so will our ability to see God working in our lives. We will become less and less able to notice his gentle stirrings and invitations. We will become spiritually blind and our hearts will become hardened. Now that does not mean God stops communicating. He continues to reach out to us in an infinite number of ways, but we are less and less able to receive the forgiveness he so thirsts to give us when we close off ourselves to even the mere possibility of him doing so.
Jesus, in becoming one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity, opened up the opportunity for us to experience the Holy Spirit, who is the Love that is shared between himself and God. Opening up the Bible, as I did so many years ago, opens us up to the living Word of God. The more we say yes to his guidance and leading, the more we will experience him, the more we will begin to recognize his voice, the more we will participate in his forgiveness and love, and the more we will be nourished and strengthened. I do not believe in coincidences, but God-incidences!
Photo: Blessed to be back at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary for the Friends of Seminary Gala. Some quiet time of prayer after the Mass in the chapel, where I have been blessed to have been touched and guided by the Holy Spirit many times, and again this night!
Fitzmeyer, Joseph A. The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV in the Anchor Bible. NY: Double Day, 1985
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, October 19, 2024
We receive God’s key of knowledge to open the door to his love for ourselves and each other.
Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter” (Lk 11:52).
We all yearn to be loved, to belong, to be accepted, and fulfilled. God knows the depth of our yearning better than we know ourselves. For he sees past the apparent goods that we cling to and he invites to take steps into his light that we might see the truth of his love and our fulfillment that can only happen in our relationship with him. From that core communion all else in our lives can be properly ordered.
To willingly prevent access, to those who seek, as did those for whom Jesus points to in today’s Gospel, is an egregious offense. Especially in the way that Jesus describes. They themselves have the key to enter, do not avail themselves of the gift they have received, and worse, prevent others from going in! I remember a time in eighth grade where I had wanted to ask a girl out to the school dance. I confided this hope with someone but of course, the word got out. A few days later in math class, the teacher announced to the whole class that I was the first one he had ever heard of being rejected before I could even ask them out. I wanted to melt into the floor.
Teachers, like religious leaders, are to open up greater access and care for those who have been placed in their trust. When they do the opposite by denying access, betraying that trust, belittle, or worse abuse those they are charged to empower, they slam doors in the faces of those who seek to be loved and belong. We are to resist any temptation to demean, dehumanize, or crush the spirit of anyone and instead seek to be understanding, kind, and present. The “key of knowledge” Jesus wants to share, is to open, not lock others out of their access to Jesus and his truth.
Each of us is hungry for God. Not only are we to seek him but also to help others along the journey to experience him. We are to love and support one another, even when they express their hunger in not the most pleasant of ways. Here it is even more important that we resist reacting in kind and slipping into a defensive posture. Instead, let us be patient, understanding, and willing to listen with our spirit instead of our ego for what their need truly may be. May we not be a closed door but one that is open to share the healing love that we have received from Jesus.
As Pope Francis said: “Each one of us is called to be an artisan of peace, by uniting and not dividing, by extinguishing hatred and not holding on to it, by opening paths to dialogue and not by constructing new walls! Let us dialogue and meet one another in order to establish a culture of dialogue in the world, a culture of encounter.”
Photo: Making time to be still and quiet can help us to feel God’s peace and help us to be more patient with one another.
Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, October 17, 2024
Jesus opens us up to and leads us to experience the Truth.
After Jesus continues to call out those Pharisees who follow their own will and put themselves in the place of honor instead of God, one of the scholars of the law said to him in reply, “Teacher, by saying this you are insulting us too.”
Jesus did not soften his words or hold back. He went right at the scholar and convicted him as well, “Woe also to you scholars of the law! You impose on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them” (Lk 11;45-46).
Jesus is clear about his mission, about what the kingdom of God is not and what it is. Jesus is shining a light on the practices of those Pharisees and the scholars of the law that are not fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. I believe that there were those who were. Yet, for those he challenged, he did so in the hope that they would see the darkness that was blinding them. Unfortunately, unlike Bartimaeus (see Mk 10:46-52) who knew that he was blind and wanted to see, this is not true for these whom Jesus confronted.
