26 June 2014
Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus tells me the Gospel must take hold of my entire life. Prayer alone is not enough to enter his kingdom. True prayer involves everything about me, everything I do, every day. To say, “Hollowed be thy name” without meaning “Thy will be done” is a phony prayer.
So, doing extraordinary things, being a person of importance, of being endowed with mystic prayer or theological insights has nothing to do with what my life is really all about. What Jesus looks for is seeing himself mirrored in me. That’s what being a disciple means. He was perfectly faithful to the Father. So, what he expects from me is doing the Father’s will. That’s what gives meaning to my very ordinary, humdrum life.
To live this way means building on solid rock so that I can face the daily struggles and difficult situations that cannot be avoided. I also must toughen myself with a diet of constant prayer flavored with some sacrifice (to spice it up) to enable me to swallow what life so sloppily dishes out.