Catholic Faith Space
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In a podcast of a homily I listened to a few days ago, the priest was discussing how there are two different relationships that cannot have any rivals, one being marriage and the other being a relationship with Jesus. The way Fr. Mike defined rivals to demonstrate his point is “a person or a thing competing with another for the same objective.” He made the point that these are both “all or nothing” kinds of relationships. He went on to talk about how we often allow Christ to have rivals in our lives. What rivals does Jesus have in our hearts and in our lives?
We so often seek out our purpose, meaning, and fulfillment in material possessions, various tasks and responsibilities, our jobs, our hobbies, and our accomplishments. In and of themselves, none of these are bad. But these things can easily be the rivals of God in our lives; the things that are competing with Him for the number one place in our lives and hearts. These rivals offer false promises to us that, over time, will only leave us empty and unsatisfied. God is the only one who can give us the purpose, meaning, and fulfillment that we are longing for. And the only way we can fully experience this is if we remove any competition for the number one spot in our lives and in our hearts. As Catholics and Christians, at some point, we all have had to make the choice about our faith. Either Jesus is everything or He is nothing. And once we make that choice, we must live our lives accordingly. When we have an encounter with Christ, that is when we usually recognize that our lives should be different because of Him. We will mess up and we will never be perfect at putting Him first. But what matters is that we don’t lose sight of the fact that Jesus is everything and that we continue to have the desire to put Him first, even when we sin and fall short. God wants to have our whole hearts. But He will never force us to remove anything else that is taking up the space that is rightfully His. God doesn’t want to compete for our hearts. It is up to each one of us to remove the rivals in our hearts and lives, because our relationship with Him truly is all or nothing.
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I used to hate driving on interstates/highways. I would avoid taking routes that required big highway roads as much as possible, because multiple lanes, merging, faster moving vehicles, exit signs, and a lot of traffic were things that I did not want to deal with. I would always go through town, even if that meant the drive would require extra time. Being from a village of 2,000 people that doesn’t even have any traffic lights, most of my early driving experience was through my small community and on back country roads. Over time, I have become more willing to take the highway and choose to take it on my daily commute to work. However, just because I drive on the highway daily, it still is not always easy and can be uncomfortable. Yet, I still take the highway to get to work, because I know it is the best route to get to the destination. As I think about this example, it seems a bit like our faith. The more we deepen our faith and work to grow in our faith, the more willing we will be to live it out in our daily lives and share it with others. But this does not mean it is always easy or comfortable.
If we are truly living out our faith, we probably experience moments that are uncomfortable on a daily basis. Whether you hear someone make a comment that is anti-Catholic or you are put in a situation where your faith is directly challenged or questioned, it can take a lot of courage to respond in a way that shares the reality and truth of Jesus Christ and His church. Many times, living out our faith is not just about sharing Church teachings or responding to questions people may have. It is often much simpler than that. Living out our faith means choosing not to partake in the gossip among your co-workers in the breakroom. It means choosing not to watch that Netflix show that glorifies sin. It means choosing to take time to pray before scrolling mindlessly. Ultimately, living out our faith means choosing Jesus in whatever we do. It is simple. At the same time, it is hard, oftentimes because of our weaknesses and because we make it that way. Choosing Jesus is not something that is a one-time decision. It is something we must do daily, moment by moment. The more we choose Christ, the more willing we will be to share our faith, letting Him be reflected in our lives. We will mess up and many times, we will let our desire for comfort and ease overtake our desire for Christ. When this happens, we can get back on the road and keep moving forward. Choosing Jesus and sharing our faith is not always easy or comfortable, but it is always the best route. We’ve all heard the parable of the prodigal son countless times. In a book I started reading, the author brought up this story to demonstrate a point about trust. She explained that neither son truly knew their father. The younger son thought he had lost his father’s love due to leaving and disobeying him. The older son thought his hard work could earn his father’s love. I have never looked at the story with this perspective and thought of it being a story about knowing and trusting the Father. But if we truly know and trust God, we will know that there is nothing we can do to lose or earn God’s love. He loves us just because we exist. And as the parable of the prodigal son demonstrates, His love is much greater than our expectations.
