GUIDING LIGHT

GUIDING LIGHT – 23^rd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year C

            When people have a good knowledge of some area of human life, we do well to listen to them. It’s foolish and unwise to ignore some truth we need for our life. People who listen to other people, because they trust their knowledge may pay no attention to the Word of God. It’s foolish to ignore the Word of God, which we need for our life and the living of our life. “For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans. For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter (the body) weighs down the mind that has many concerns.”

            Often we are engaged in situations where the Lord’s Will isn’t immediately clear. Looking, following, leaving behind, changing and growing, answering and responding to the Lord are concerns of those who are serious about the direction of their lives. This is a constant process that each person goes through to confront the challenges from within, as well as those from without our person. As we go through the various stages in life, we face new and different situations of demands and responsibilities.

            Life has to be directed to the Lord and eternal life. God’s Divine Revelation is needed. “And scarce do we guess the things of earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in heaven; who can search them out?” The Lord gives us the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself and find our way. We need to be responsive to the Lord’s Divine Revelation. “Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom and sent your Holy Spirit from on high? And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.”

            Daily we are to grow in the knowledge and wisdom of God, and conform our lives to the Lord. We shouldn’t reverse that order, and expect the Lord to conform to our life lived apart from His law and ways. “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.” Our life is best lived in the light of God’s Word. Life without the direction of God’s Word and Will makes for a jungle instead of a path. Quite a few people live in human jungles of false values, slavery to sin, exploitation and greed, sensuality and selfishness. Such human jungles burden life with problems. Many look for escape in places which only entangle them further in the jungle of a confused life, and obscure and block the path to true life and freedom. False ways lead to thicker jungles of meaninglessness and despair.

            To those who want to live their lives by the greatest wisdom of God become disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s Wisdom and Word incarnate. The Holy Spirit unites us to Jesus and makes it possible for us to live His life in our life, and know the Lord and His teachings. Becoming a disciple of Jesus is a demanding call. A disciple is a learner. A disciple of Jesus seeks to know the Lord and how to live one’s life in Christ. The life of Jesus is a life of dying and rising, death and resurrection. “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

            Those are strong words, which tell us the Lord has to come first in the life of a disciple. When that happens all else takes a proper place in one’s life. That’s a mystery that can only be understood by actually living discipleship. Many pursue the wisdom of the world renouncing all else for limited and earth bound goals, and even for sinful ones. The costs can be high, and way beyond what someone who has and is following the Lord’s wisdom would be willing to pay. The price of self-sacrifice and suffering in following the Lord is for an eternal goal of eternal life. Those who follow the Lord fully also experience earthly fulfillment.

            The Lord said the decision to be a full disciple demands determination and dedication. He said anyone constructing a tower or a king deciding to go to war, will consider the costs, and if they are going to be able to complete the project. The Lord provides the graces to all who want to be His disciples and are willing to sacrifice what prevents following the Lord! Embrace true wisdom and follow the light!

Reflection from Divine Mercy #134

“Oh, how good it is to abandon oneself totally to God and to give Him full freedom to act in one’s soul!”