So, we join Thomas in the Gospel and ask, “How do I get there from here? And Jesus says to Thomas and to all
of us, You know the way. I am the way, the truth and the life.
But where exactly is there? The
final goal of the race of our lives is heaven, but there is not just heaven.
There is living our spiritual life to the fullest. There is overflowing with
the Presence of the Lord so that we can naturally bring His Life to the world. There
is being where Paul said that all Christians are when he wrote in his (second)
letter to the Corinthians: The love of
Christ compels us[2].
This is what I want. This is what you want. But I, we, often fall short,
very short of the goal. Distractions dominate us. We are more concerned with
the minutia of life than the reason why we do what we are doing. Teens may be
more concerned with going to school than the reason why they are there, to
develop their God given abilities to serve Christ. Parents may be so concerned
with the daily chores of raising children that they forget why they are working
so hard, doing so much. They may forget that they are raising children of God
and for God. Priests can get so involved in the minutia of performing their
duties before the Lord, that like the Temple priests and Levites in the Parable
of the Good Samaritan, they often walk right by the opportunity to serve the
Lord in the man on the side of the road.
And then there is the constant noise of our society that keeps our minds
from our mission. The bickering and gossip of our everyday lives is just plain
noise, distracting us, hurting others. Movies and television shows are often
written by people determined to promote atheism, abortion, and immorality and
looking for any excuse to take a shot at Christians, particularly Catholics. They
distract us from standing up for whom we are and even whittle us down into accepting
their lies to a degree. And the internet with its virtual worlds, they social
networks, complex games, or the things that moral people need to avoid, not
only cause us to waste hours a day, but lead us where we should not go.
We can’t get there, to the place we want to be, unless we let Christ
lead us away from the distractions. We can’t get there to the place we want to
be unless we focus on Christ as we go about the daily duties and chores of our
lives. We can’t point others to where they also need to go unless our lives are
pointing to the Lord.
Jesus is the way. When we focus on Him, He draws us to Himself. He draws us away from the distractions, away
from the noise. The One who loved us to death now loves us to life. He loves us so much that He draws us to His
Life if only we let Him into our lives.
That is why we need to have an active prayer life. An active prayer life
includes talking to the Lord throughout the day, but that is not enough. We
also need to set time aside for prayer. We have to be a little cautious when we
consider what an active prayer life is, though. An active prayer life does not
mean feeling the prayers, feeling all warm and fuzzy like we do at times during
retreats, or during Holy Week. All that is good, but it is simply one of many
manifestations of our union with God. A prayer life is active even though we
often struggle just to concentrate on what we are doing and saying when we
pray.
Many distance runners purposely hold a little back during the race and
focus in on the runner ahead of him or her. They let that runner draw them,
then they pass the runner and focus on the next runner until the only runner
left is the one leading the race. With their eyes and minds focused on the
leader they draw close and use the energy they have been storing to sprint to
the finish line.
The spiritual life is a distance race. Our eyes are fixed on the Leader
of the race. He draws us to Himself. He gives us the energy to sprint to the
finish line. He gives us the
power to get there ■
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario