“O God, who have taught us to chasten our bodies for the healing of our souls, enable us, we pray, to abstain from all sins, and to strengthen our hearts to carry out your loving commands…” (Collect, Monday of the Second Week of Lent).
We are not accidents of nature, we are made deliberately and designed for a purpose. One of the first truths we are taught as children is that God made us to know, love and serve Him in this life so as to spend eternity in joyful communion with Him in the life to come. It would be a great help to us if we stopped looking at God’s commands as arbitrary rules and instead see them as essential to our purpose and design. Just as a hammer is made for driving the nail, so are we made for goodness.
Throughout each day, we are faced with decisions. Every sustained thought, decision, and action should be guided by a moral evaluation and acted upon or not, according to the moral quality of the act, the circumstances and our intention. Serving the Lord in this way brings joy and peace no matter the pain and suffering we might experience. To want to something and then to do it, simply because it is what God wants of us reflects a trued deepening of our relationship with the Lord.
Remember, you are dust, and to dust you will return. Repent and believe in the Gospel.
Deacon Bickerstaff is available to speak at your parish or event. Be sure to check out his Speaker Page to learn more. Into the Deep is a regular feature of the The Integrated Catholic Life™.
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