Tag: <span>Obedience</span>

July 31, 2021July 28, 2021

Order and Chaos

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

There is a striking contrast between the first reading and the gospel today; in one, we see obedience to God bring order, and in the other, chaos.

In the first reading, God Himself is bringing order to the lives of the Israelites who follow Him, by parceling out time for them and ordering it according to key festivals and jubilees that serve as milestones. It provides a comforting framework within which they can peacefully live once settled in the Promised Land.

In the gospel, faithfulness to God and his mission brings chaos to the life of John the Baptist. Not only had he lived a hard life, subsisting on locusts and wild honey in the desert (cf. Mt. 3:4); he was now to suffer a violent and cruel death in the prime of his life, based on the silly whim of the reigning monarch.

In reality, our world is full of both order and chaos. The order comes from God, and the chaos, from original and personal sin. What is different about the life of the faithful Christian is not necessarily that it contains a higher dose of either than the life of anyone else. Rather, what is different is that, for the person who trusts in God, He superimposes a deeper and more powerful order upon the whole mix, such that both the elements of order and those of chaos in our lives make sense against a deeper backdrop of order. By trusting Him and giving our lives to Him, we enable Him to weave both the logical and the random elements of our lives into a beautiful pattern of love.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Tell Jesus that the only order you need is the same one that He lived by: The Father’s loving Providence for you, whether it is manifested in beautiful, harmonious, orderly, enriching gifts, or chaotic suffering and deprivation that enables you to grow closer to Him and contribute to salvation. Ask Jesus to help you always keep the focus of your priority on His will and trust in His Providence.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

May 18, 2021May 6, 2021

Scent of Glory

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

Following Jesus’ example in today’s gospel, do you ever pray to the Father, “Glorify me, Father?” Might seem selfish. Might seem strange. But Jesus shows us that it is neither.

Desiring glory for oneself is not a vice, but a virtue. That is, it is a virtue when we look for glory in the right place. Jesus’ request has a note of intimacy in it; His glory derives from the relationship of love between Him and His Father, not from individual achievement or conquest. Still, there is achievement involved. The achievement is that of saying “yes” to the will of the Father in all things, even though for Jesus–and for us–this involves a battle against some of our most fundamental instincts. And the glory is not self-aggrandizement, but rather it is a gratuitous, loving gift from the Father.

We catch a scent of this glory on St. Paul in the first reading (along with the musky, earthy smell of one who travels all over the known world in ancient times). Paul’s glory likewise is a gift from God–from the Holy Spirit. Paul stands tall in his confidence that he understands God’s will for him and is dead set on fulfilling it. Like Jesus in the Gospel, he is full of love and solicitude for those entrusted to him, and he fully, freely embraces the destiny God has placed before him. This gives him incomparable stature–glorious stature.

We may well ask God, as ardently as we wish, “Glorify me.” He will answer our prayer by leading us to a loving and complete surrender to His will, which–no matter what our temperament, our talents, or even our insecurities–will bring with it, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, a state of admirable and enviable glory and greatness.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to inspire in you a Napoleonic passion for glory, but for the glory that He sought–the glory that only God can bequeath. Ask Him to make of you nothing less than what His Father has designed you, and He has redeemed and exalted you, to be.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

April 28, 2021April 13, 2021

The Weight of the World

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

As Christians, often we feel that we have the weight of the world on our shoulders. Subconsciously comparing ourselves to hedonists, to those who strive only to satisfy their own passions and desires, we feel that we are the few in the world serious and responsible enough to discern what is good. It is up to us to make the world a better place, swimming against the current.

Today’s first reading and gospel, on the other hand, paint a different picture. In the gospel, Jesus explains that He simply says what the Father has commanded Him to speak. He is accepting and fulfilling the direction of His Father.

Similarly, in the first reading, Paul and Barnabas do not sit down with an analysis of the characteristics of all the towns in the area, to deduce which towns are best to preach in. Rather, the Holy Spirit commands them where they are to go, and they simply go.

We do not have the weight of the world on our shoulders. Yes, the salvation of many depends on us. But it does not depend on our problem-solving skills and forceful, persuasive willpower. It depends on one thing, as in the case of Jesus, as in the case of the apostles: It depends on our “yes” to God, consistent, attentive, loving, strengthened in our daily prayer.

