|
|
|
Oftentimes, the simplest things in life are the most difficult things to do and the most difficult things in life are the simplest things to do. “Remain in my love.” That’s all Jesus told his disciples they were to do. No matter what, Jesus said, “Remain in my love.” That’s simple enough. But, let me tell you, it’s pretty difficult to do in actual practice. Take, for example, the occasion when a vehicle has just cut you off as you were cruising along. But, rather than rattling off a few choice words or thrusting a certain finger in the direction of the driver who has just cut you off, you recall what Jesus said, “Remain in my love.” You might have to make the choice to calm down and ask yourself, “What’s it really worth? Is this really how I want to live my life?” After all, where’s the peace, contentment, and joy in always being angry? How about when you are seated at the dinner table and your sibling or spouse said something obnoxious? Rather than engaging that individual in an argument over some trifling and insignificant matter―just to prove who’s right (you) and who’s wrong (that other person)―you recall what Jesus said, “Remain in my love.” You would have to make the choice to calm down momentarily and ask yourself, “What’s it really worth? Is this really how I’m to live my life?” After all, isn’t marriage and family life supposed to be one of God’s blessings where human beings can experience the peace, contentment, joy of God’s kingdom? “Remain in my love” is what Jesus commanded anyone who would wish to be his disciple. Why? Because if his disciples don’t remain in God’s love, there’s absolutely no way they will experience the peace, contentment, and joy of God’s kingdom because the stuff of remaining in God’s love is all about loving God and others as we love ourselves. Go ahead and love yourself, just as long as you love God and neighbor equally. So, if we’re going to take Jesus at his word—and we are going to remain in God’s love—what does that really mean? Given the of troubles and problems that assail us each and every day, how is it possible to remain in God’s love? Years ago, I read a short book entitled The Practice of the Presence of God, whose author was a fellow named Brother Lawrence. In his day, a “brother” was a layman who spent his life in a monastery dedicated to prayer and care of the monastery and its members. Most brothers were uneducated and performed menial labor for their food, clothing, and shelter while the more highly-educated priests performed the “important” work. Brother Lawrence’s duties included cleaning the kitchen after every meal and washing the monastery floors each and every day. The is certainly not the most pleasant of ways to spend one’s days, is it? Imagine how easy it would have been for Brother Lawrence to become upset, if not to grow hostile and angry towards the other monks always having to clean up after the cook in the kitchen and all of them. Talk about feeling like everyone’s doormat! Speaking from personal experience, monasteries aren’t all that much different from homes. “How so,” you may be wondering? Well, just think about it. Who’s always there to clean up after everyone? Yes, it’s “good old Mom”! I suspect this is what led to the coining of the phrase describing the brothers’ role in the monastery: “The brothers are the mothers to the fathers.” It’s an awful attitude, one implying that mothers are slaves who are expected to do everything to make their master’s lives easier and more pleasant. Like Brother Lawrence, it’s so easy to become upset and grow angry when people take us for granted. If it’s that others don’t pick up and clean up after themselves—acting as if they expect us to pick up and clean up after them—or that no one appreciates everything we do for them—acting as if it’s our obligation to put clothes on their backs and food on the table—we feed our voracious appetite for self-pity that transforms into hostility and anger by allowing allow those kinds of experiences to fester into spiritual infections that make it impossible for us to “remain in God’s love.” The story is told about the husband who was waxing eloquent to his wife about how much he loved her. The man went so far as to tell his wife that he would even die for her. “That won’t be necessary,” she responded, “just pick up your clothes and put them in the hamper and help me do the dishes.” “Remain in my love” is not necessarily about paying the ultimate price. More oftentimes than not, it’s about demonstrating the willingness to do so it in simple acts of sacrificial kindness...not “random acts of kindness” but deliberate acts expressing one’s love of God and neighbor. But, there’s more. In The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence also tells his readers how, as he would perform his daily chores, Brother Lawrence would use each activity as an opportunity to practice being attentive to God’s presence wherever and everywhere Brother