13 Nov 2015
It’s so easy to be distracted from God. It even happens in places where you’d expect
everybody to be totally attuned to God; you know, in a monastery, or a
seminary, or in the parish. And I think
of people who confess that their mind wanders during Mass. Even when we’re trying to do the work of God,
we can be distracted from God himself by other things, by day-to-day life.
But to that Jesus seems to say: Keep trying; don’t give up on
looking for God; don’t give up on trying to see God as the eternal sun that
shines on our souls. He says: “Whoever
seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.” Whoever settles down into the day-to-day
routine of living life, oblivious to God, will eventually lose that life . . .
of course; if all someone has is day-to-day life, death will eventually cut
that off.
But, Jesus says, whoever lives their life with the desire to see God will finally
come to see what they desire; death won’t be an end, but a springboard into
something greater. God doesn’t ask us to
stop living life here on earth; he asks us to live life with him. He says: Don’t be
so distracted that you forget about me.
Don’t forget about me—the One who
gives you life and happiness, consolation and peace. Remember me, God says.
And we can do that in a lot of ways. The Book of Wisdom reminds us today that all
of creation reveals God to us. If it’s a
sunny day, it’s a chance to enjoy the sun and to say to God from your heart, “What
a beautiful day, Lord.” Or if it’s a
cloudy and rainy day in Fall, you might be moved in your soul to say: “Thanks
God for the change of seasons” . . . or something else.
Or maybe you’ll taste some delicious food. Well, remember to thank the cook and to thank God who makes such savory
and sweet things. Who knows what we’ll
encounter in the day-to-day activities of our lives. But all of it is a chance to let your mind
and your heart be drawn to God. And that’s
all God asks: to live life here on earth with
him in it.
And then, someday when we die, we can keep on living life . . . with
him who is Life itself.
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