Being Good is Not Enough

Friends of Faith:

As I heard yesterday in the homily, “to be able to say I am a good or a kind person may not be enough because God is calling us to be great and to be holy.” God is calling us to love. Love is an action and greatness usually flows from an action.

It’s like saying “I’m trying” to diet, exercise or write a Monday morning reflection. Or I’ve thought of you. Until I actually do what I’m trying, or called you or said a prayer for you, simply thinking was probably not enough. Quite honestly I’ve done nothing until I take some action because until I do no one (myself or another) has become greater or better off by my action or known my thought.

Take my example about writing – until I put it on paper (and share it) I’ve done nothing for anyone else. And while my internal thoughts may be good, unless I share those thoughts with someone then I am not held accountable. I have not shared my faith or helped anyone grow closer to God. It’s like lighting a lamp and putting it under a bushel basket where no one can see it. (Mt 5:15)

This is the same for me as is that list of things in my head that I want or hope to get done today – they are probably not going to get finished unless they are written on a “sticky note” or a “to do” list of goals.

I may be a good or kind person that does nothing “evil.” But if I never do anything for another person, if I never serve another person and if I put my own wants and desires before the real needs of those around me, then I might just be a very selfish person with no regard for what Jesus did on the cross when He suffered and died for me.

It’s like saying I thought about sending a card to someone who lost a family member; it’s like saying I thought about making my husband’s favorite meal; it’s like saying I thought about going to church. If all I did was think about it, I really did nothing. It doesn’t necessarily make me bad, it just doesn’t make me great. And it doesn’t make a memory or anything that will last (no card to look at again, no meal to say thank you for and to tell someone else about, no shared relationship or conversation that makes me smile well after the action is gone.) “Do this in memory of me.”

God calls us to be great, to love and to find joy. So to say “we’re a good person or a kind person or a happy person” may simply not be enough. God deserves our very best, not just what is comfortable, easy or happens to happen. Greatness is about deliberately choosing our actions to be the best we can be.

“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” Jn 13: 34

God didn’t send Jesus here JUST to teach us, to pray, to fast or even to perform miracles. God sent Jesus  here so that He could teach us to live through love AND to die unselfishly for that same great love. And without dying Jesus could not rise which in turn shows us the ultimate glory of God, the holiness which abounds with the Resurrection to eternal life.

Each of these choices were deliberate. Each of these choices helped us to see Jesus’ greatness. Just living a good and kind life wasn’t enough for him. He chose to do much more – he chose to give His entire self for us.

Jesus showed us what we are to become. Jesus showed us what was great and holy. And He showed us this by not taking the easy way out and taking himself down off the cross. Jesus did nothing wrong, so He was good. It was His choice to do more in his goodness – to let us see and know greatness.

And if we think about the lives of the saints (those who the Church has proclaimed holy and great) they too drastically changed their lives through their faith, they sacrificed their time and their opportunities for their faith. And many have died (become martyrs) rather than deny Jesus’ presence in their lives and on earth.

Can I become a better person? Am I willing to change to become great, to do something that has a greater purpose? Am I willing to sacrifice by giving to others when it would be easier to sit back and let someone else do it for me? Am I proclaiming the truth even when the truth is countercultural (or may even be opposite what a government says is “legal”)?

How did I help someone else and do what is right? What more could I be doing to show love to others who are in need—physically, emotionally or spiritually? Am I doing my best to become great and holy?  It’s probably not enough to just say I believe or that I’m a good and kind person – there may be more that I am being called to do with the gifts and talents that God has blessed me with.

BE GREAT, Love!! BE HOLY, sacrifice!! BE MEMORABLE, In truth!!

Blessings,

Charlotte

Instructions That Add Up

Friends of Faith:

We probably all have things that we think “add up”— that always seem to come out the same way—that are clearly right.

I have always appreciated black and white, a clear right and a clear wrong, and knowing that numbers added correctly would always add up to the same number.

And when I am struggling, when I am in the midst of a problem and asking for help from an “authority” on the problem, I still tend to try to “manipulate” either the problem or the instruction into something that will add up, that will produce MY own desired end result.

And of course, not every problem, not every choice, is as clear or as easily solved as adding 2 plus 2 and getting 4.

But easy or not, even the basic instructions and the daily chores that I do, don’t always have the same end results, end answers, or produce the same feelings each and every time. Recipes, music, tax returns and even hugs, call all to have a different outcome, a different taste, touch or feeling.

Actually I can’t think of anything else, other than simple math, which always achieves exactly the same answer. Even those things that happen by nature—some would say science—are ultimately things that we have no control over, things that God controls.  

This is because anything created by humans, can or could be changed by God—even simple math.

In fact, HE is the only thing that always Adds UP!! To forgiveness, To Love and To an Ultimate Goal, Heaven.

This is what my faith has taught me, that there is only ONE right that matters.

A right God and a right-given Godly plan: a plan which was designed by God, in His image, and in His desire to get me to be in heaven with Him.

A right way that isn’t always easy and doesn’t always work into me and my plan, and will in the end have a result greater than anything I can currently even think about having a desire for here on earth.

To this end, God gives us many instructions. Instructions which for the past 2000 years He has kept “right” thru Peter, upon whom he built his rock, the Church.

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.* Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Mt 16: 18-19

And He left us a continuous succession of Popes from Peter, the first Pope, have been continuously bound to carry out and pass down His truth to us, His kingdom, the Church.

Yet for some reason we continue to search for some other instructions that will more easily “add up” to the same end—an imminent end which will escape the tribulations, so that it might be easier to stand before God—to be with Him in heaven.

"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man." Lk 21: 34-36

I am very thankful for a God who keeps putting His instructions in my daily path: the instructions which remind me that not only is He is in charge, but that I must not be anxious, and that I must continue to pray – for His presents/presence because that is how life will truly “add up” to His unfailing love and His unfailing promise, the gift of heaven.

Heavenly Father: All glory and honor be to Your One Church, Your One Truth, Your One Holy and Apostolic succession, thru Peter, here on earth. I pray that you continue to have mercy on me when I am anxious or when I want to become “drunk with human pleasure, or drowsy through the weariness of earthly works.” Help me to stand up for you, to stay strong and vigilant and to follow Your words, which will always “Add UP” to heaven. Amen.

When something isn’t adding up in my life, it usually is because I am not “adding up” to God.

This week: Search for the way to “Add up” with One God, One Faith, One Love, One choice for Heaven,

Blessings,

Charlotte