Just Do It

The WORD today (See http://usccb.org/bible/readings/051915.cfm) reminds me how pleased God is if we do his commandments.

The end justifies the means. Some say this is true, but this is not absolute. Sometimes, the results are not always as important as the process. In the gospel, Jesus said that he glorified God by doing what God wanted him to do. He did not say he glorified God by converting half of the world, or proclaiming the gospel in 100 countries. No, he glorified God by accomplishing the work God had for Him.

Obedience is important to God, not just results.

God wants us to obey him and not just focus on the outcome. God wants us to follow his commandments, and did not set a minimum number of people converted, or minimum number of places where we preach his word. the results are actually dependent on Him. He can make our actions effective and powerful, no matter how simple and normal it may be. What he needs from us is to trust him , to obey him, and do what he tells us.

Merely obedience is not what he wants. Obedience go deeper. Obeying him is a sign of trust. We will only obey him if we trust him. Obedience is a sign of belief. We will only obey him if we believe in him. Obedience is a sign of love. We will only obey him if we love him. So when Jesus told us he glorified God by obeying him, he means more than that. He means deeper than that. As we obey him, we will be taken out of our comfort zone, and we would need to trust, believe and love God for us to successfully do this. Then we will glorify Him.

May we take time to pause and reflect to see if we obey him in our lives.

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. thank you for another Tuesday. Thank you for reminding me how I can glorify you. help me be like Jesus. May I be able to obey you as I live. may my life be a testament of my obedience, of my love, and of my faith in you. use me and my actions. May I bring people to you and glorify you with my simple actions done out of love and obedience to you. amen.

Blessed day!

In Christ,

-g-

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May 19, 2015

Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Lectionary: 298

Reading 1 Acts 20:17-27

From Miletus Paul had the presbyters

of the Church at Ephesus summoned.

When they came to him, he addressed them,

“You know how I lived among you

the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia.

I served the Lord with all humility

and with the tears and trials that came to me

because of the plots of the Jews,

and I did not at all shrink from telling you

what was for your benefit,

or from teaching you in public or in your homes.

I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks

to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus.

But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem.

What will happen to me there I do not know,

except that in one city after another

the Holy Spirit has been warning me

that imprisonment and hardships await me.

Yet I consider life of no importance to me,

if only I may finish my course

and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus,

to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.

“But now I know that none of you

to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels

will ever see my face again.

And so I solemnly declare to you this day

that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you,

for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God.”

Responsorial Psalm PS 68:10-11, 20-21

R. (33a) Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.

or:

R. Alleluia.

A bountiful rain you showered down, O God, upon your inheritance;

you restored the land when it languished;

Your flock settled in it;

in your goodness, O God, you provided it for the needy.

R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Blessed day by day be the Lord,

who bears our burdens; God, who is our salvation.

God is a saving God for us;

the LORD, my Lord, controls the passageways of death.

R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.

or:

R. Alleluia.

Alleluia Jn 14:16

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

I will ask the Father

and he will give you another Advocate

to be with you always.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Jn 17:1-11a

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said,

“Father, the hour has come.

Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,

just as you gave him authority over all people,

so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.

Now this is eternal life,

that they should know you, the only true God,

and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

I glorified you on earth

by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.

Now glorify me, Father, with you,

with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.

They belonged to you, and you gave them to me,

and they have kept your word.

Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,

because the words you gave to me I have given to them,

and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you,

and they have believed that you sent me.

I pray for them.

I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,

because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours

and everything of yours is mine,

and I have been glorified in them.

And now I will no longer be in the world,

but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”