Jesus’ yoke is easy, and His burden, light. (cf. Mt. 11:30)

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to send you His Holy Spirit to guide you and show you the will of God. Ask Him to give you the wisdom and fortitude to hear the Spirit and to follow His direction.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

April 2, 2021April 2, 2021

True Strength

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

Throughout today’s Scriptures we find a paradox: Our Messiah is laid low, is weak and subjugated, and yet He consistently stands out as by far the strongest man in the scene, next to whom His adversaries appear weak.

When the soldiers come to arrest Him and He responds to their inquiry “I AM,” they spin away from Him and fall to the ground.

Pilate asks Him what truth is, and momentarily becomes His advocate upon hearing His merciful words about having committed the lesser sin.

Pilate recognizes His greatness: “Behold the Man!”, he proclaims about a stricken Jesus who is nonetheless still standing on His own two feet. And when challenged about writing “The King of the Jews,” Pilate stands by the inscription.

Jesus speaks of drinking His cup Himself, and it is He who carries His own cross out to Golgotha.

Jesus is not grandstanding to make some tragic but glorious point. He is simply, firmly, fulfilling His Father’s will. He is doing what He has done throughout His earthly life; indeed, even before that, in eternity.

It is this obedience that saved us.

If we give ourselves wholly to God, the cross will come. Jesus has promised it. But so will the strength to endure it, to be like Jesus even with the cross on our shoulders.

Ultimately, this is the goal of our daily contemplative prayer, where we seek union with God and His will: Obedience. Obedience to God, in good times, and in bad. Saving obedience, in union with the obedience of Jesus.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Thank Jesus for His obedience up to death. Ask Him for the gift of this virtue, whereby your life becomes complete surrender to God’s will, for the salvation of many, by the infinite power of Christ’s cross.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

March 25, 2021March 8, 2021

Fiat

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

Considered as a whole, the event of Jesus’ life, death, and Resurrection was the defining moment of human history.

Today’s solemnity commemorates its beginning in time.

This day, and the entire event of Jesus’ time on earth, is summarized well by the psalm: “Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.”

Jesus is sent by the Father to take on flesh. His act is not defined as much by Incarnation, birth, death, Resurrection, as it is by this one word: Obedience.

It is Jesus’ obedience that saves us. As the second reading proclaims, “As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.”

We often focus on Mary on this day, and rightly so, for she is the focal person in the gospel of the day as well. But this day, the day of the Incarnation of the Word in her womb, is about the heroic obedience of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God Almighty, on our behalf.

Mary’s obedience, the obedience of pure creature without divine nature, perfectly mirrors her Son’s, which is why she is called the new Eve. She reverses the disobedience of the first Eve, with her “Fiat” (Latin for “May it be done”): “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

The story arc of the human race may often seem to us one of success and failure; power and weakness; war and peace; romantic love, hatred, and indifference. But the story arc of the human race, the breathless drama that continues to our day, is one of disobedience and obedience.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to help you to focus with laser precision on the sole focus of His life, that is, obedience to the will of God. Ask Him to help you to avoid the distractions brought by temptation to sinful pleasure and temptation to the mental complications that come with pride. Ask Him to fill you with the simple joy shared between Him and His mother, the joy that comes with unconditional obedience.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

March 24, 2021March 5, 2021

Simple is Beautiful

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

Sin is complicated, endlessly twisted and perverse. It can take many shapes, just as the desecration of a beautiful piece of art can occur in as many haphazard forms as chaos can casually cause.

The forms virtue takes, on the other hand, are much more refined and less random, just as an exquisite work of art is fruit of the artist’s studied and careful strokes.

The sin we see on the part of the Pharisees in the gospel is just one of the endless ugly, random embodiments of disobedience to God. In their case, they obstinately refuse His only Son, in the flesh–no matter what miracles He works, no matter what mercy He shows, no matter how compelling and eloquent His words.

The faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the first reading, on the other hand, shows forth as something simple, straightforward, beautiful, and luminous. They simply say “yes” to God, in the most difficult possible circumstance. There is really nothing fancy or novel about it. It takes on similar form to so many other “yeses” in the Bible: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David…up to and including Mary’s “Let it be done unto me according to your word.”

