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“Seek the Lord while he may be found, call to him while he is near.”
Whether we are conscious of it or not, all of us seek the Lord in our lives. We look for God in our homes, our neighborhoods, schools and offices. We look for God in our successes and setbacks. We look for God in our hopes, our fears and our dreams. We look for God in all that we must accomplish today.
With all that we have on our plate, who has time for all this seeking? Truth is that seeking God is not about doing anything extra, because seeking God is merely opening our minds, hearts, ears, eyes and imaginations to a God who is always with us in the midst of all the things that we have on our plate.
St. Francis de Sales wrote:
“God is in all things and all places. There is no place or thing in this world in which God is not truly present. Just as wherever birds fly, they always encounter the air, so also wherever we go or wherever we are we find God present. Everyone knows this truth - intellectually - but not everyone is successful in bringing this truth home to themselves.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part II, Chapter 2)
Not only is God always where you are "but (he is) also present in a most particular manner in your heart and in the very center of your spirit. He enlivens and animates you by his divine presence, for God is there as the heart of your heart and the spirit of your spirit." (Ibid)
So the problem is not that God is not present in our lives; rather, we simply - and tragically - fail to recognize God's presence. Francis wrote:
“Although faith assures us of his presence, yet because we do not see him with our eyes we often forget about God and behave as if God were far distant from us. While we intellectually know that God is present in all things, we fail to reflect upon this truth and act as if we did not know it.” (Ibid)
One of the most powerful and effective means to seek the Lord - to see the Lord who is always present - is prayer. No matter how busy, frustrated, lonely or elated we become or no matter how full our daily plate might be, we can always pray: a word, a phrase, a thought or image that reminds us that the God who created us, who redeemed us and who inspires is, indeed, Emmanuel, a name that means God-is-with-us!
Why is this truth so important? When we are aware of the presence of God, we are more likely to treat one another in a loving, peaceful, caring, kind, truthful and gentle manner. By contrast, when we fail to recall the presence of God, we…well…we are more likely to behave in ungodly ways.
Seek...see the Lord who is always present in yourself...in others...in all the activities of each day. Remember to think, feel, dream, work and act accordingly!
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“Live in a manner worthy of the call you have received…”
In his book This Saint’s for You, Thomas Craughwell writes:
“During the Roman Empire, tax collecting was one of the most lucrative jobs a person could have. With the emperor’s tacit approval, collectors were free to wring all they could from their district’s taxpayers and then keep a portion of the proceeds for themselves. Caesar didn’t mind the profiteering as long as the total assessed tax was delivered to his treasury. But Jewish taxpayers forced to pay the exorbitant sums weren’t quite so forgiving, especially when the tax collector was a fellow Jew, like Matthew. Jewish tax collectors were regarded as loathsome collaborators and extortionists who exploited their own people. It’s little wonder, then, that in the Gospels tax collectors are placed on par with harlots, thieves, and other shameless public sinners.”
“Matthew collected taxes in Capernaum, a town in the northern province of Galilee and the site of a Roman garrison. Christ was a frequent visitor there, performing such miracles as healing the centurion’s servant, curing Peter’s ailing mother-in-law, and raising Jairus’ daughter form the dead. One day, while passing the customs house where Matthew was busy squeezing extra shekels from his neighbors, Christ paused to say, ‘Follow me.’ That was all it took to touch Matthew’s heart. He walked out of the customs house forever, giving up his life as a cheat to become an apostle, the author of a Gospel and eventually a martyr.” (Page 12)
Just when Matthew thought he had it made – just when he thought he was living la vita loca – Christ changed his life by calling him to live in a manner worthy of what God had in mind for him. Matthew – who clearly recognized a business opportunity when he saw one – dropped everything he had valued up until that very moment to follow Jesus. And the rest, as they say, is history.
It’s amazing to consider how a handful of words can change the trajectory of one’s life. A few words from Jesus transformed Matthew from being a human being who was all about taking from others into a man who was all about giving to others - even to the point of giving his very life.
Today, how might God’s words invite us to change and to transform our lives?
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“To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice…”
In English, sacrifice – a combination of forms of the Latin words sacra and facere – literally means the “surrender of something of value”. In a religious context, the word sacrifice conjures up images involving the offering of first fruits, valued animals, money and/or other things valued in a ritual fashion to god(s) in a place – such as a temple – considered to be sacred.
Today’s reading from the Book of Proverbs offers another perspective on the meaning of sacrifice. It has less to do with surrendering a particular thing of value in a sacred place and much more to do with being generous with everything in every place. In a letter to St. Jane de Chantal composed six months after their first encounter during his Lenten mission (1604) in Lyons, Francis de Sales wrote:
“I see that you have a debt of two thousand crowns; repay this as soon as you possibly can and be careful as you can never to withhold from others anything that belongs to them. Give alms in a small way but with great humility. I like the idea of your visiting the sick, old people, particularly women, and young people, those who are really young. I like to think of you visiting the poor, especially women, with great humility and meekness. I approve of your dividing your time between your father and your father-in-law and your working towards the good of their souls…Try to make yourself more agreeable and moiré humble every day toward both your fathers and work toward their salvation in a spirit of gentleness…” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 69)
Francis recognized in Jane de Chantal a woman who wanted to do right by others. She tried to give others their due; she strived to give people what she owed them; she made every attempt to spread her life around to all those who needed her assistance and help. Francis saw in her a person who embodied a kind of sacrifice that was marked by her efforts to do what was right and just with everyday people in the context of her everyday life. She didn’t merely give up things to God, but she handed over her very life for others.
