Daily Reflection – 7/3/2023
Keepers Of The Tabernacle
Faith Series
Sacred Scripture
When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side. A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.” (Matthew 8:18-22)
Reflection
Are you ready to follow the Lord wherever he may lead you? In love the Lord calls each personally to follow as his disciple. What an awesome privilege and an awesome responsibility!
What can keep us from giving our all to God? Fear, self-concern, pre-occupation, and attachment to other things. Even spiritual things can get in the way of having God alone as our treasure if we put them first. Detachment is a necessary step if we want to make the Lord our Treasure and Joy. It frees us to give ourselves without reserve to the Lord and to his service. There is nothing greater we can do with our lives than to place them at the service of our Lord and Savior. Jesus promises that those who are willing to part with what is most dear to them for his sake “will receive a hundred-fold.”
Following Christ, then, means we should make ourselves totally available to him; whatever sacrifice he asks of us we should make: the call to follow Christ means staying up with him, not falling behind; we either follow him or lose him. In the sermon on the mount (Mt 5–7) Jesus explained what following him involves—a teaching that we find summarized in even the most basic catechism of Christian doctrine: a Christian is a person who believes in Jesus Christ—a faith he receives at Baptism—and is duty bound to serve him. Through prayer and friendship with the Lord every Christian should try to discover the demands which this service involves as far as he personally is concerned.
One becomes identified with Christ not through a mere accumulation of doctrine, principles and techniques, but by living a common life with Christ born from union with the master’s will. May each of us hear Christ’s voice setting the pace of holiness in our lives and inviting us to leave behind our own will for the new life he presents.
Prayer of The Day
Lord, I come to you in this meditation ready to do whatever you ask. Left to myself I often take the easy and convenient path, yet I know the way of a Christian is through the narrow gate. In you I find the reason to abandon the easy path for a more perfect mission of love. I’m ready to learn the meaning of your command: “Follow me.”
Daily Note
Detachment from all personal wants and desires is the way to simplicity of heart. Simplicity of heart requires us to be brutally honest with ourselves. What comes first in our life? What is really moving our heart to make the choices we make? Is it God’s will? God’s will for us is never complicated; perhaps it may be difficult, but it is never complicated. Sometimes, under the pretext of doing good, we rationalize not doing what is better. All we need to clear the path to its perfect fulfillment is a generous heart.
