So often, at first glance of the daily readings, it is a struggle to interpret them. There are times when I ask myself, “what did I just read?’’ Or, “how do these connect to one another?” Or, “how does this relate to my life?”
Sometimes you read a reading and it is crystal clear, but often, perhaps most times, I really have to think and reflect upon it. And I would venture to say, on any given day, a set of readings will have multiple threads to follow in them, many rabbit holes you could go down, so to speak.
Today is one of those days. Not that todays readings are hard to understand on the surface – but how do they apply? And then in the Gospel, there is a verse I always used to struggle with, the whole whoever loves their mother or father, or son or daughter more than me is not worthy of living in Heaven theme. And so, on days like these, I just start writing, and see what comes out. So here we go…
I mean – I get it. I know what Jesus is saying and I know that’s what we are supposed to do, but it always seems that the love that people feel for one another, those closest to us in this world – that this is the greatest love. It’s tangible. It’s right there.
It’s tempting to think this way. We know that God loves us and we believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that the Eucharist is His Real Body and Blood, and that through His death and our Baptism we were brought into new life with Him. New eternal life. We believe this, right? We believe that we are to be the light of Christ in the world, the bearers of His Word, right? So many times though, its hard to grasp that, let alone do it.
But when we think about love – our spouses, our children, are parents, our siblings – this is who we think of. They are there, in our very midst. We can see them, in person, right there in front of us. We’re able to hug them. We’re able to feel them.
But what about Jesus? Where is He in all of this? We’re supposed to love Him more, right? Do you? Do you really? I’ve always said I do, but many times, I put myself first. Even things like family – I put before my relationship with God. We didn’t make God part of our family. We did not center our life around Him. But in the last 5 years or so, some things have changed. We started to see a difference when we attempted to make Christ the center of our family, and our lives in general.
Through various experiences, I know Jesus is close to me, closer than anyone. I feel Him and I know that He is at work in the deepest fabric of my life, working with Mary – to untie all these knots I have in me. (By the way, if you want a good devotion/novena, Google Mary Untier of Knots). Or working with some of my favorite saints to help me embrace the Little Way, or the Rule. Or simply working through others in my life.
I know that when my wife and I have had those knots in our marriage, or those knots in our family, or those knots I have in my career and discerning my calling – God has been there. These experiences have showed me that when all goes wrong in life – God is there. Always. He is the constant.
But we have to put God first. And just like centuries ago, when humanity thought the Sun revolved around the Earth, the truth of life and love only presents itself when we realize that our world revolves around the Son.
In the last day, I have read two quotes that support this. The first is from Father Dwight Longenecker in the book Listen My Son, where he says:
“The Christian is also attached to all other created things with a love which flows from his primary attachment and longing for the Creator himself.”
And in Rediscover Jesus, Matthew Kelly writes:
“The more we place Jesus at the center of our lives, the more life begins to make sense. It is simply impossible to make sense of life without the clarity that comes from placing Jesus at the center.”
These are two great books – I’m only partially through each of them as I only read one chapter per day. But I love these quotes because the both speak to putting God at the center of our lives. And if we do so, we will love more fully, with more divine love and our life will have more clarity, even amidst the chaos.
This isn’t rocket science. Neither Father Longenecker or Matthew Kelly are saying anything new or revolutionary. It’s simple, time tested, divinely inspired material. It works. It won’t be easy. But there will be more clarity and grace with which to bear.
Put God first. Truly put Him first.
If we want to have better marriages, and better families – we need to put God first and foremost in our lives. Building a relationship with Christ – first – will only make all the other things in our life better. Period. Learning how to listen to the Holy Spirit – first – will help us to love more fully. It will help us to forgive those who we think don’t deserve forgiveness. It will help us to love those whom we don’t think we can love.
Putting God first, not ourselves. And by looking for God in everyone, we in fact are putting God before anything, and finding him in everything. And in the process, we’re loving those around us even more fully than we would have had they been our center, with God on the margins.
In doing this we are proving Jesus’ point!
Putting God first will help us to be hospitable to those strangers in our lives that simply pass through.
Putting God first will help to live life, growing in His love ever so steadily, and truly learn someday How much He loves us, and what He did for us.
Putting God first will simplify our world, and enhance our capacity to love each other, and see Him in everyone. Period. But it’s so hard. Is it even possible to do what Jesus askes?
I’ll leave you with one more quote, this one from the movie Interstellar, which I watched again recently. I won’t get into the storyline or the deep science or physics so as to not reveal any huge spoilers, but an astronaut named Cooper and his crew have traveled to a distant galaxy in search of a new planet for humanity as the earth is dying.
There’s a scene where he and another astronaut are in a small ship that needs to dock with the larger ship that is spinning violently out of control in space. If they don’t dock with this ship, and get the larger ship under control, they won’t be able to survive and get home. As the larger ship is spinning, Cooper is attempting to maneuver their smaller ship into a timed spin to doc with the larger one. His co-pilot says what he is trying to do “is impossible”, but Cooper replies. “No, It’s necessary.”
In today’s world, people are telling us that we cannot put Jesus first, that we cannot live life putting God first before other things, other more pleasurable and more instant and convenient things. What we try to do as Catholics, what we believe – putting God first, being His light to others, being Christ’s disciple – people tell us, “it’s impossible.”
No, it’s Necessary.
Nothing is impossible with God. It’s the only way to love and live this life with eternal life as the goal, to get back home, and if we continuously have that desire, Jesus will give us that grace we need to do so. He will help us to achieve His plan for us in this life, and get us to the next life in Heaven.
Putting God first, at the center of our lives, at the center of our families, at the center of how we view and see others, in our work – it’s not impossible. It’s Necessary.