How about us? Are we aware of our blind spots? Are we willing to allow Jesus to shine his light and love in our direction? Will we cover our eyes because the light is too bright and withdraw further into the shadows, or will we remain still and allow our eyes time to adjust so that the brightness of the Mystery of God will reveal to us that which has kept us bound? Will we justify, or rationalize our behavior or those of others that we know are sinful, or will we be transparent, repent, believe in the Gospel, and walk further into the light and the embrace of Jesus?
Let us resist the path of those Pharisees and scholars of the Law who imposed heavy burdens without being willing to help others along the way. We do need to know the law, the Catechism, the Bible, Canon Law, participate in the sacraments and be people of prayer and service, all doing so for the purpose of coming to know Jesus and the love he shares with the Father who is the Holy Spirit. We have been created for nothing less than to participate in the very love of God, to become divine through our participation in the life of Jesus. This love and relationship with God increases as we share what we have received with others.
Jesus did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them. He was actually much more demanding than the Pharisees or the scribes. The difference is, Jesus invites us into his divine relationship to empower us so that we can also fulfill the prescriptions and practices that God has commanded. Doing so is not for God’s sake but for ours! God’s divine law is in place so that we can experience freedom from the false truths, diversions, distractions, and attachments that we have fallen for. Meditating upon God’s law and putting it into practice is like a tree planted near fresh water that will never wither and fade. Our roots that run deep will continue to receive nourishment and sustenance even in times of drought, challenge, and trials.
Jesus beckons us to come out from the shadows and into the radiance of his light. As we experience his love and mercy, he encourages us to continue to move out of our comfort zones and complacency so that we may encounter others with the same love and mercy we have received. Jesus does not expect us to live the life he challenges us to aspire to all on our own power. Apart from Jesus, we can do nothing, but with Jesus all things are possible.
Photo: Enjoying some quiet time of breathing, praying, and walking with Jesus and Mary. Rosary walk, Vero Beach.
Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 16, 2024
To heal, it is important to reveal our sin and come out of the darkness.
The Lord said to him, “Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools” (Lk 11:39).
Jesus’ harshest critiques were for acts of hypocrisy. He did so to show, in no uncertain terms, how dangerous this was, especially for religious leaders. These men were entrusted with the care of God’s people. They may have observed the proper rituals, spoke, and dressed to match the part but this all meant nothing if their hearts were hardened, and they were closed to the love and will of God. This situation was more perilous when they themselves became obstacles, stumbling blocks to those who sought God. Jesus indicting them as fools meant that they were bereft of the wisdom of God they projected to have.
A recent Pew study tracing religious affiliation from 2007 to 2014 found that approximately 56 million Americans identify themselves as following no religious affiliation. Some have labeled this group as the “Nones”. The context and nuance of why this trend has been on the rise has many components. One ingredient is the unacceptable levels of hypocrisy which has turned many off to organizations and the societal structures including the Church. Reports of abuse of children, women, and at risk adults over the past few decades further adds fuel to this fire. Although, church leadership has done much to correct those abuses and to put policies and practices in place to protect the flock, the damage has been done, the image has been tainted, and there is still much more work to do.
In the depths of our very being, we seek and yearn for the transcendent, the infinite. We are spiritual seekers. We seek God while at the same time we experience suffering, injustice, and hypocrisy at the hands of the very ones who are our leaders in both the religious and political sphere. This is why Jesus convicted those who abused their positions because he knew the significant damage that they could inflict. The good news is that the most recent study has shown for the first time that the rise of the “Nones” has plateaued. This is an affirmation that when we experience life without God, we will recognize that something, some One is missing.