But like a beautiful work of art, and in stark contrast to the turpitude of the Pharisees, the “yes” of the three men–with its foundation of absolute trust in God–shines forth like the sun. The one “like a son of God” who appears in the furnace with them is a sharing in God’s power and glory, which He grants to them as a reward for their obedience.

Sometimes, we dream of the glories of this world, in all their manifold complexity. We would like our name in lights, we would like to be at the top and in charge. Sometimes we follow all of the circuitous routes, including sordid and sinful routes, in pursuit of this goal.

True glory, on the other hand, is so much simpler, more beautiful, more luminous. All that is necessary is to join ourselves to God in prayer and the sacraments, and strive to follow His will and inspirations each day. Sometimes this may seem complicated, but it isn’t. It is merely a question of giving an unconditional “yes,” over and over again, and trusting that He will provide the illumination and fortitude to carry through with that “yes.”

As with the three in the furnace, the reward for this simple faithfulness is a share in the very divinity of God itself. Adopted as God’s children and able to call God “Father” as Jesus did in today’s gospel, we receive the glorious power to walk through the fires of this world untouched.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Sin is complicated; obedience is simple. Ask Jesus to free you from the burden of worrying about figuring everything out exhaustively–to free you to focus on the simplicity of the loving “yes.” Ask Him with great confidence to take over all the detail, and to fill you with absolute trust in Him.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

March 8, 2021February 23, 2021

Ho-Hum

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

The first reading is a breathtaking illustration of how obedience to God, even when all He asks of us is the ordinary, brings about miracles. We see over and over again through salvation history how this simple obedience in trust brings about disproportionately great results. The best example of this in any creature is that of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose obedience led to her role as active and powerful collaborator in the furthering of her Son’s infinitely powerful act of salvation.

It is hard to obey, when the ordinary is involved. Just as in the first reading Naaman found it hard to submit to the ordinary command to bathe in the river for the cure of his leprosy, so Jesus’ hearers in the gospel find it hard to accept that Jesus, who has grown up in an ordinary way among them, has anything extraordinary to bring to the table.

If we wish to obtain miraculous results like Naaman in the first reading–and even better, like the Blessed Virgin Mary–we must learn to submit in trust to the ordinary duties of love that God introduces into our lives, and know that it is precisely in the midst of those ordinary duties, with all their stresses and challenges, that He will perform the miracle.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to help you to trust that the ordinary that surrounds you, with all its challenges, is precisely the stage where Providence will perform its wondrous miracles. Tell Him that you are not attached to some false context that you may dream of, but to the gritty reality that He has given you–because it is He who has given it to you.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

February 28, 2021February 28, 2021

The Ram of Sacrifice

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

Abraham’s obedience and trust in God know no equal in any creature, except in the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Abraham was ordered to sacrifice his son Isaac–to slaughter him as an offering. Abraham was so absolute in his trust in God, the Creator and definer of all good, that he did not hesitate to obey. Unlike Adam and Eve, he did not pass God’s command through the filter of what seemed best for him. God’s commands themselves were the only filter; all else was a relative good.

We must not imagine that this was a piece of cake for Abraham, that he did not use his mind. He could not see the other side of this. He had no idea how God could possibly bring good out of such a command. The entire rest of his life appeared dark as he ascended the mountain with Isaac.

But, he trusted.

The resonance of his trust in history is incalculable. The Lord predicts to him in the first reading the distant reality of his descendants–the entire nation of Israel–defeating the Canaanites to enter and take possession of the promised land. His descendants will be countless, and will include Jesus Himself, the Son of God–and by extension, in faith, all those who follow Jesus.

All because he trusted, and obeyed.

The Blessed Virgin Mary and Abraham are so similar in this–Mary too, because of her faith and trust under the Cross of her Son, causes resounding impact down through history. She wins a massive increase in the application through the ages of Christ’s infinitely powerful sacrifice in the hearts of believers and non-believers alike. How many conversions from faithlessness, godlessness, and despair are directly attributable to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary?

