Answer wisely with our lives By Beth DeCristofaro

 Answer wisely with our lives By Beth DeCristofaro

 

Thus says the LORD: Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt. Take with you words, and return to the LORD (Hosea 14:2)

 

Then the scribe said to him, 'You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that "he is one, and besides him there is no other"; and "to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength", and "to love one's neighbour as oneself", -this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.' When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.' After that no one dared to ask him any question.  (Mark 12:32-34)

 

Piety

Jesus, brother and Savior, I so need your help to return to God each day.  And I need your graces even more to treat with respect and love neighbors with whom I disagree or who get on my nerves.  God, you give me the freedom to choose, help me to choose wisely and humbly.

 

Study

Such a profound answer from Jesus, no one was able to respond.  Holy fear silenced them and silences me at the unfathomable promise Jesus' words hold.  What I understand from Jesus is that God desires me to place God first, keeping neighbors a very close, esteemed second.  I hear that God places me first in an undeserved excess of love which enables me to love (as closely as humanly possible) like God does. And God places you first too. God's unconditional love puts each human, created in God's image first. It's what every human parent longs to do.  

 

Words from our DeColores song come to mind:

"Joyfully, joyfully we will live in God's friendship because He has willed it.
Faithfully, faithfully we will slake the great thirsting of Christ the immortal.
Joyfully, joyfully we will bring to our Savior a harvest of souls

 and so must all love be of every bright color to make my heart sing"

 

Each one of us is God's most beloved.  Grace allows and emboldens us to live as if God is our most cherished.  But it is our choice.  Any of us who have attempted to repair a wall or broken fence or grown flowers and vegetables knows that this honest labor is demanding.  Jesus acknowledges the scribe's deep relationship, "'You are not far from the kingdom of God.' The scribe, you, me, become building blocks in God's kingdom because God has willed it.  We are small and frail humans, yet in God, we are formidable into eternity. To mix metaphors, we are verdant in the vineyard sustained by the vine.

 

Action

What keeps me from accepting Jesus' awe-producing truth that we are each invited to the Kingdom, God's special guest.  What causes me to doubt that invitation is also open to others, whether be they neighbors in faith, geography, family, or far-flung members of God's Creation?  Today, speak to Jesus about the holy fear of giving myself over to God's building, returning from my guilt and personal wants.

 

 

 

Illustration:  https://www.carmelites.net/blog/gods-garden-february-24-2021/