“What do you wish me to do for you?” Whether we realize it, this is a question God is always asking. It’s an important question because the answer we provide will reveal a great deal about where our hearts lie. Our requests of God can often appear very noble and altruistic. They consist of requests for healing for someone in need of prayers, successful resolution of a personal conflict, assistance in overcoming a disease and myriad other desires for both ourselves and others. We are especially concerned about those we love and can easily find ourselves bringing their struggles to God for a hearing in our prayer.

Is that really all that prayer is about? The woman in today’s Gospel, having been put in her place by Jesus, was only looking out for the wellbeing of her sons. She was doing what mothers do, protecting and securing the livelihood of her children. But she was sadly mistaken, her request was not granted. We all make this same misguided mistake from time to time. The goal of prayer is not to convince God of the worthiness of our agenda or to gain a hearing. Sometimes we believe that the more we multiply our prayers or discover the right combination of supplications that we will receive more of God’s attention. That’s not how it works. Even though God desires to hear, know, and be an intimate part of what is on our minds, it goes much deeper.

What we need from God is a relationship. It’s a relationship that guides and immerses us in the very stuff of life and in the direction of the Gospel. This relationship sees God’s kingdom and agenda, not our own, as what is most important. It builds the strength of character necessary to bring God’s Gospel into a world that may not receive it with open arms. It may cause us discomfort and suffering. We are asked to heroically journey with God through suffering, hardship, ridicule, and even death! Ultimately, our desire from God must become our desire for God. It is only when this happens that the powerful words “thy will be done” will be found with sincerity and humility on our lips. Whatever God wishes becomes what we wish as we see this glorious union of wills. Our humble lives will then become powerful witnesses, and what happens to us in God’s eternal kingdom the result of his mercy. We become true servants and find ourselves discovering God’s definition of success. That definition has nothing at all to do with status, income, or privilege.  

©LPi

If we are truly in love with God, then the basics are not going to be enough. That love is going to want to be expressed in going above and beyond, in leaving the comfortable and familiar, in stretching and growing, and in following a voice other than our own. St. Teresa of Calcutta rightly instructs us that for “love to be real, it must cost, it must hurt, it must empty us of self.”  Being in love with God requires more than just checking the boxes of the commandments. It requires a sincere and unconditional self-investment. Desiring God with our whole heart, mind, and soul means that I must also desire a relationship with my neighbor with that same degree of fervor.

Biases and prejudices usually occur when people are kept at a distance and treated as objects. We cannot truly know our neighbors, especially if they are different than us, if we keep them in boxes and do not listen to their stories. When we open ourselves to listen to another person’s story, we begin to realize more how similar we are than dissimilar. Being overly attached to our possessions, ideologies, agendas, lifestyles, and personal needs are absolute barriers to achieving the type of personal investment love demands. This is why following Christ can be difficult. It is less a matter of intellect and more a matter of heart and soul. It requires that we transfer our treasure from an investment in tangible secular things and move it into the Kingdom of God. It is only the gift of wisdom and discernment that can help us decide what to do and how to do it.

Contemporaries of Jesus would know that a camel could not enter through the portal of a city weighed down with the baggage it was carrying. In order to enter, the baggage must be removed so that the animal could fit through the entry way. The same is true for us. We carry a lot of excessive baggage around with us that keeps us tethered to our past histories, wounds, myopic world views, prejudices, fears, and suspicions. To invest ourselves in the Kingdom of God, do God’s work and live out our love relationship with God, we need to shed the extra weight. While it may seem that a lot of that stuff is necessary, it really is not. We are much more than the things that we think define us and more secure than we think. The more there is to hold on to and the more that we carry with us, the harder it will be to leave it all behind. Many choose not to and walk away sad because they are not ready to trust.

©LPi

Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “It takes three to make love, not two: you, your spouse, and God.” Apart from the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, nothing speaks better of God’s incarnate love than marriage. God designed it this way. We place great value on love and rightly so. What we fail to realize, however, is that love, its very presence and place in our lives, is not simply part of the human package deal. Love comes from God. It is one of God’s greatest gifts to human beings. When we begin to realize that our very ability to love is sacred, it changes up how we see the essence of life, and purpose and sanctity of marriage.

God is love. It stands to reason then that if we follow the path of unconditional, self-emptying love we will then stumble upon God. It is precisely this intimate wedding of God with love that gives such eloquence and honor to the love between husband and wife. As a living sign of Christ’s love for the Church and for humanity, husbands and wives speak volumes of God’s unconditional incarnate love for all of his children! The Divine power that brings unity and life to marriage is so strong that once joined, it really cannot be separated.

