What Matters to God

    I am in the midst of a major relocation.  This has been a year-long process.  During that time, I put much work into going through a house full of personal belongings.  Decisions had to be made about the value of stuff.  My family and I would be moving into a home, although bigger in size, and that would actually have less storage space.  Not only that, but we would be moving to another state, and interstate movers charge a lot of money, mostly determined by weight.  So, the process of going through stuff and deciding what mattered and what didn’t matter was very important.   As my family and I went through our attic of stuff, we discovered a number of boxes still sealed from our previous move, which happened twenty-three years ago!  The reality is that if in twenty-three years we didn’t use whatever was in those boxes, we clearly didn’t need it.  Whatever was in there really didn’t matter.

Holding on to stuff that really doesn’t matter makes moving forward very difficult.  And yet, we hold on to so much.  And perhaps some stuff has value and that’s fine.  Perhaps, even looking at the past and learning from it, both the good and the bad, has some value.  We can’t completely let go of everything.  Some things and experiences in our lives really do matter.  And so is true of the things and experiences of the present. And so it will be with the things and experiences to come.  Each moment of our lives we are presented with the choice:  how much does this matter?  In that discernment, we must judge our concerns by our own set of values.  Those values are reflective of how we are formed.  That formation might be from our family of origin, from our formal education, or just from life experience.  How we are originally formed though can be quite different from our attitudes and approach to life today

 In essence there are so many things that can become our God.  And so, as people of faith, we must constantly ask ourselves, “What of this matters to God?”  In every situation, we must go to our foundation that our lives belong to God.  He is not a God who demands anything that is not in our best interest.  He is a God who is pure love.  He is passionately in love with us.  He is the creator who remains in love with whom he created.  And so, with all that can become the Gods of our life, we must return to the One true God.  As we say each week in the Nicene Creed, “I believe in One God.”  And if that is true, if we believe in one God, what matters to him should be what matters to us.  So, as we go through our “stuff”, instead of asking ourselves does this thing, does this situation, does this concern matter to me, let us ask ourselves, “Does this matter to God?”  

- The Servant

 

17^th Sunday In Ordinary Time.  (Sunday Gospel Reflection 7.24.22)

Luke 11:1-13

 

“Lord, teach us how to pray…”

 

This has always intrigued me.  These followers of Jesus were presumably raised in their faith, and were now spending time watching and listening to Jesus.  So, one would also presume that they had some familiarity with prayer, some sense of prayer.  Yet, they ask Jesus point blank, “Teach us how!”

 

I always come to the same conclusion.  Human nature.  Even though we have a sincere desire to get closer to God  and to grow in faith and spirituality our human nature want us to be told how to do it. We don’t want to figure it out.  We don’t want to discern God’s spirit within us on our own.  “Just tell me how,” we implore.  Give us a blueprint, a roadmap.

 

The trouble is, asking for specific, direct and clear instructions may lead to a superficial understanding of prayer.  We may feel that by merely repeating the words we are told to say we automatically gain enlightenment; we automatically grow in faith.

 

Today’s gospel is a perfect example.  We may conclude that by merely repeating the words Jesus gave us we automatically get what we want and need.  We can manipulate God by our persistence.  But Jesus’ message is much deeper than that.  Its not mere persistence, but sincerity in our pleas that, ultimately, will bring us to God’s goodness.  That our prayer will always lead us to loving one another as God loves us.

 

Today my prayer is “Lord, teach me how to pray … not only with words.  Teach me how to pray with my very being.  With my words, my mind, my heart, my soul.”

 

“Call Me Ishmael”

 

When he knocks.

     In this week's gospel Luke 10:38-42. A woman named Martha opens her home to Jesus.  While Martha was busy working and preparing her home for Jesus Martha’s sister Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened  closely to everything Jesus said.  Martha must have grown tired and said to Jesus  “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
After reading this gospel I saw that Mary had chosen to listen to Jesus while her sister Martha was caught up in her world of “doing”.   One sister decides to be still and listen while they other is busy in action doing all she can with her two hands. Although they appear to be at opposite ends of the spectrum I can see how I am very much like both of them. 
    How many of us can relate to the Martha madness during Jesus’s visit? It’s that very familiar need to do do do and accomplish more.  Working to make sure everyone and everything is taken care of.     That feeling that there isn’t enough time and even worse not enough help to get everything done. You know the feeling of  putting in extra hours to make a little extra  money. We have all had times when we were really busy.  Constantly in action moving from one task to the next. Being in action Is necessary and in most cases good. We have heard that “Faith without works” is dead. That means you have to know when it is time to take action. Not only do you need to take action I’d go a step further and say  the right action.   Taking the right action comes with  the Lords blessing. So when Jesus told Martha  that she needed  one thing I believe that one thing is a relationship with the Lord. My experience has been that  the Lord’s guidance has played a role in all of my decisions the good and the not so good. I’ve been a doer on a mission to prove something to the world. I’ve been overworked, stressed worried and upset about many things just like Martha. I know what its like when I don’t make time to sit and listen  (like Mary) to the lord. Yes, Jesus says that we really only need one thing. That one thing is  truly a relationship with the Lord. When you have a relationship with the lord you hear him. You see him. You see him in others.  You experience him in the ups and downs of life. That relationship keeps you in balance.  The balance of never doing too much that you can’t make time for prayer and reflection with the  Lord. Like Jesus says in the gospel “Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her”.  A relationship with the lord is yours. Nobody else will relate to the Lord the way you do. 
    The Lord has carved out a special place in his heart for each one of us and it is our responsibility to make sure we do not neglect that relationship. I have been there all too often. Have you?   Have you ever had your head down working, and managing your life for weeks and months never making time to look up.  Have you been so busy that you find yourself  never making time to look up at the Lord? Then it happens.  The knock on your front door by the Lord to serve as a reminder that you need to be more like Mary. You need to sit down and listen to Lord.   Maybe this is your reminder. Maybe today you’re being called to make some time for the Lord. Time to reflect upon all that he has done for you. The good, the bad, the happy and the sad. It’s all the lords work.  Whether you are in a Martha moment and insanely busy or patiently waiting for the lord to speak to you like Mary remember that when he knocks… you be there to answer.  

Twenty-Nine Words

In trying to live out the Gospel, I have to remind myself of this: keep it simple, stupid.  This coming Sunday's Gospel, the story of the Good Samaritan, helps me keep it simple.

In the reading, the "scholar of the law" recites what we must do to inherit eternal life:

You shall love the Lord, your God, 

with all your heart, 

with all your being, 

with all your strength, 

and with all your mind, 

and your neighbor as yourself.

Really very simple.  Incredibly difficult to accomplish, but simple in concept.

I wonder sometimes if we need much more than what we have in this reading.  Think of this: how many millions upon millions of words of scholarship have been written about how to achieve eternal life?  And here we have it summed up in just twenty-nine words.  

Don't get me wrong.  I'm all for scholarship and analysis, truly.  But honestly I don't have the mental bandwidth for much of it.  I need simple.

This is simple.  1) Love the Lord, your God.  2) Love your neighbor as yourself.  

If we were to lose all of the writings about how we should act to follow the way of Christ, but for these twenty-nine words, we would still have everything we need.

Peace to you and your house, for all time.

- The Older Brother