Carpe diem

 

Jesus tells us that we can’t love God and “mammon” (money), that we can’t “serve two masters”.   “Mammon” must be understood as a love that becomes an unhealthy attachment and desire.  Money is such that we can “love” it by allowing our desires for it to become disordered and, thus, exclude the will of God from that “love.”  Money isn’t evil when it’s used solely in accord with the will of God.  In that case, the money we use will give God great glory.  But when money, or any other object of our desire, begins to take on a life of its own, so to speak, then that desire will be at odds with our love of God.  To love God and God alone means we love God and all that He wills us to love in life.

When we consider the command we’ve been given from God to love, it’s true that we must love not only God, but also many other things in life.  We must love family, friends, neighbors, and even our enemies.  Hopefully, we also love other aspects of our lives, such as our vocation, our job, our home, a certain pastime, etc.  So how do we love God with singular devotion when we also have many other things we must love?

The love of God is such that when we make God the singular object of our love and devotion, the love we have for God will supernaturally overflow.  This is the nature of the love of God.  As we love God, we’ll find that God calls us to love Him by loving other people, and even various aspects of our lives.  As we love what God wills us to love and as we express our love for all that’s contained in the will of God, we’re still loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

In today's world, it’s increasingly more and more difficult to have time to do the things we want to do.  Managing work and household responsibilities can become tremendously tedious and time consuming.  Yet the Scriptures I reflected on today (2 Corinthians 12:1-10, Matthew 6:24-34) aren’t about responsibility, at least not in the worldly sense.  St. Paul and Jesus beckon us to live a little, to “Seize the Day” (Carpe diem).  That sounds great but making it practical with all the other responsibilities we carry can be quite difficult.  Here are three suggestions:

1. Pat yourself on the back.  You deserve it.  Live simply in today.  Give your concerns to God and let Him take over.  Then, don’t worry.

2. Offer it Up.  The next burden you have, be it large or small, try offering it up again as a cross you must bear.  For instance, I remember an incident that happened at work many years ago.  I was responsible for several different areas of my company’s operations.  To cope, I had to schedule certain tasks for certain days, and any variation would put me and my company in a bind.  One day, I was directed by my boss to “take a few minutes” out of my day to complete an unscheduled task that was ordinarily just that; “a few minutes.”   A “few minutes” turned into several hours because of a minor screwup by the last person to attempt the task.  You would have thought that the greatest injustice known to humanity had occurred if you were in earshot of the scene (in this case a few blocks).  I then realized that other frustrations--family, work stress--were affecting my ability to cope with the situation.  I then settled down and let go of my frustrations by offering them to God.  That was all it took, for the rest of the task went smoothly and I was in peace.  As this story demonstrates, offering our burdens to God helps us bear them.  Paul reminds us that when we take on burdens, or when we are weak, we are strong.

 

3. Visit Nature.  Don't make special plans to get out of town or go to the park for a picnic.  If you have the time, great--do those things.  But if you're like most people and have little realistic free time, all you have to do is look out the nearest window to be reminded of God's grandeur.  You could be riding a bus to work and all you see is a barren parking lot.  Look closer and you might see a shoot of grass or a dandelion in full bloom shooting up bravely through a crack in the asphalt.  God is there as God is everywhere around us.  Take a brief moment--just 15 seconds--and you might be surprised at what you discover.  It's easy to see the greatness of God in the simple things found in Nature.

Perhaps all it takes sometimes is a reminder of how to be in relation with God.  Peace be with you on your journeys.