KEVIN
Crystal and I have been showered with many graces in our life together. One of the most recent graces has been that of being entrusted by our parish to develop a reflection of the Sunday gospel to be published in the parish bulletin. These reflections are meant to encourage parishioners to reflect more deeply on Christ’s teaching of over 2000 years ago in order that it can be a positive influence in their daily lives, homes, parishes and communities. It should come as no surprise to the readers that the task intended to benefit others has become a tremendous blessing and benefit to us as we immerse ourselves much more deeply and regularly in the beauty of our Catholic faith.
One of the first discoveries I made is how I had come to take the Sunday Scripture readings for granted. Having attended mass thousands of times over the last sixty-plus years, I had heard them all proclaimed dozens of times. For the most part, I allowed them to pass in one ear and out the other without the merest reflection on what Christ might be saying to me about how I was living my life. I often did not let the corresponding homilies whose themes I had also heard often to be taken into the recesses of my heart and soul.
However, taking the time to read and reflect deeply on Scriptures over the past three years in order to prepare reflections for others has helped me develop a clear and profound appreciation of the love of God, of His desire for each one of us to feel His loving embrace in our daily lives and that all He asks from us in return is that we love others in the way He loves us. Needless to say, one of the greatest benefits of these realizations has been the growth in my relationship with Crystal.
Like with the Scriptures that I had come to take for granted over the years, I had come to take Crystal’s love for granted. I loved her and had come to rely on her love for me, yet I failed to reflect on the true significance of the gift from God that her love is for me. Likewise I hadn’t been focused on making sure that I loved her as Christ has called me to do.
Coming to recognize the power of God’s love as revealed in the Scriptures has been transformative and enriching. I have come to understand that God wants us to experience heaven on earth. I have come to believe it is possible and that it is His desire that I help those that He loves and has placed in my life to know and believe in His abundant love as well.
From a practical standpoint, one of the most valuable lessons from the Scriptures has been to focus on goodness and to not be distracted by the troubling things in the world or of our day to day lives. As the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13: 24-29) reminds us, there will always be ‘weeds’ which grow up around us. Our challenge is to not get fixated on those evils, troubles or challenges to the point that we lose sight of the good graces that have been poured into our lives. We are encouraged to turn these things over to God’s love and mercy and to grow in our appreciation of the goodness of those with whom we share life.
I know that whenever I let myself get caught up in the tensions in my life or focus on politics or conflicts in the Church or the world, I can find myself being short or critical of Crystal, our grandchildren and especially of all the terrible drivers I encounter on my way to Mass each morning! However, when I open myself up to God’s love through receiving the Eucharist or reading Scripture or one of Crystal’s great hugs, I am encouraged to see goodness all around. I see the abundant ‘wheat’ and barely notice the weeds. The more I look for good, the more I see. The less time I make for finding good, the more time I allow for distraction.
So each day I am invited to look for the love of God alive in Crystal and those I encounter each day. As I do, I have been often delighted by how present Christ is in my daily life. The task of writing bulletin reflections (which I hate to admit I began grudgingly) has opened up a flood of graces, the richest of which has been a deep appreciation of how I am loved by God and Crystal.
So as we reflect on Scripture or go about our repetitive daily duties, I would encourage us to do so with a truly reflective spirit, always on the lookout for God’s over-generous love in our lives. It is there, and, the more we look for it, the more we will discover it, and the closer we can be to experiencing heaven on earth.
CRYSTAL
Seeking out the goodness in life is a matter of choice. Throughout history, wheat and weeds have always grown together, but in our current times, the internet and the media offer us unprecedented opportunities to see the world at its worst: the news headlines draw us into the major conflicts or disasters happening both near and far; the dirty politics of business and Church cloud the meaningful contributions being made for society. Closer to home, we have always known that families are made up of consistently imperfect beings, namely….. us. But just like that field of wheat that includes weeds, there are far more positives and blessings in our lives than negatives. The answer is simply that we must make the choice to seek out God’s love in the goodness of our circumstance.
As Kevin noted, often the blessings are obvious, like the eager hug of a grandchild as we enter the home, or a sunny day when a picnic has been planned. At those times we can easily thank God for shining His love into the world. At other times, God’s love is revealed when outwardly it would appear as though we are stricken. It might hide in the event of an illness, when we are feeling low, but our friends show their concern by bringing over meals or sending cards. It might be shown in a natural disaster such as the recent flooding our area endured, with neighbors pitching in to help each other with the clean-up and offering their homes to those who were stranded.
At times I have felt God’s presence when I am struggling with a particular thought or attitude, and God shines His light with just the perfect reflection or meditative reading showing up in my email. These can all be moments of great joy, because we are shown the reality of God’s presence and love in even the most mundane or small situations of our daily lives. Yes, friends, it is our choice and our blessed opportunity to see our loving God reveal Himself to us and to thank Him for all we have been given. The sunshine and the rain are both blessings when seen through the eyes of faith and together they bring us a rainbow of graces.
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