Friday, February 2, 2018

Giving up and making do


IF we are truly in love, we should be willing to do and
give our best even as we would be willing also to give up things that
are already a hindrance to that love, regardless of whether they
continue to be valuable. We also would know how to make do when
options are limited or when times are bad and not favourable to
loving.
   
            This has been shown by Christ himself. Being God, he
emptied himself to become man and continued to empty himself all the
way to offering his life on the cross for love of us and in obedience
to his Father’s will. (cfr. Phil 2,7)
  
            He lived what he taught. He offered his life to act out
what he said: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the
field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all
that he has, and buys that field." (Mt 13,44)
  
            All saints did the same. St. Paul, for example, suffered
the loss of all things and regarded them as rubbish so he could gain
Christ. (cfr Phil 3,8) The apostles, like Peter and Andrew, James and
John, left their nets, their father and everything behind (relictis
omnibus) to follow Christ. (cfr Mt 4,18-22) Matthew left his lucrative
tax collector’s table to follow Christ. (cfr Mt 9,9-13)
  
            It’s when we are unwilling to give up things and make do
with whatever is available that we would fail to love and to follow
Christ. Remember that episode of the rich young man who wanted to be
holy and perfect. Since he was unwilling to detach himself from his
possessions, he could not follow Christ. (Mt 19,16-30)
  
            That episode triggered those now famous words of Christ:
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a
rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mt 19,24)
  
            We have to learn how to give up things in order to follow
Christ and to make do with anything during difficult situations if
only to be with Christ. The events of every day actually offer us many
opportunities to learn this requirement of true love.
  
            That we give priority to our prayers in spite of
sacrifices involved and some urgent matters to face is one such
opportunity. That we are willing to be misunderstood and to be
inconvenienced if only to follow what Christ is clearly telling us to
do is another. Ultimately, we have to learn to leave our life here on
earth so we can have our life with God in heaven.
  
            In loving, there will always be choices to be made that
ultimately boil down to whether we choose to be with God, doing his
will, or to be by ourselves, pursuing only our own will.
  
            We should see to it that we make the right choice of
giving priority to God, convinced that with him we would also have
everything else that we need. We should be wary of being deluded by
the deceptive if very attractive arguments of our wounded flesh, the
things of the world and the devil himself.
  
            We should choose God first. He is actually the source of
love, the pattern, purpose and energy of love. Let’s be convinced that
if we are generous with him, he would be much more generous with us.
  
            So we somehow echo some lyrics of a modern love song that
express this sentiment. “I’d rather have bad times with you, than good
times with someone else. I’d rather be beside you in a storm, than
safe and warm by myself. I’d rather have hard times together, than to
it easy apart.” (From the song, “I’d rather,” as sung by Luther
Vandross)
   
            It’s the same sentiment expressed in one of the psalms.
“Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would
rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of
the wicked.” (84,10)


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