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Too Much to Ask?

Stress

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.


We know that Jesus summed up the Commandments of God with the priority of loving God above all things, and loving one’s neighbor as oneself (cf. Mk 12:29-31).

On the evening of the Last Supper, the night before Jesus’ death, to which St. John dedicates a disproportionate amount of his gospel, Jesus makes this general Commandment more insistent, urgent, and intimate with His special friends. After telling them what it means to be His friends, in today’s gospel, He gives them His Commandment to them as friends: “Love one another.”

Later, in Jn. 17, throughout the chapter, Jesus prays for His friends: He prays that they be one, as He and the Father are one.

What is the name “Christian” supposed to mean, if not “friend of Jesus”? Thus, to the degree that we seek intimate friendship with Him, His command likewise to us is “Love one another.”

Why, over the centuries and still today, why do we Christians insist on pitting ourselves against one another? Why do we insist on splintering, dividing, separating, pointing fingers, finding fault? Why do we place our differences above our brotherhood?

Why do we do all this, when the ONE thing that Jesus asked for on the night He began His intense suffering, was that we be one in Him?

The answer: Because we treasure our pride above our friendship with Him. Otherwise, our only desire would be to strive mightily to fulfill His highest priority request–indeed, His Commandment.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Filled with sincere sorrow, ask Jesus for forgiveness for all the times when, even in your own mind, you have focused more on the faults of your brother or sister, rather than the opportunity to support them and love them as they are.

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Reconstruction

House in ?Ruins

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.


When we read the first reading, we may wonder what all this is about layering sinews upon bones, and then once the body is reconstructed, infusing spirit. There is a sense of a process of rebuilding. When we think about recovering from sin, we most often think of the cleansing/purifying aspect. We go to confession, and we are fully cleansed, fully new–we can start over.

But in the spiritual life, in addition to the point-in-time cleansing process of God’s forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance, there is also a massive rebuilding process that God undergoes with the soul. And it tends to be long and drawn out, not because He can’t do things quickly, but because He respects the limitations of our nature and does not want to overwhelm us.

When we are born into original sin, we are born with our nature in a sense in ruins. When we are baptized, our friendship with God is restored and He enters in. But all of the ruin of our nature is not suddenly restored thereby. Our being remains in spiritual blindness, coldness, darkness, and much of what we are pulls us forcefully away from God.

Through a consistently cultivated life of prayer and the sacraments, and daily effort to say “yes” to God based upon a conscious decision for Him, we partner with Him in the rebuilding process. We work with Him to allow His grace to lay sinew on bone, skin on sinew, and then increasingly to infuse the whole with His spirit. Blessed are those who consciously decide for God from a young age, for such a decision tends to be more straightforward and whole-hearted, and God can do great things in a shorter period of time.

But what is the target state of this rebuilding process? Conveniently, we find it in today’s Gospel:

“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Perfect love–union with God and obedience to God, and profound charity to neighbor–is the target state toward which God’s process of rebuilding the human person tends. The process passes through the sometimes long and difficult phases of detachment, purification, and spiritual dryness described by the great spiritual masters. It also passes through ever deeper and more fulfilling experiences of God. So buckle up. Because this isn’t an optional challenge in the spiritual life. It’s a commandment–THE Commandment.

Ideas for conversation with God: Consider that your spiritual life may have difficult periods ahead as you paddle upriver to keep consistent in your “yes” to God, and He goes to work on your soul. Tell Him you are giving Him a blank check to fill in. Tell Him that you know He is worth it. (“To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” Jn. 6:68) Tell Him you are committed for the full journey. Ask Him to give you the strength to persevere in this most wonderful process, for which He paid with His blood.

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