Living H
one day at a time
Hope
At Pauline Books and Media this month we’re talking about how Jesus is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. We thought we’d use the image of a compass. A compass and a map are great tools to have in the woods when you’re camping. A compass helps you locate North and a map indicates how to get where you’re going. On a city’s streets you might prefer the more modern GPS to help you reach your destination. Both of these directional “gadgets” have one thing in common: the user, ultimately, needs to decide to trust that the information provided by the compass or GPS is accurate and will get them where they want to go. A few weeks ago I had a coupon for a dish of free ice cream at Cold Stone. I’d been to Cold Stone before (I thought) for other specials, so I arranged to bring Sr. Anne Eileen with me to thank her for a project she had completed. It was a wonderfully clear early fall day, as we set out for the nearest Cold Stone. I drove to where I thought it was, but it was nowhere to be seen. Not to be defeated, I pulled out my iPhone and tapped on the GPS app, typed in the directions, and started to follow them. After about twenty minutes it became obvious that something wasn’t right and we weren’t anywhere closer to that dish of ice cream. So we went home, grateful at least for the ride. When I’m driving to a place I’ve never been before, I’m nervous. Even with my directions printed from mapquest.com, or with a GPS, I’m still anxious that the directions might not be correct. In a certain sense, this is what the Year of Faith is about. Starting on October 11th and extending to the end of November next year, Pope Benedict has given us a year to reflect on where we’re going, personally and as a community, and whether the “directions” we’re following are accurate and the most direct. As I learned from my experience driving to Cold Stone, it’s not enough to have a picture in my head of where I want to end up, I need to know which streets to take and where to turn in order to get there. Jesus, our Divine Teacher, Master and Lord, is himself the Goal and the Roadmap to be followed and the Compass.
1) Jesus came to teach us the Truth about who God is, who we are, and where we’re going. All of us are on the journey to the eschatological banquet of heaven, where we will glorify God. God has made things in such a way that when we glorify God with all our being, we ourselves attain the full glory of what it is to be human. Jesus, both God and man, accepted the worship of others and is the perfect example of how to worship God. Jesus Truth is our “true North.” By comparing our likes and dislikes, desires and demands to those of Jesus, and adjusting them by what we learn in the Gospel, we keep ourselves on course for our final destination. 2) God knew we needed a “map” to live the Truth. He didn’t give us a website from which we could print out maps for every situation to know what to do. He gave us his Son to live the Way, to show us the one lesson that will keep us on track toward our destination: to desire to give God glory with all our life and to put our entire life in God’s hands with trust in every situation we experience. This is the one road, the one piece of advice, that works in every instance of life, and Jesus walked this road before us as the Way. 3) As we attend wholeheartedly to our daily activities, we realize we are unable to be all that Jesus has called us to be. So we keep returning to the Source which more and more flows through us, sanctifying us and everything we touch. We become instruments of God’s action in the world because God, in Christ, has made us members of himself. We are the Body of Christ still at work in the world today. Christ is our Compass. We “follow” the Compass by abiding in Christ through prayer, reception of the sacraments, reading the Word of God, and study of the teachings of the Church. Abiding in Christ will keep us on track, and we also then become a compass for others. As the Year of Faith begins on October 11th, you may wish to ask yourself if you really trust the Compass that is Christ and his way of life revealed to us in the Gospels. Will you want to strengthen your abiding in Christ this year? Will you want to hand over more of your life with trust to God’s loving care? Will you calibrate your inner compass over these next thirteen months by learning more about the teachings of the Church or studying the Bible? Here are some books to get you started: US Catholic Catechism for Adults (USCC) Living the Beatitudes: Journey to Life in Christ (Brian Bransfield) Courage in Chaos (St. Frances de Sales) Return of the Prodigal Son (Henri Nouwen) Compass Points (Margaret Silf) God’s Voice Within (Mark Thibodeaux)
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