My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.
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Struggles, Worries, Fears, and God
OR
Called to be good stewards of the Earth for the common good
Struggles? Yes, I have them… doesn’t
everyone? Worries? Life would be better without them, but unfortunately they
are there. Fears? Oh yes…. These three, among others, describe much about our
human condition. Struggles every day, worries touching on the future, and fears
about many things – these three – add much burden to our lives and make it more
difficult for us to be happy.
God loves us and doesn’t want us to be
unhappy. That is why He has given us his solutions to these weak points in our
humanity. The three most sensitive points in our lives are probably the same
for all of us: time, energy, and money. Rare are the days when time is not an
issue, or we don’t run out of energy, or we aren’t haunted by fear. God feels
sorry for us when He sees us suffering and unhappy; so this is why He told his
Chosen People about his solutions and taught them how to put them into
practice. Jesus also practiced these solutions and showed us by his example how
important and practical God’s solutions are.
TIME
Time is how we experience our life as a
gift from God. He began to give us life through our parents. Even the most
terrible of parents deserve at the very least respect and gratitude from their
children if, for no other reason, because God used them to begin giving us
life. The reality is that we receive life from God moment by moment, which
makes time a key way that makes us aware of being alive.
Why then is time so often difficult or
painful for us? We have to get somewhere and get upset when we think we not
arrive in time. We are doing something and find ourselves running out of time.
We enjoy a good experience and time seems to go by too quickly. A situation
makes us suffer and time seems to slow down to a crawl. We become concerned
that there is more time behind us than there is ahead of us.
As we grow older and wiser we realize that
we have little or no power over time or over the thoughts and feelings that
time generates in us in the course of our lives. We feel helpless to change our
relationship with time despite our best resolutions and efforts to make
changes.
God announced a simple solution to our
problem with time. Our trouble with time was originally caused by the breakdown
in humanity’s relationship with God. Time can only become a blessing again by
allowing God to restore us to an intimate relationship with Him. Here is what
the Lord told his people.
Exodus 20:8-11 “8Remember the Sabbath day, and
keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work.
10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter,
your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven
and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day;
therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.” (NRSV)
For us to be restored to an intimate
relationship with God we need to allow God to be God in our lives. This means
we need to make room for God’s way of looking at us and our lives. God knows
that we need time to rest and so He gave his own example in the account of how
He created the universe and us. When you think about it, resting is attractive
and makes sense. Even machines need to be turned off so they can cool down and
be maintained.
So God’s solution is that of the seven
days He gives us each week, we give Him back the day that He has marked for us
to spend with Him. We keep holy the Lord’s Day, the “Sabbath” or seventh day,
by giving Him worship and then spending the whole day with family and friends,
relaxing, celebrating, playing, and putting aside all work and worry. We will
have the next six days to work all we want.
ENERGY and its twin TALENT
(Energy well spent makes the best use of
our talents and abilities.)
One way we know we are alive is by
generating and spending energy. We do that in ways that are pleasant or
unpleasant. We can spend our energy in ways that replenishes our energy at the
same time or we can spend our energy in ways that depletes our energy reserves
even faster. When we stubbornly push against obstacles that won’t move or throw
ourselves at those walls in anger and other tough emotions we deplete our
energy twice as fast. On the other hand, when we take a moment to stop and
figure out what is happening and how best to apply our energy we can experience
better results, feel greater satisfaction, and find that instead of depleting
our energy reserves we are building them up at the same time that we are
spending them. Even great effort can be rewarding when we direct our energies
well.
Another way we rapidly deplete our energy
reserves is when we struggle with tasks because in ways that are not effective
or without the necessary skills. Clumsy efforts tend to use up more energy than
efforts that employ skills to guide and precisely direct our energy to the
desired objectives. We probably all know a person who is always angry and
miserable in the course of their tasks and another person who is always glad
and cheerful. The angry person will tend to be exhausted more often than the
cheerful person.
