Grace: To sense more deeply the possibility of deep renewal and reform in my life and the desire in God’s heart for that renewal of me.
Text for prayer: Lk. 16:19-31
Reflection: The plan of reform for our lives is according to the dynamic of humility and gratitude. If the path to sin and death and destruction was initiated by an act of rebellion, of pride or arrogance, of taking matters into one’s hands, the way back to life and to freedom is by way of obedience, of looking to the Other and placing ourselves back in His Hands- the hands which shaped us and gave us life in the first place.
Our way back to life and freedom from death and slavery to sin is through poverty and humility. “If we had the courage,” Karl Rahner observed in an essay on prayer, “to renounce inwardly what life takes from us anyway- namely everything…we would notice that we possess everything.” This is the source of true reform of our lives- to let go of everything in order to remember in the depths of our hearts that all has been given by God. From that point on, we are able to live in freedom and gratitude.
Not everyone is called to material poverty, but all are called to a spiritual poverty- that is true freedom, wherein we are not ruled by things we falsely think will bring us happiness. Only God satisfies our infinite longing. Nothing else. Try as we might, nothing else satisfies.
Questions: What is an experience of zeal and excitement I have experienced in the past when I made an important change in my life? Can I “taste” that joy and excitement again? What new freedom in abandonment is the Lord calling me to today?