Admittedly, marriage covenants can be extremely difficult to negotiate and, at times, very painful to experience. God’s perfect divinity always meets our broken and imperfect humanity. God is okay with this setup as he created it this way. Our loving is never as unconditional as God’s and often tainted by our own imperfections, needs, memories, hurts, sinfulness, and weakness. All of this baggage negatively impacts even the most well-intentioned marriages, causing them to be hurtful and empty. We are love works in progress. God can succeed in perfecting our love only if we keep our eyes fixed on him as the source of that love. That’s why marriage is always about three and not just two.

The Divine intimacy at the heart of marriage is what can make them celebrations of great union and happiness. Couples who are still madly in love with each other after many years, still looking at each other with that timeless twinkle in their eyes, best tell the story of God’s oneness with humanity. Honor, celebrate, and support those who have accepted a vocation to marriage. Living in a world that easily pulls relationships apart, may they find hope and inspiration from their faith companions who are on the same journey!

©LPi

 

What are the little ones? They are the poor, the marginalized, the women and men at the well, the Zacchaeus’ looking for Jesus from a tree, those mired in sin, the blind who want to see, and the lame who want to walk. They are the lepers and the different ones who have been told that they are unclean, and the ones who suffer from abuse and grave injustices and oppression. They are children who want nothing more than to be loved and enjoy celebrating their innocence. These are all the little ones and they are all vulnerable. Life already brings them burdens, we don’t need to add to them.

St. Oscar Romero said, “When the church hears the cry of the oppressed it cannot but denounce the social structures that give rise to and perpetuate the misery from which the cry arises.” Why are so many people still so gravely hurting? We have the resources and the means to make things better. We choose not to. There are still those things called greed, pride, lust, apathy, jealously, gluttony, and anger that prevent us from seeing each other and people to be loved and not objects to be used. Is this how God intended things to be?

God loves what is good and upright. It doesn’t matter who did it or where it came from. In God’s eyes, the end result is always faith, hope, and love. Those will always unite a person with God. We fill our lives with many things that are not good either for ourselves or for others. All of us have to work to discover what it is, exactly, that leads to the world’s brokenness. There are people, systems, and ideologies in place that foster oppression and injustice rather than equity and fairness. Sadly, our complacency can be the greatest evil. Turning a blind eye, ignoring the truth, and believing that we are helpless to fix so great a problem, does little to move us closer to the kingdom of God. As members of the Body of Christ, we cannot condone anything that keeps people in misery.

As it is said, charity begins at home. Perhaps a good place to start is with our own households and making sure their foundations are properly laid.

©LPi

There is something about being first. Whether it be first in line, first to be picked for the team, or the first one to finish their work, great satisfaction is achieved. Our egos love being first. It somehow sets us apart from everyone else, gives us a sense of pride and positions us to feel better than others. When we are first, we can glory in our efforts, skills, and achievements. Isn’t that what really matters? After all, we are taught from a very young age to be proficient, stay on top, be the best at what we do, and win the praise and esteem of others. This is the stuff that makes us successful and provides us with a comfortable, satisfying life.

Jesus wants none of it. All of the details we anguish over mean little to the kingdom of God. You want to be first? Then, be a servant and welcome a child. All of this is the opposite of our often vehement pursuits. If we are serious about following Jesus and living the Gospel, then we must put the needs of others before our own. If we continue to listen only to the noise of the world, we are going to continue to believe the illusions we inherit. Those illusions come in many forms, but all have things in common: me before you, being on top and not the bottom, us versus them, personal security over universal harmony and peace. When are we going to learn that always striving to be the best and first is an empty pursuit in our struggle for happiness? While satisfying our ego with this momentary boost of esteem may feel good for a moment, is it what we really desire?

If we can break from the world’s noise and create a space of sacred silence in our lives, we can begin to listen and see that we are being called in another direction. What we really desire is not the bolstering of our egos but the innocence we lost somewhere along the way. When we can be playful, joyful, and even somewhat carefree, life is good. We want our relationships to work, a place to call home, and to live peaceful lives with our sisters and brothers. Only a servant can do this. The servant’s prayer seeks to detach from self-concern in order to be used by God. Rather than worrying about being first and coming out on top, we can be inspired, guided, empowered, and led to do good works. Stop worrying about being first and put greater energy into feeling joy.

©LPi