For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.
He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.
The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life… Jn. 3:34-36a
I awoke today feeling good that Wednesday had arrived. As the end of the school year approaches the busyness and responsibilities tend to increase. It has always been my desire and the longing of my heart that work would have a spiritual quality so that it gives life and doesn't necessarily leave me longing for the weekend.
After having my share of doubts and coming from a good two weeks or better of exhaustion my spirits were lifted. Somehow and from somewhere my inspiration returned.
Perhaps my Rosary reflections this week along with the mental task of backtracking in my memories in order to share those stories here on my blog helped me to find inspiration to move forward with more than just my writing. Last night my wife went through our book collections and found several volumes that I had purchased here and there—all of the power of positive thought variety. I had to pause for a moment and thank God for a good wife. Among the books she brought me were my own handwritten reflections of 30 years past. "Read these," she said, "they'll do you some good."
Momentarily I recalled myself praying in the park 15 years ago. One of those many prayers was that the Lord would help me find my vocation in life. I longed for true love, and deep within I knew that somewhere there would be that helpmate that I longed for. Naturally this too was on my mind as I sat, beads in hand, and sought the will of God. "Help me find the vocation that is your will," I prayed. Now this is now my 14th year of marriage, but even more it is the 14th year of the greatest vocation I could ever have hoped for. This rings true each time I look into the eyes of my wife or that I admire one of my beautiful children…and how much more has God blessed me in my ministerial vocation!
I think that it all has to do with spirit, that is, with the Holy Spirit. By his Spirit God has given me the desire to long for his Son. Furthermore, in the most amazing ways he shares that desire and longing in all of our hearts. He gives to all of us whom he calls the insatiable desire to commune with his Son, and no wonder for in Christ is the fullness; in him is life eternal—the fullness of God bodily.
I look at everything from the vantage point of where I am now in life. That's natural I suppose, but there's a bigger, better reality. The reality of life in the Spirit takes us beyond where we are now. It fills us with eternal life. It gets us in touch with Jesus and it gives meaning to this world in which we live and work.
When I began tonight's post I was impressed with the strong Trinitarian tone of the excerpt from John's gospel that I chose to start off with. It's from tomorrow's gospel. Satisfaction with life always comes back to knowing God fully. We've been given a magnificent—even inexhaustible—number of ways to begin knowing God. Those that produce fruit are the ones that encompass relating to others and knowing the God we search for in each of our brothers and sisters.
Thank you for this. You state something here that I have been saying for a very long time. My marriage is a vocation chosen for me by God and it is because we recognize that God has ordained it for us and we took the solemn vows before God at our wedding that we can live and grow in holiness in it as long as we have. 24 years this May 21st to be exact.
Posted by: Maggie | April 30, 2007 at 07:36 AM