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Musings for Sun. July 7, the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time
“He said to me: O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you. And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me. He said to me, Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day.” (Ezekiel 2: 1-3)
Do you ever wish that God would speak clearly to you? Would it not be wonderful to hear God’s voice and to feel the Spirit of God entering into you so that you were absolutely clear that God wanted you to do a certain action? Most of us, at least from time to time, long for God to give us some clear indication as to what we should be doing, what God wants from us.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, God chooses not to overwhelm us with his voice or his Spirit, but he does speak to us. Rarely does God bluntly engage us with clear specific expectations or demands; rather, God gently nudges us through our thoughts and feelings, through circumstances, through the words of others, and through the clear needs of others. We are invited to love one another, and God makes that invitation clear to us in the course of our daily lives. Sometimes we can respond and sometimes we cannot. Sometimes we want to respond and sometimes we do not. God does not force us. God invites us.
When we want to see change in others, we are often tempted to force people to do what we want them to do. We forget how God treats us. Is it possible for us to be as gentle with others as God is with us? Is it possible for us to extend invitations and wait while others accept or refuse? Can we be patient with the “no” we get when we invite someone?
I know that God has extended numerous invitations to me. Some of them I have responded to generously, while with other invitations, I have kept God waiting. God keeps us waiting too! St. Paul begs God to help him master a sin, but he is told by God that he needs to trust in God’s grace. As summer unfolds, let us look and listen carefully so that we see God’s countless invitations. Let us imitate our God, being gentle with others and with ourselves. and let us rely on God’s grace when it comes to our own response to God.
Something from the Parish:
Congratulations to Liezel and Alvin Rejas and their family (Angel, Vince-Roy, Ashley) as they brought their daughter/sister, Abigail, to St. Philip Neri to celebrate the sacrament of Baptism. May they find in our Parish community a place to give God Thanks and Praise! May they find in our Parish a place where they can share their gifts with people in need. |
