Is. 49:3, 5-6; Ps. 40:2, 4, 7-10; 1 Cor. 1:1-3; Jn.1:29-34
St. Paul reminds us today that we are all called to be holy. It is his will that we all be sanctified and lead holy lives but it requires our will to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and invite him into our lives. Many have responded and seek his will as a way of life, others have responded but choose to seek their will first and leave God on the side, while still many remain outside of a sanctified life trusting themselves apart from God. The Lord has come and so our time has come to encounter him through the sacramental life he left us. This is how we are called children of God and receive power to reject evil, to heal and to save.
On one occasion during a baptismal class I stated that baptism makes us children of God. One of the participants stated she thought all people are children of God. Prior to baptism we belong to God as his creation from where we get the word creature as a creature of God but baptism makes us his adopted children with sanctified grace and the difference cannot be understated.
A creature of God has his humanity but wanders in the spiritual desert of their own ego seeking connection to something greater than themselves often turning to other created things of nature as in the past to a “sun god” or other human ideologies. Such an ideology in our times is claiming that “identity” is a state of mind so the mind can declare itself to be of any sex, orientation, or pronoun leading to greater identity confusion not clarity. In the end it leads to more dysphoria and the god of self and not the true God of happiness. True identity remains in God as he created us to be. Without Christ life spirals as lost sheep without the true Shepherd apart from God.
There is a group that reflects perhaps the majority of God believers who choose their own way. They may or may not associate with any religion but hold to the belief that after God created us, he left us to live by our will, do the best we can and that is enough to get to heaven. For example, in the U.S. there is roughly 60 million people who identify as Catholic but only 30% attend church (Pew Research Center and Gallup New). This leaves 70% who live by their own dogma and not what the church teaches. Among this group you will hear the cry out to God “Why God? Where are you when I need you?” The real question should be “where have I been when God has been calling on me?” God on the sidelines is not the way to heaven.
Finally, those who seek the will of God recognize that God has left us his Word, his Church and this is his way for us to abide in him. If we abide in him, we are filled with grace and that is power. The gospel is a reminder that Jesus is the chosen one, the Son of God and baptism is the path to beginning a life of holiness with the gift of the Holy Spirit as it descended on Jesus it also comes to us through the same water of baptism. As St. Paul says “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. This grace is lived out daily, fed by the Eucharist and the Spirit so that our experience is of the real presence of Christ in us. Death is eminent and often carries with it much suffering but even suffering can be redemptive united to the cross of Jesus. Jesus has conquered death in his resurrection that we may believe and pass through the final door to freedom.
Where are we in our journey of faith? It is a question that does not get answered by saying “I am attached or unattached to the Lord” It is not enough to say “I believe” but to reflect on how do we live our commitment to our faith. It also is not a straight path but one where we rise and fall sometimes daily, God sees our struggles and our true desire to serve and be his child. God is ready to provide what is lacking in us when we seek and search his will. It is also comforting for all than even when we believe we may often act as unattached believers but God remains faithful, that is ready to respond to our desire to return to his grace. We should always pray, “I believe and I trust in you Lord, help my unbelief and lack of trust to do your will and give me your blessing”.
“Here I am Lord, I come to do your will.” Readiness to do the Lord’s will takes preparation of mind, heart and will. If we desire it then let us dedicate our time accordingly, begin each day in prayer making it an offering to the Lord. Go forth with love in search of goodness, beauty, truth, and unity and you will find God. End each day in thanksgiving and gratitude for the seen and unseen where his hand led you with an examination of conscience and a humble act of contrition. Then we will wake in readiness to love and to serve the will of God.
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