And what about your obedience to God? Are you ready to make it absolute, that aspect of your life to which all other goods are relative? If so, the resonance of your life will be powerful like Abraham’s and Mary’s, with profound effect for the good of your loved ones and far, far beyond.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to give you obedience like His, like His mother’s, like Abraham’s. Ask Him to help you to understand how obedience was the secret of the power of His saving act, and is the secret of the power of the Christian. And ask Him to fill you with such trusting love for God, that you will obey His will no matter what the cost.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

February 12, 2021January 28, 2021

Not Just an Apple

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

Some may find the story of Adam and Eve’s first sin simple and unsophisticated. But though the language may be simple, the nuances of this account are anything but unsophisticated.

The act of Adam and Eve in response to the serpent’s half-truths–for the Father of Lies speaks not pure falsehoods, but half-truths to lure us to sin–their act appears hardly worthy of the collapse of all nature into a twisted taint. After all, objectively speaking, all they did was eat some fruit. Forbidden or not, how could this be so incredibly consequential?

On the contrary, objectively speaking, the essence of their act was not the consumption of fruit. It was outright, conscious, willful disobedience to God’s command.

The account is anything but unsophisticated because it captures a dichotomy that occurs with our personal sin as well. We are so quick to trivialize our sin. Why not sleep with her, even before marriage, if I love her? What can one little white fib do? Will God really condemn me for missing one Sunday Mass? Etc.

What we fail to recognize is the profound gravity of disobeying the Creator of all, when He has laid out for us His will. Never mind that much of what He forbids can openly be seen to be destructive to our nature. Disobedience to the Omnipotent brings about a cataclysmic fracture in the order of things. Hence, from the mere picking and eating of a fruit, all humankind has suffered a grave contortion of our instincts. Physical nature itself bears the scars.

For it was not the mere picking and eating of a fruit. It was disobedience to Him to whom absolute obedience is owed absolutely.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to take everything away from you, if He must, but to preserve uncompromised your obedience to His Father. Ask Him to preserve you in an obedience that mirrors His, which impelled Him to accept willingly the most difficult fate ever visited upon human flesh.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams

December 20, 2020December 16, 2020

Housebuilder

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

Christian life is hard. There is a critical element of dogged consistency to it. It is not just a question of following the “do nots” of the Ten Commandments, though this in itself presents its challenges. It is also a question of consistency in our sacramental life and prayer time, especially meditation on Scripture. Also, there is an element of being present for others and helping them to live the faith, per the demands of our vocation–not to mention Christian charity, both toward the poor and toward each of our neighbors.

Because “our part” in the Christian life is not easy, we often make the mistake that David did in today’s first reading. He decided he was going to build a house for the Lord.

God appears both pleased, in a way, and yet, corrective. His words seem to say, “What do you mean you are going to build me a house? Do you think I need you to provide my needs for me? Look at what I’ve done for you…but that’s only the beginning. I’m going to build a house for you that will last forever.” He doesn’t punish David for his misunderstanding of things. To the contrary, He reconfirms the great destiny He has in store for David’s line.

How this resonates for us in our Christian life! Because “our part” in our relationship with God seems daunting at times, we make the mistake that our mission on this earth is to do something monumental for God. We grow restless when we don’t find something glamorous to achieve on His behalf.

As challenging as the Christian life is, especially when we consider how much needs to be changed in the world if it is to be brought back to God, we can react like David: “Hey, I think I’ll go build God a thing.”

The most glorious, wonderful paradox in Christian life: Far, far more productive is Mary’s attitude toward God, present conveniently for us in today’s Gospel passage in sharp contrast to David’s: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done unto me according to your word.” Mary realizes from moment zero that the wonders to be worked in her life are to be worked by God Himself. Her life is not her big project for God. It is His big project for her.

Thus, Mary’s gift of herself, of her life, to God is not the gift of a grand project for achievement, but rather the gift of her “yes,” her enthusiastic embracing of His plan for her, whatever it will bring.

Even as Mary’s response contrasts with David’s in the first reading encounter with God, it also fulfills it. In her perfect embodiment of God’s plan, with perfect grace, Mary brings forth Him who is the Personification of the permanence of the reign of David’s house.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to shape and purify your understanding of your relationship with Him. Ask Him to help you to be faithful to all the demands of Christian life, but to remember that all of this is just your simple, humble “yes” that sets the stage for Him to accomplish things in your life that are beyond your imagination.

Follow the Author on Twitter:
Follow @mvhaywilliams