No one is perfect, our leaders nor ourselves. We all fall short of the perfection of Christ, even those of us who seek and aspire to live by the Gospel. If we put anyone up on a pedestal, they, sooner or later, are going to fall, and the higher up they go, the greater the fall. God is to hold priority of place. We are to seek God first. God is to be our foundation, the light shining on the hill, our guide, and source. One way we can sidestep the trap of hubris is by resisting the urge to project all is well and good, that we are fine when we are not. None of us are super men or women. If we think we can go it alone, on our own power and persistence, we will fall sooner or later.
When we turn to Jesus to reveal our weakness and our sin, we can experience his transformative and healing power in our lives. To be vulnerable, to allow Jesus to shine his light into our inner darkness takes courage, but when we open all of our lives to him, we will identify and be able to release our own “plunder and evil”. The Holy Spirit can also help us to trust one another with our weaknesses, faults, and shortcomings.
We are healthier and stronger when we assume a posture of humility and openness and reach out for help. We are better when we entrust ourselves to Jesus and a core group of people we can trust, firmly ground ourselves in the love of God and one another. We grow stronger when we support the unique gifts of each other while at the same time hold each other accountable. Isolated and in the darkness, our sin festers and grows. When brought into the light, sin starves and withers away.
Jesus challenges us to resist projecting an image of perfection when all is not well on the inside. When willing to reveal our weaknesses, sins, suffering, and pain, we can receive help, heal, and let go of carrying the weight of seeking an internal perfectionism. Healed and transformed from being the center of the universe, which we never were or never can be, we don’t have to project any image. We can be free to be ourselves as God calls us to be and radiate his love as we receive his love. Instead of driving people to the nearest exit, we can begin to welcome people back home to be loved, healed, and transformed.
Photo: Rosary walk, Riomar Beach, Vero Beach.
“You are lacking one thing…”
A man approached Jesus seeking to know what he must, “do to inherit eternal life” (Mk 10:17). Jesus interestingly shared the commandments of Moses’ second tablet, those of loving neighbor such as: do not kill, commit adultery, steal or bear false witness; do not defraud, but do honor his father and mother (cf. Mk 10:19), not any from the first tablet regarding how to relate to God. The man affirmed that he had followed them all. Jesus did not challenge the man’s response. The disciples, I bet, though perked up and prepared to watch Jesus lead this man deeper.
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me” (Mk 10:21).
Jesus did not admonish or condemn the man. Mark, who most likely got this eyewitness detail from Peter, wrote, “Jesus looking at him, loved him”. Jesus loved him and hoped to help him to see that there was something still lacking in him, still holding him bound. So he lovingly invited him to take the next step to fulfill the deepest desire we all have, which is to be one with God and one another.
Instead of embracing the invitation, the man was crestfallen. That he followed the prescriptions of Torah all his life, and most likely sincerely felt he was blessed by God with the gift of having many material goods, in the end, did he really know God any better by following the precepts of the law alone? In the end, did he worship God or his possessions which still enslaved him.
He may genuinely have come to seek eternal life, but as many misunderstood the kind of messiah Jesus would be, he did not grasp the reality of relationship that God invites us to experience. This man was likely serious, disciplined, well mannered, and virtuous but made the mistake in thinking this all came about by his own doing. He thought the things he received from God was his blessing, not realizing that God wanted to give this man the greatest gift of all, himself.
Jesus invited the man to follow him, and in so doing he was now bringing in the first of Moses’ tablets, the first three of the Ten Commandments, which have to do with our relationship with God. Jesus answered this man’s question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” by saying, “You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me” (Mk 10:21). Interestingly, Jesus did not say, follow God, he said follow me! Jesus is the Son of God, he is God incarnate.
The heart of the commandments invite us to be free from that which enslave us, so that we can put God first and foremost in our lives, so we can experience and receive his love, so we can grow in our relationship with him and one another free of unhealthy attachments. This is what we all have been created for, as St. Augustine himself realized when he wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you” (St Augustine, Confessions).
I invite you to return to this scene from Mark 10:17-31. Recall the image of the disciples and Jesus watching the rich man walk away sad. Become aware of the eyes of Jesus, his gaze now on you. What stirs within you as you receive his gaze and his love?