In a worldly sense, we have to work to achieve more and earn approval. Whether it’s at school, at work, academically, or athletically, the more work we put in and the more “stuff” we do, the higher up the ladder we will be and the more other people around us will notice. It’s good to work hard and show effort in our daily activities. However, we must remember that this does not translate to our spiritual lives and relationship with God. There is nothing we can do that will make God see us or love us more. He already sees each one of us individually, knows us, and loves us. Think about the love that parents have for their children. If you are a parent, think about how much you love your kids, not because of anything they have done or achieved, but because of who they are and the fact that they exist. Or, think about how you, as a son or daughter, have experienced the unconditional love of your parents. Now think about how much more God loves us- no matter what we do or don’t do. That is something that always blows my mind. If we can trust that our parents will never stop loving us and that we don’t have to earn their love, why would we ever not trust that God will never stop loving us and that we cannot earn His love? Of course, the fact that God loves us unconditionally is not an excuse to live recklessly, do whatever we want, or choose to turn away from Him. However, it is a reason to remember that when we sin and choose something other than Him, He loves us just the same and is waiting for us to run back to Him. The fact that God loves us unconditionally is also a reason to realize that God loves us too much for us to stay the same. He is always calling us to more- to a deeper faith and greater trust. My prayer for today is that we would not just love God, but also fully trust in Him and His love. May we all trust that God is a good Father who will never turn His back on us and who will embrace us with open arms no matter what. I recently listened to a homily from Fr. Mike Schmitz where he talked about how comfort breeds complacency. This is something we’ve probably all heard before. However, when it comes to our spiritual lives, it can be so easy to fall into this way of living without thinking too much of it. When we are complacent, it means we are satisfied and not willing to change. How often do we become comfortable in our lives and feel as if we don’t need to change? How many times do we take a look within ourselves and think that it is good enough to keep doing the same things?
It’s really easy to tell ourselves that our lives are good the way that they are and that we don’t want them or need them to change. If we go to mass each Sunday, pray every day, and treat others with kindness, that’s good enough, isn’t it? That’s what we can sometimes tell ourselves because we are comfortable with our routines and what we are already doing. However, when we do the same things over and over, we get comfortable, which leads us to become complacent. And we become complacent, we stop growing and we are not allowing ourselves to be stretched and transformed. Our faith cannot become deeper when we become comfortable. Each time we have an encounter with Christ, we must change. How could we experience Him working in our lives and not go to greater heights? If we are really following Jesus, we will continually work to become more like Him. And that means that we will not allow ourselves and our lives to be cushioned by comfort and complacency. We will work to love those around us better and love those who may be hard for us to love. We will give more generously and without counting the cost. We will make more sacrifices, big or small, for others in our lives. We will serve with love. We will speak the truth when it is inconvenient and hard. We will do these things because Jesus has shown us how. And even if we think we are already doing these things, we must keep working because our lives should look significantly different than those who don’t follow Christ. If we are not deepening our faith and moving closer to Christ, we might as well be going backwards- losing faith and moving further from Him. The key to strengthening our faith and deepening our relationship begins with recognizing that we cannot be satisfied with doing the same things over and over and believing that our current habits are good enough. Otherwise, our faith will stay the same. My prayer is that we would not become comfortable and content in our daily routines and that our sights would always be set on living lives that reflect Christ. May we reject complacency and comfort and choose to walk the path that leads us closer to him. A few weeks ago, I was at a meeting and was struck by some words from the person leading us in the closing prayer. We were sitting outside and she prayed, “Lord, thank you for these mosquitoes, because being able to feel these bites means that we’re alive.” Wow- what a powerful perspective. She took something annoying and inconvenient and turned it into something to be seen as a blessing. Gratitude is everything and we must challenge ourselves each day to look beyond the struggles and crosses to see all of the blessings in our lives and the goodness of God.
When our prayer lives and really just our whole attitudes are ones of gratitude, we are able to see the world around us in a different light. When we live lives that are rooted in gratitude, our faith grows deeper. God loves us and wants only what is best for us. Everything he gives us and all that happens is for our good, whether we can see it or not. If we truly believe that God loves us and is always working in our lives, we will respond by living with hearts that are filled with gratitude. We will find joy in the small things, count our blessings, and acknowledge that all that is good in our lives is a gift from God. Living with gratitude does not mean that we will not suffer or have struggles and difficulties. However, it does mean that we can go through these times with a different perspective- a deep awareness and trust that God is always walking with us. When our hearts are filled with gratitude, we are able to see times of suffering and hardship as an opportunity to be drawn closer to the Lord. The most joy-filled people I know are those who are always grateful. Living with gratitude helps us to cultivate other good fruits in our lives such as generosity, humility, patience, peace, and more. It helps us to turn our focus away from ourselves and towards God. When we have a grateful disposition, we expand our capacity to love both God and others because we are able to better recognize the blessings that they are. We are able to receive the people in our lives and the experiences we have as a true gift. My prayer is that God would fill our hearts until they are overflowing with gratitude and help us to thank Him always. We are alive today and that is reason enough to praise Him. |
AuthorStriving to share hope, joy, God's love, and all of the good stuff, one blog post at a time. Categories |
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