Have you ever had a loved one or someone close to you hurt your or disappoint you? Is it not just the most heart wrenching feeling? Have you ever hurt or disappointed a loved one? Let's just pretend that you have so that I do not feel all alone because I sure as heck have. Don't you feel like a total schumck??
Now, how do you think God feels when dealing with us?? Surely, He's been disappointed and saddened by us since the days of Adam and Eve. All He has wanted from us since the dawn of creation is our love. It's what we were made for. And yet, due to the sin we are constantly disappointing Him.
Personally, I would be getting pretty darn frustrated. It's not like He has not done everything to bring us back to Him. The last few weeks our first reading has been from one of the many different prophets. This week we hear from Jeremiah who spent his life warning the Israelites to beware. He would tell them to stop worshipping idols and turn back to God. The Israelites would not listen and eventually they were exiled.
Two and a half millennia later and Jeremiah could be giving us those same warnings. He could still be telling us to stop worshiping idols--the idols of money, fame or a number of other things that we seem to become focused on as opposed to God. If we do not stop worshipping the idols that we face today, we too will also will be sent to a permanent exile.
Why do we find it so difficult to focus our attention on God instead of ourselves? As I mention above, we were made to share in God's love. People will flock to Jesus. We see this in this weekend Gospel reading. We see in Mark 6 that Jesus and the Apostles try to escape the crowds and go someplace deserted in order to get away from the crowds in order to rest. The people found out about it though and they traveled on foot and arrived to where Jesus was going even before He did. Jesus had pity on them because, "they were like sheep without a shepherd" and He began to teach them things.
Just like the people in Jesus' time, we too desire to be with Him. St. Auguistine said, "My heart is restless until it rests in you, Oh Lord." We, too, have a hole in our heart that can only be filled with God. Our problem is that we try to fill this hole with other means. We need to be attentive to this desire and ensure we shift our focus towards God as opposed to those other things that may distract us. The only way we will be truly happy is when we allow God's love to fill us.
Now, how do you think God feels when dealing with us?? Surely, He's been disappointed and saddened by us since the days of Adam and Eve. All He has wanted from us since the dawn of creation is our love. It's what we were made for. And yet, due to the sin we are constantly disappointing Him.
Personally, I would be getting pretty darn frustrated. It's not like He has not done everything to bring us back to Him. The last few weeks our first reading has been from one of the many different prophets. This week we hear from Jeremiah who spent his life warning the Israelites to beware. He would tell them to stop worshipping idols and turn back to God. The Israelites would not listen and eventually they were exiled.
Two and a half millennia later and Jeremiah could be giving us those same warnings. He could still be telling us to stop worshiping idols--the idols of money, fame or a number of other things that we seem to become focused on as opposed to God. If we do not stop worshipping the idols that we face today, we too will also will be sent to a permanent exile.
Why do we find it so difficult to focus our attention on God instead of ourselves? As I mention above, we were made to share in God's love. People will flock to Jesus. We see this in this weekend Gospel reading. We see in Mark 6 that Jesus and the Apostles try to escape the crowds and go someplace deserted in order to get away from the crowds in order to rest. The people found out about it though and they traveled on foot and arrived to where Jesus was going even before He did. Jesus had pity on them because, "they were like sheep without a shepherd" and He began to teach them things.
Just like the people in Jesus' time, we too desire to be with Him. St. Auguistine said, "My heart is restless until it rests in you, Oh Lord." We, too, have a hole in our heart that can only be filled with God. Our problem is that we try to fill this hole with other means. We need to be attentive to this desire and ensure we shift our focus towards God as opposed to those other things that may distract us. The only way we will be truly happy is when we allow God's love to fill us.
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It is motivational to see a layman as yourself praying the Liturgy of the Hours. I say this from the perspective of a Catholic priest.
ReplyDeleteWell, thank you--but to be honest it should say, "I TRY to pray the Liturgy of the Hours." I just couldn't find that sign. I try to do morning/evening prayer but lets just say that I miss them occasionally.
ReplyDelete