Allow yourself to take a breath and ask, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Continue to look deeply into Jesus’ eyes as he says, “You are lacking one thing…” How does he fill in the blank for you?
What is your response?
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Painting image based on the Shroud of Turin.
Experiencing God with us in everything is the gift of prayer.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Lk 11:9).
Prayer can become frustrating when we make the time to pray and then we feel or think that nothing is happening or has happened. We may pray for a specific petition for our self, or for a particular intention for another and felt, or thought, that there was not an answer from God. One may pray a sincere, seemingly selfless prayer for a loved one, a child, a spouse, a friend, to be healed and the person still dies. They may be deeply hurt because they did what Jesus said; they asked, they pleaded and begged, but felt they did not receive the healing; that which they sought for, was not given and, instead what they found was nothing but pain and heartache from the loss; they knocked until their knuckles were raw and experienced no one on the other side.
Our attitude and orientation to prayer matters. When we sincerely turn our hearts and minds to God in prayer, something happens between us and God, though it may be beyond our cognitive grasp to understand or our sensory awareness to experience. There may indeed be emotional highs and consolations experienced in prayer, but if seeking those is the primary motivation for prayer we will find ourselves more frustrated than not. There may also be lows in prayer, dryness, even desolations, and even feeling God’s absence. Emotions are fleeting and not a good barometer when measuring the effectiveness of prayer.
Another big misconception is that we pray to God as if he were a gumball machine. It may seem a silly analogy but how many of us really do pray and only pray that way, and when we do not receive the specific thing we asked for, at the time specified, when we wanted and as we wanted, we brood and think God doesn’t care or does not, in fact, even exist. We may even slip into the barter posture. God if you grant me this, I will do that. If we are only open to receive what we want on our terms, again we are setting ourselves up for frustration.
The very desire to pray is the beginning of our awareness of God’s invitation offered to us to join him in prayer. God is the one who reaches out to us first. The answer to what or who we ask, seek, and knock is found at the end of the Gospel reading for today: “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Lk 11:13)?
God knows what is best for us, he sees our potential, he wants us to experience joy and be fulfilled. How can we best live our lives in this world to attain that reality? We do so by receiving the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? The infinite, communal love expressed between God the Father and God the Son. Our goal in prayer is to enter into God’s reality, the infinite communion of Love.
Through building a relationship with God, which we are able to do through our participation and conformation to the life of Jesus, we come to see the truth of empty promises, apparent goods, substitutes to fill our emptiness and faulty defense mechanisms that we have been utilizing as guideposts to merely survive and get through life. When we stay consistent in an authentic life of prayer, we will change, we be aware and be able to let go of that which is false and will begin to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (cf. Galatians 5:22-23)?
We need to resist running away from apparent unanswered prayers, the pain of loss, and accept sometimes not knowing, and to trust that God has not abandoned us. He is with us in everything. Prayer is not primarily what we ask and that we receive. Prayer is a willingness to hear God’s invitation to enter into a deeper and more intimate relationship with him. Accepting this as a starting point will open a doorway leading into the open arms and embrace of his Son, Jesus, who awaits us in the depth of our need, confusion, grief, and pain. Even our loved ones who have died have not come to an end but have experienced a new beginning with our loving God and Father. JoAnn said in her last few weeks that she was just changing her address.
Ultimately, what we ask, what we seek, and what we knock for when we pray is to be loved, to belong, to be a part of someone greater than ourselves. We have been created as a living, craving hunger, and desire to be in relationship with God and each other. This is true for the atheist and the mystic alike. We have been created to be loved and to love. To experience God’s love in our time of prayer, it is important to make time consistently to do so, to then breathe and recollect, to be still and let our thoughts come, go, and settle down. Then we can have a conversation, speak with God and listen to him and experience the Holy Spirit in the silence of our hearts.