Lawrence found himself. For Brother Lawrence, his work involved performing his chores—menial as they were—but he made the decision to transform his work into opportunities each day to practice living in God’s presence. In short, to remain in God’s love. How did Brother Lawrence accomplish what sounds so simple yet is an amazingly difficult feat? In this words, “I walk before God simply, in faith, with humility and with love; and I apply myself diligently to do nothing and think nothing which may displease Him.” Rather than focus upon himself and the rather quite understandable feelings of hostility and anger that might arise when everyone else in the monastery was taking Brother Lawrence for granted, he chose instead to practice living in God’s presence. The outcome? Brother Lawrence tells his reads how he experienced abiding peace, contentment, and joy. In his words: “There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God. Those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.” Viewed in this way, remaining in God’s love is based not upon a feeling or emotion but making the conscious decision to remain in God. It reveals an attitude of interiority—the consequence of a deliberate choice—by which we freely choose to remain in God’s love, especially when we are tempted to “lose it all.” None of us can be commanded to do this; we can only freely choose to do it. And, as Jesus’ disciples, we “do this in memory of me.” Yes, our lives and work become a thanksgiving―a Eucharist―representing the Body and Blood of Christ at work in the world...perhaps where it counts most: in our relationships at home and work. When we decide to remain in God’s love, Jesus says our relationships will be changed from slavery and servitude to friendship. Yes, the chores will always have to be performed; but, when we perform those chores out of love of God and neighbor, we gradually come to experience something of God’s divine life. Think about it: if each of us was to look upon our chores as a workbench upon which we practice living in God’s presence, we would experience peace, contentment, and joy where otherwise there would be nothing other than problems and big troubles leading inevitably to even greater problems and bigger troubles. We’ve all heard the saying: “It is as plain as the nose on your face.” Our noses are obvious to everyone else, but it is extremely difficult for anyone of us to see our nose without the aid of a mirror. In the same way, the solution to a problem or trouble we are experiencing may be evident to everyone else, but we can’t see the solution because it’s simply too close to us. The solution is “as plain as the nose on your face” which you can’t see very well. Some people always want to make the simple truth of Jesus’ teaching more complicated than it is. They want to make it so hard. The way to experience the peace, contentment, and joy of God’s kingdom? Remain in God’s love. The solution is “as plain as the nose on your face” Brother Lawrence reminded his readers that there is no special formula or technique to remain in God’s love. Instead, remaining in God’s love is the result of something very simple: the continuous practice of deciding to remain in God’s love. When those around you―in your family, at school, or at work―bother you, taunt you, hurt you, or cause you pain, make the decision to practice developing a heart full of love by remaining in God’s love. Sure, it’s easier to allow ourselves to get frustrated, hurt, and angry by those the closest to us and, then, to desire getting even with or even getting away from them. But, Jesus taught his disciples: remain in God’s love. This isn’t rocket science; there’s nothing complicated here. What we need to do is as plain as the nose on our face. All of this can be summed up in two statements: (1) “remain in my love” and (2) “love one another as I have loved you.” If we are to understand and apply Jesus’ teaching correctly, it will turn our priorities upside-down. We will no longer be preoccupied with ourselves but with remaining in God’s love, the source of our life and strength. More to the point, what this means in actual practice is making the choice. In everything we do, we can choose to focus upon God—to remain in God’s love—or we can choose to focus upon ourselves—to host another “pity party” where we are both host and sole guest. That is the important lesson we need to consider and put into practice today. Far too many of us have become preoccupied with ourselves and have taken far too many other people for granted, thinking of them as servants, not as friends. We selfishly seek God’s blessings for ourselves, rather than selflessly choosing to live in the blessing of God’s presence and allowing that grace to transform our hearts so that we love God and neighbor. May God grant us the grace us to remain in His love and to demonstrate its fruitfulness as we love God and neighbor as we love ourselves.
|
|
|
HOMILY
