Saturday of the Twenty-eighth Week

Today’s readings provoked me to reflect on how we witness our faith and how we support others in their witnessing and love.  In the first reading, St. Paul gives thanks for the faithful.  His heart felt prayers are genuine and supportive.  He speaks of a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of Him. That seems a perfect prayer for those we love.  At this stage in my life I am well aware that any relationship takes work and attention – relationships do not suddenly appear and stay strong without some attention.  While I do recognize sometimes the subtlety of some relationships – they can start as a tiny seed and grow slowly.  Even as a beautiful wild flower may start in my yard seemingly on its own, it needs some attention and care to be able to flourish.   Our relationship with God needs our attention.  We need to be aware and nurture it from the beginning no matter what age we are when it commences.  Another wonderful plea from St Paul is May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call.  The concept of the hope is certainly one to embrace.  It is so easy (certainly for me) to lose track of what the main purpose of my life needs to me.  I can be so bogged down with the day to day tasks that I forget it is about that hope.  The promises that are possible far exceed the rewards from my day to day tasks yet I do not always keep the right perspective.

The gospel message is quite direct as Jesus says  . . . everyone who acknowledges me before others the son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.  We clearly know the drill, we know the recipe or any other image you want to create.  So . . .  why is it so hard for us?  I think this acknowledgement goes way beyond words.  The real test is how we acknowledge Jesus with our lives.  Words may be easy to say, actions that exemplify those words are not always as easy.  I love the paraphrase from St. Francis: Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words.  It should be clear to all around us that we are beloved children of God – our actions should give us away.

I’m thinking of so many songs I want to share to exemplify my insufficient words.  Tenth Avenue North has two songs that fit so well with these messages,  I have this Hope and Control , illustrating the hope that belongs to his call and the act of relinquishing control.  But perhaps Matthew West’s  All In says it best with his last line of reaching Heaven and hearing Welcome home my child, well done!!

Open your hearts and Enjoy!!