Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - September 19, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
We fear promises. A man in his twenties says apropos of his generation: "My generation, we cohabit for 6-8 years, get bored and move on. We are afraid of marriage.” Promises do cut off other possibilities. But only so that we can give ourselves unstintingly to this person, this place, this purpose. Promises are commitments which free us from endless floundering and indecision. We go from superficial wine-tasting or grazing to the real dinner of life.
We give ourselves to this person or this undertaking and stop looking over our shoulder to see if there is something better coming. somewhere else we'd rather be, someone else we'd rather love. No one is suggesting, God forbid, that a college sophomore has to decide now on a career or life's companion. Edison checked out hundreds of filaments before settling on the right one for his light bulb.
Commitment means that after a reasonable search we choose engineering or teaching or Bill Lopez rather than Jeff Olson. That we quit looking for some impossible blend of Taylor Swift and Mother Teresa. Often our outrageous expectations of others only mask our own unwillingness to change.
We need practice for the big commitments. It means beginning with manageable promises; to stay with an exercise regime or with prayer every evening, to produce what is promised on time, to take out the trash. Our commitments reflect God's untiring love for us and are fueled by it. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, it is new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23). The love of him who loved even to death on a cross makes it possible for us to be faithful to commitment.
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