What kind of sacrifice can we make to God today by doing what is right and just for other people?
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“Every word of God is tested ...”
Beginning teachers are often reminded that their students will test them. Their students will pay a lot less attention to what is said to them and a great deal more attention to what is done to them. This reaction is the essence of what is meant in the words from today’s selection from the Book of Proverbs: we test and/or judge God’s words - we evaluate God’s veracity - by what God does. What God says to us only outdone by what God does for, with and through us!
Consider the example of Jesus in today’s Gospel. He didn’t give the Twelve the power merely to speak or to preach, but he also gave them the power to expel demons, to cure diseases and to heal the sick. In other words, “proclaiming the Good News” is not limited to saying the right things – it also includes well as doing the right things.
How about us? How might our words be tested today? How will other people ask us to back up what we say to them with what we are willing to do for them?
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“What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun? All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full.”
The message in the today’s selection from the Book of Ecclesiastes seems to be saying something like this: “Go ahead, do what you want. Work on your projects. Knock yourself out, not that it’s going to make any difference in the end. You’re just wasting your time – your efforts will change nothing.”
Not exactly the basis for a motivational poster!
Does this mean that we should simply drift through life without putting our hand to anything? Does this mean that we are simply created to pass through this world without trying to contribute something to it? Does this mean that any attempt at leaving some legacy in our wake is simply a waste of time? After all, the Gospel parables of the “talents” makes it quite clear that God expects to (as it were) get a return on the investment that He has made in each and every one of us.
The key to understanding what the warning in today’s reading means – as well as what it doesn’t mean – comes from knowing the definition of the word “vanity”. Vanity is defined as, “Excessive pride in or admiration of one’s own appearance or achievements”. The key words here are “excessive” and “one’s own”.
We should work while on this earth. We should do our best to make the world – or, at least our little part of it – a better place for our having been here. What we do does matter. What we do has results, provided that we do it for God’s glory.
And not ours!
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“There is an appointed time for everything…”
The words from today’s selection from the Book of Ecclesiastes should be prominently displayed on the door of every refrigerator around the world. The wisdom – and lessons – of these words are at one and the same time both simple and salient.
They remind us of how important it is to develop a sense of timing.
Consider these.
· How many times have you hurt someone else not because you did a bad thing but because you did a good thing at the worst possible time?
· How many times did you bite your tongue when you should have said something?
· How many times did you weep when you should have laughed?
· How many times did you hold on to something long after you should have set it aside to embrace something new?
· How many times did you give up on something precisely when you should have given it one more try?
· How many times did you spread yourself too thin when you should have been trying to keep your own act together?
Put another way, how many times in our lives have we attempted to place a square peg in a round hole? We should know by now from our experience that it just won’t fit.
Francis de Sales reminded his readers that it isn’t enough for us to do good things, that is, to practice virtues. We also need to recognize when, where and how to practice virtues in ways that fit the events, situations, circumstances and relationships in which we find ourselves in any given moment. Look at today’s Gospel, even as Peter correctly identifies who Jesus is, Jesus rebukes him for not intuiting that now is not the time to start running around and proclaiming this to others. Key words: not yet.
And so, we pray today: God, please give us two things: (1) the courage to do good things, and (2) the wisdom of knowing when – or when not – to do them!
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“Pay attention to what I am telling you.”
Some things in life are more important than others. With the hope of trying to impress upon another person that what we are about to say is of greater importance than other things, more often than not we will preface our advice with words like “listen up,” “pay attention” or “this is really important”.
While we’d like to think that everything that Jesus said is of equal importance, Jesus clearly wanted to impress his disciples with the inevitability of his showdown with the religious leaders of his time. And while we know that Jesus raised this issue more than a few times in the Gospels, the disciples seem to have had difficulty in grasping the importance – even, the necessity – of this prediction.
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:
“The more pleasant and excellent are the objects our senses encounter, the more ardently and avidly do they enjoy them. The more beautiful, the more delightful to our sight, and the more effectively lighted they are, the more eagerly and attentively do our eyes look to them. The sweeter and more pleasant a voice or music is, the more completely is the ear’s attention drawn to it. This force is more or less strong in accordance with the greater or lesser excellence of the object, provided that it is proportionate to the capacity of the sense desiring to enjoy it. For example, although the eye finds great pleasure in light, it cannot bear extremely strong light, nor can it look steadily at the sun. No matter how beautiful music may be, if it is too loud and too close to us, it strikes harshly on the ear and disturbs it.” (TLG, Book III, Chapter 9, p. 186)
There are so many things that Jesus wants us to learn about the living in God’s love.
How well will we pay attention to what God may be telling us about those ways - just today?
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