The Holy Spirit is the gift of prayer that is open to us all. He is the love shared between the Father and the Son, that we too can experience even during our sorrow, trials, and tribulations, as well as during our times of celebrations, overcoming, and rejoicing. This is why he is the answer to our prayers. Sometimes to be aware of his presence takes perseverance. It may not be that God is not answering, but that we are not patient enough to receive the answer. We may not be silent enough to hear. Prayer is about building a relationship and like any other relationship, we may need more time to heal and/or to build trust, and a willingness to consistently spend time together. Most importantly, we need to learn to communicate and that means learning God’s profound language of silence.
Photo: Damage from tornado taken last night. Compare to picture posted for last Sunday’s reflection. Walking in God’s silence and asking him to help all effected by this storm and us here at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach.
Mass readings for Thursday, October 7, 2021
“Lord, teach us to pray.”
The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray and he shared with him the prayer we know as the “Our Father” or “The Lord’s Prayer”. This version from Luke is a bit different than what most of us are used to. Praying with these different words can help us to be more attentive to the words and to Jesus who gave them to us. Imagine, we have been and can continue to pray with the words that Jesus taught his disciples directly, and which have been passed down generation after generation to our reading of them in this moment!
God’s word is alive, it touches our hearts when we are open. God reaches us with his words each in our own unique way, in our own unique moments of sorrows, challenges, needs as well as our successes, joys, and healings. Another good point when approaching prayer is that we are not seeking to change God, but allowing him to transform us by his loving embrace that we can experience when we answer his invitation to pray together. I invite you to do so now, slowly and prayerfully.
“Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”
Photo: And Jesus please keep all those who are in the path of Milton safe, and help to bring about an end to violence and war in all its forms. Stain glass, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, FL.
God cares more than we might think.
Job through all his sufferings, trials, and tribulations was faithful to God and coming to the end of the story, he gets an actual hearing from God himself. God speaks to him “out of the storm” (Job 38:1), though does not answer Job’s questions. God, in two speeches, asks Job questions that deal with the reality that Job is a finite human with the limitations that entails and yet gives Job a vision of the ordering of the whole of the cosmos and our created world.
From this amazing encounter, Job speaks in but a whisper: “I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know” (Job 42:2-3). Job repents, he is willing to accept the gift that God gave him, of seeing how small he really is in the greater scheme of the vast cosmos and even in the ordering of this planet and the created beings upon it. God’s questions cut to the heart of Job’s limited point of view regarding the grand scheme of God’s plan and Job was willing to accept God’s guidance.
In the Gospel, Jesus receives the seventy-two he had commissioned to heal and exorcize demons in his name. They returned rejoicing at the wonders that they experienced in their service and Jesus invited them to see that what was more amazing was not so much that “the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
What is the most amazing of both accounts from Job and the Gospel of Luke today, is that God, even cares about us. God cares about us personally and intimately. God knows each of us by name and knows us better than we know ourselves. Even though God does not need us, God yearns for relationship with us and has planted that very desire to be in relationship with him in the very depths of our minds, hearts, and souls. God also wants us to participate in his plan of salvation history and has a particular part for us to play.
When we give ourselves some time to take this in, to rest and stop, to breathe, really take some deep and slow breaths, and ponder not only how much God loves us, but actually give ourselves time to rest in and receive his love. Wow! You’ll never breathe or see the world in the same way again.
You might hesitate or question whether God cares because he allowed something to happen or not to happen. You may not care about having your name written in heaven, for what’s the point of having an eternal relationship with someone who doesn’t care enough to listen. Even if you may not want to make the time to read about Job’s angst and encounter with God, maybe start with taking a few steps toward trusting God, who really does know what he is doing and knows what is best, even if you don’t believe that yet.
Just taking a moment to be still, and to bring our questions to God is a good first step. For God is the best one to answer them. We just need to be prepared that he may answer our question with more questions. As long as we are willing to enter into the conversation, we are moving in the right direction.
Photo: Rosary walk, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, FL.
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, October 5, 2024
Spiritual Stepping Stones 