A Reflection for Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Find today’s readings here.
“Holy is the Lord our God.” (Ps 99:9)
Life gets busy. I have a hard time focusing on just one thing. With my family, my attention gets divided between my wife and my kids, not to mention my parents and siblings and nieces. At work, I juggle different responsibilities, concentrating on one topic and then the next. At our parish, it can be hard to choose where to volunteer and what event to attend. It feels like time always runs short, and it can be hard to prioritize where to spend it.
The merchant from today’s Gospel doesn’t seem to have this problem. Once he finds the pearl of great price, he sells everything and buys it. And the person who finds a treasure buried in a field likewise does what needs to be done to buy the field. They recognize their hearts’ desire and set aside other attachments to get it. This is the path to the kingdom of God.
Lord, please give me the grace to make you my everything.
It seems contradictory, but I believe the singular focus on God opens us up to focus on others. That certainly seems to be the case for Pedro Arrupe, S.J., who served as Superior General of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983. When asked who Jesus was for him, he replied, “For me Jesus Christ is everything.” In a 1981 interview, when asked the same question, Father Arrupe said, “For me Jesus Christ is all,” adding, “There is no need to explain at length what this means: take Jesus Christ out of my life, and this will collapse as a body deprived of a skeleton, without head and heart.”
When I find myself overwhelmed with too much to do, when time is short and I feel like I have to make hard choices, that narrow focus on Jesus will help me discern the right path and give me the strength to do what God asks. Only by shedding my earthly concerns can I enter that kingdom where God reigns. Lord, please give me the grace to make you my everything.