God sees how we use our energy and is sad
when we struggle under heavy burdens and are unhappy because He loves us and
wants us, like any good parent, to succeed and experience the satisfaction of
tasks well done. That is why each human being has a unique personality and set
of talents and abilities. Some of these function well from the first time we
use them and just get better with use, while others require more practice or
learning and development. There is much satisfaction to be had from well
directed efforts.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37 25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.[j] “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” 29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” 30 Jesus (then told him about the good Samaritan who cared for a stranger who had been mugged and left on the ground to die. Then Jesus asked the lawyer:) 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (NRSV)
Luke 10:25-37 25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.[j] “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” 29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” 30 Jesus (then told him about the good Samaritan who cared for a stranger who had been mugged and left on the ground to die. Then Jesus asked the lawyer:) 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (NRSV)
The purest or holiest use of our energy
and talent is when we do so entirely for the good of others, out of charity or
perfect love. Within the family this happens when spouses care for one another,
parents care for their children, children care for their parents, the young
care for the elderly, the healthy care for the sick, and so on. It also happens
outside the family and out in the world when we care for our neighbour, or
forgive enemies, or for strangers or the poor, sick, lame, wounded, prisoners,
or other suffering persons.
It also happens when we serve others
through the Church, Church institutions, non-governmental organizations, or
other groups or agencies. The most inspiring work we can find is that done by
parents and grandparents, people who proclaim the Gospel by their lives and by
their words, and all those who serve the People of God in response to Jesus’
call to serve as priests, religious, other consecrated persons, or other
dedicated lay people. When what motivates us is pure love even considerable
effort and expenditure of our energy brings both satisfaction and the
restoration of our energy reserves because our love for others puts us into
sync or communion with the Holy Trinity and opens us to receive even more of
their life and love.
TREASURE
(All material goods in this world are
intended by God to be enjoyed equitably by all of humanity.)
Our experience of time can indeed cause us
considerable stress and suffering. In addition, so many factors can cause us to
suffer from the constant depletion of our vital energy, particularly when we
struggle in difficult situations or at tasks for which we are ill suited or
trained or prepared. Perhaps what causes us the greatest suffering in life is
our relationship to material things, to what could be called treasure. Jesus
was quite clear in his teaching and example regarding earthly treasure and material
goods.
Matthew 6:19-21 “19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Mark 14:3-9 “3 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. 4 But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii,[c] and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” (NRSV)
Matthew 6:19-21 “19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Mark 14:3-9 “3 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. 4 But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii,[c] and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. 9 Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” (NRSV)
Jesus taught by example that material
goods have value by the use we make of them with other human beings and with
God. Material goods and money can strangle us with greed and fear or they can give
great joy to others and increase our own joy. We cannot be free of greed, fear,
or anxiety about material goods on our own. For this reason God gave his Chosen
People a guideline. He inspired Abraham and others to give to the service of
God a tithe or ten percent. This seems to be an ideal that symbolizes and
expresses in a practical way the detachment we need to put our trust in God
rather than in ourselves or in riches.
Jesus offers us the freedom of the
children of God when we “give back to God” the holy portion, the tithe or ten
percent, which is sufficient to allow God to set us free from greed and fear. This
includes what we give to God’s work in his Church as well as what we give and
share with the poor and all those whom we help in our families. It is amazing
to realize that God will never be outdone by us in generosity.
JESUS HAS GIVEN US HIS EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW
When we hear or read about Jesus in the
Gospels we see in Him a human like us in all things but sin, a man who always has
plenty of time for everyone who comes to Him. He never seems in a hurry or
worried about time. Jesus is eager to make the best use of his talents and to
put Himself at the service of everyone without worrying about running out of
energy.
When He was tired, He rested or slept, like the time He sat down at Jacob’s well and asked the Samaritan woman for a drink because He was tired and thirsty. Jesus was never concerned about shelter, clothing, food, or money, and He taught his apostles and disciples to adopt the same attitudes of absolute and practical trust in the providence of his heavenly Father.
Saint Francis of Assisi is probably the saint who imitated Jesus most literally in these attitudes. What Jesus invites us to do is truly possible and the most direct route to peace, satisfaction, joy, and the happiness of perfect love. When we dare to imitate Jesus we are surprised to find ourselves already enjoying a taste of the life that will be unending in the radiant presence of the Holy Trinity with all the angels and saints in heaven.
When He was tired, He rested or slept, like the time He sat down at Jacob’s well and asked the Samaritan woman for a drink because He was tired and thirsty. Jesus was never concerned about shelter, clothing, food, or money, and He taught his apostles and disciples to adopt the same attitudes of absolute and practical trust in the providence of his heavenly Father.
Saint Francis of Assisi is probably the saint who imitated Jesus most literally in these attitudes. What Jesus invites us to do is truly possible and the most direct route to peace, satisfaction, joy, and the happiness of perfect love. When we dare to imitate Jesus we are surprised to find ourselves already enjoying a taste of the life that will be unending in the radiant presence of the Holy Trinity with all the angels and saints in heaven.
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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.
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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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