John

The WORD today (See http://usccb.org/bible/readings/062413-mass-during-day.cfm) inspires and challenges me to glorify God with my life.

As we celebrate the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, we see his birth in the gospel and his ministry in the readings. We see that from his birth, he glorified God. There was fear in the people – fear of God, because they knew that the hand of God was with him. And in his ministry, he was often seen as saying that he was not the messiah, and was just preparing the way for Him. John knows that Jesus must increase and he must decrease. His whole life was used to glorify and honor God.

How about us?

Do we want the same – for God to increase in our lives? Are we building God’s kingdom or our own? In life, we get tangled up in worldly things  - power, fame, success, etc, that we tend to forget who we should glorify. God should be glorified in our lives, not ourselves. God does not look at our worldly accomplishments – the number of cars we own, how big our house is, how much money we make, or how many people are subject to us. He looks at none of that. What is important to him is if we glorify him with our lives, if we serve other people – the least, the lost, the last. Then we can say that we tried to live our life the way John the Baptist did, preparing the way for God, glorifying him in all we do.

Father God,

Thank you for this day. Thank you for reminding me what is important to you. Thank you for St John who tirelessly worked to prepare the way for Jesus. Lord, sometimes I get so busy with life, wanting to achieve and own a lot of things, that I forget you. Lord, never let me go, and hold me when I am drifting away. May I always put my focus on you so I can glorify you with my life, Amen.

Blessed day!

In Christ,

-g-