Monday, October 16, 2017

Yes Lord

Deacon Tom Writes,
“Yes Lord”


We know that we will never be able to understand or experience the totality of the Divine Being. Yet, God calls us to know Him in an intimate and personal way and desires that we make an effort to form a dynamic relationship with Him during our earthly journey. The Book of Psalms encourages us to seek God by praying, “Make known to me your ways, LORD; teach me your paths (Psalm 25:4). When God made us in His image and likeness, He gave us some powerful tools to help us steward His creation. First, he created us as “rational beings” able to think for ourselves, observe the world surrounding us, question the wisdom and power behind all that is, and ultimately discover the maker of the universe from whom all things came into being. In addition to this gift of reason God gave us “Free Will”. By infusing the power to choose our destiny, God ultimately gave us the poser to accept or refuse His love as we see fit.   

It’s important to know that God intended this gift to contribute to our well-being and happiness as we faced the challenges and hardships encountered during our earthly pilgrimage. When we use our Free Will to pursue things that are of the Kingdom, we enrich ourselves with God’s graces and, at the same time, we give Him the honor and glory that He deserves as creator and the One who sustains all of existence. But it is our choice! This gift, freely given, however, means that we can also use it to our own detriment leaving us alienated from God and lacking the grace to endure the misfortunes of life. It is in considering the ultimate power of this precious gift that we gain insight into God’s profound love for us and His desire that we come to experience the depth of that love.

Today’s gospel is a story that demonstrates our ability to exercise that intimate gift to reject God and turn our backs on Him. We are free to say no to the very invitation we have from God to be united with Him throughout eternity. In our ignorant use of that precious gift, we can, and often do, reject His invitation and go our own separate way. ““No” God, I’ll do it my way”. (Thank you, Frankie♫♫.)

We will never be able to understand God. But we do have many ways we can come to know of His great love for us. The Free Will He has given to us is one of the most powerful signs of that love. The ultimate gift, of course, would be that He sent His own Son into the world to save us from the evil consequences we suffer from our poor judgment in exercising that Free Will.

Let us give God the honor and glory that is due our loving Creator by participating at the banquet of life to which we have been invited and for which we are properly prepared and join in the chorus along with all those who have accepted this gracious invitation...
            “♫♫ Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Yes Lord ♫♫

Enjoy the Day!
Deacon Tom

Image credit “Yes, Lord”  Darrell Evans



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