Blessed! And busy.

But let us talk about Blessed. I want to come back to this because I think focusing on Blessed can radically change how we go through life and lead many others to The Kingdom of God.

Saw a parishioner from another church that, like the rest of his congregation, has been taught to say, “Blessed” when asked how he is doing. Well, I did an “integration of the homily in daily life check” and asked him how he was doing. He replied, “Not so good. Not good. And I am not going to say blessed and just be manipulted into what to say.” I thought, “Woe.” I have since been ruminating over our interchange. I guess a lot of it comes down to how we want to look at life and all our joys, sufferings, problems, disappointments, victories and pain.

I can remember when my parents were explaining to a priest (whom I consider very holy) about a grave family problem we were having, he responded by basically telling my parents to just Praise the Lord for the good that would come out of it. Now, this response of his irritated me. How insensitive pastorally. I felt like he was saying just get over it and Praise God without honoring my parents gut-wrenching suffering. But looking back on this, I think he was just trying to focus on The Lord and his power for infinite good.

With God, all things are possible. In Christ, we have eternal life. If we personally know Christ as we read this we share eternal life- today! In the Holy Spirit we are led to all truth, goodness and beauty. Yes indeed. in Our Triune God, we are “Blessed.” This is the objective truth of our existence.

So, back to how we respond when someone asks us how we are doing. The objective truth, i.e. the one that never changes while we walk this mortal coil, is that we have the infinite blessing of The Trinity 24/7 like 7-11 all the way to heaven. Our response is just so much about focus. Start with the One who is all-good, all loving, and forgiving and healing. Focus on the One who says, "If you call on my name and follow me you will live forever.” Make the center of your seeing the One who knows no change and cannot break the perfect love of His promises for us. Make God the beginning, middle, end and in-between of all that you think, say and do. Live a Christo-centric life, which means Christ is at the center. Try to make all that you think and all that proceeds from you come from all that Christ thinks and all that proceeds from him. That is the Blessed life. Let Christ dictate the suffering and corrosion in your life. Let him redeem and raise you up in it. That is the Blessed life.

As you might know, one of my favorite sayings is, “It is time to stop telling God how big our problems are and start telling our problems how big our God is.” So true! Yes, it is important to be honest about the suffering but give more attention to what God is doing in it than letting the suffering win out. Keep focusing on the blessing coming into the suffering. Isn’t that what Jesus did when he came into the world as one of us?

So, let us get back to this man. He has a lovely family. Blessed! He has a house and food. Blessed! He has problems. Blessed! He has breath which means he is alive which means he has been created, saved and called by God to live in the Joy of being in His presence this day and forever. Blessed! Can it get any better? It is all about focus. Let Jesus see and think and do through you! The greatest reality that gets so hidden under the muck of our fallen is world is that we are Blessed with God. We could not be more Blessed. The objective truth, the one that never changes, is that we are Blessed! Dare we give a lesser answer?

In Him from whom all goodness and graces and blessings flow and flow,

+ Fr. John