God, who is spirit, does not require any physical
space to be part of our lives. God, however, needs
a good deal of psychic “space” from us if God is
to influence us significantly.
We know that God’s grace and love will affect every nook
and cranny of our lives if we allow that. We are tempted to
say: “Enough! Why is God calling me to something more?
Haven’t I given enough already?”
When St. Paul urged the Christians
in Colossae (in the western
part of modern-day Turkey) to let
the word of Christ dwell in them
richly, he was a veteran preacher of
Jesus’ Good News.
Paul’s conversion had only begun
when he was struck down on the
road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-9). Paul
had much to learn. He needed to
give God more space in his life,
allowing the Creator’s viewpoint to
influence him more deeply, to unify
the disparate parts of his life.
For example, when Paul recounted
that he had been afflicted by a
“thorn in the flesh” and that three
times he had begged for this to be
taken away (see 2 Corinthians 12:7), the Risen Jesus responded,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made
perfect in weakness” (verse 9). Paul was making more room
for God in his life and was living those words intensely
before he wrote them to the Christians in Corinth, who
eventually shared this letter with the Colossian Christians.
God radically redefined power and weakness for Paul.
We know the feeling.
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We prefer conversion stories where
the main character struggles heroically
and gets to coast once the victory
is won. In fact, it didn’t work
that way for Paul and it won’t happen
that way for any of us. Our conversion
must continue because we
are constantly tempted to label
God’s ways as foolish, to see ourselves
as more realistic than God is.
In a sense, it is like the struggle
against any addiction: It is a constant
decision; there is no “coasting.”
Day by day, we scoop out more
“space” for the word of Christ in our lives. We make more
connections between it and our daily choices.
Our gratitude to God needs to overflow into very concrete
choices about how we will use our time, energy and
resources. Although we may be tempted to keep two sets of
books—one for what we do on “God’s time” and another for
what we do on “our time,” it’s all God’s time.
Refusing to connect God’s values
and my choices makes my faith
increasingly hollow. Crying “Lord,
Lord” cannot substitute for actually
doing what I know God wants me to
do (see Matthew 7:21).
When I create more room for
God’s liberating wisdom in my life,
I see that what I reluctantly surrendered
to God was, in fact, not worth
keeping anyway.
The best way to honor St. Paul in
this 2,000th anniversary year of his
birth is to imitate his continuous
conversion to the Lord’s ways. During
the three days that he was blind
in Damascus, Saul allowed the Scriptures
that he thought he knew well to dwell in him more
richly. Throughout his eventful life and ministry, Paul continued
to learn about God’s grace.
At Mass the presider addresses God the Father and says on
our behalf, “You never cease to call us to a new and more
abundant life” (Eucharistic Prayer for Masses of Reconciliation
I). By allowing the word of Christ to dwell in her richly
through prayer and meditation,
Mary, the mother of Jesus, became
his best disciple.
When we allow the word of
Christ to dwell in us richly, we sort
through our lives, welcoming what
truly conveys divine life (gratitude,
compassion and every virtue) while
rejecting everything that obstructs
divine life (resentment, refusal to
forgive and every sin).
The Church’s current Year of St.
Paul can be a time when we allow
the word of Christ to touch our lives
at ever-deeper levels.
Pat McCloskey, O.F.M., is editor of this publication. |
