One of the most common conversation starters is, "So, what do you do?" Does not that question communicate what we value, what we think is important? Is our job, status, and position etc. somehow going to gain us a special reward? Do you think Jesus would ever come up to you and ask, "So, what do you do?"

What if we started asking each other the question, "So, who are you?" It seems kind of strange and awkward and I chuckle visualizing doing this. But, is not that what Jesus is interested in us knowing? He wants us to know who we are! We are his beloved daughters and sons who he came to save from the darkness and swoop us up into his own wonderful light.

So much of our life experience is based on doing and then receiving a reward. If you study hard and do good work then you will get the grades. If you want money you have to work. If you want a chance at making the team you must get in shape and work on your skills. None of this will be handed to you on a platter so you must do before you will receive.

In light of all this doing in order to receive, here is where God can be so confusing to us. The greatest thing we could ever want to receive, eternal life, is something we cannot do anything for. Before we ever lift a finger to start working for this reward, we already have it! This, my brothers and sisters, is called grace - the unmerited gift of God's life! Before we start "doing" for it, it is done. Before we were born from our mother's womb, salvation was waiting there for us with open arms. This was all God's "doing" in Jesus Christ.

You are a human being - not a human doing. Yes, we do do things as human beings but as we grow in Christ we want all that we do to flow from our being. And our being is in Christ who freely has done all the "doing" before we begin to do. We are just simply trying to live out all that he has already done and what he embraces us with the day we were born - our salvation.

Blessed by the BEST,

+Fr. John