Come Away By Yourselves

"This is the will of God for you, your sanctification."  With these words, St. Paul reveals to us the great potential of our Christian life.  St. Josemaria was inspired by God to remind us of this universal vocation.  We should always be confident about taking the next step in our spiritual life.  It is something that God always wants for us.  Holiness is  growth in faith, hope, and charity powered by the access we have to God's grace in prayer and the sacraments.  

After the Rich Young Man goes away sad, Jesus tells his disciples twice that it will be difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.  The possession of riches comes with the danger of relying on them too much, seeking our happiness in them, falling into a kind of practical idolatry.  The solution to this is detachment or poverty of spirit.   Detachment frees our hearts to love God and others. 

Jesus tells us about two sons.  One does his father's will after saying he wouldn't.  The other says yes to his father but promptly disobeys him.  Jesus, our model, does both: he says yes to the Father's plan and then carries it out.  Loving God's will is essential to our Christian life.  It is Jesus's sole motive and he is our sole model.  St. Josemaria also greatly emphasized this key aspect of holiness.

This Sunday's Gospel portrays God as a generous employer of many workers.  What would it mean to work for God?  Are we grateful for the work and people God has entrusted us with in our Christian life?

Like the apostles themselves, the life of the Christian is a call to be close to Jesus and to go out and spread the Good News.  Holiness and apostolate are two sides to the same divine vocation.   To be an apostle, however, we have to confront various obstacles which would keep us from sharing Christ with others. 

On September 8th we celebrate the Feast of The Nativity of Our Lady.  THis is an opportunity to contemplate her humility and her radical response to God. 

St. Josemaria described the potential of lay holiness in an interesting way.  He said all Christians can and should be "contemplatives in the middle of the world."  Holy Scripture and Church teaching reaffirm this high ideal.  The Christian is intimately united, indeed identified, with Christ himself.  

Sacred Scripture teaches us some clear lessons about Christ's suffering.  His passion was redemptive and meaningful.  It was freely chosen and accepted.  It was all an act of divine and human love for us and for the Father.  As Christians, Christ invites us to give the same meaning to our sufferings.  This invitation is a tremendous act of confidence in us and in our capacity to love as he did.  

The Assumption of Mary is a very special Feast in the Church.  To gaze on Our Lady in Heaven is to contemplate something very beautiful and important.  The marvel of her glorification speaks to us of the surpassing beauty of goodness and holiness as such.  Our Mother's destiny in heaven and her eternal glorification is a revelation of our own future as Christians called to holiness and everlasting life. 

Gratitude is a very important Christian disposition.  God appreciates gratitude, as we all do.  One of the four basic acts of prayer, gratitude should be a constant state of mind and heart.  In addition to pleasing God, it also brings the soul joy and peace.