“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ... The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31).
I met a lady the other day and was speaking to her in passing.
She was a lovely lady, who lived with her husband and his brother, who was unmarried and with her elderly mother-in-law.
Last year, this elderly mother-in-law had had a fall. As a result of that fall, she found that she was unable to walk unassisted anymore. And as a result of having these additional needs, this elderly woman needed additional care. And so, this lady left her full-time employment and decided to stay at home and care for her elderly mother-in-law.
And during her time at home – because her family still needed the money – this lady decided that she would start a catering business, because it meant that she could work during the daytime in her kitchen from home and then make her deliveries in the evenings when her husband was home from work.
And as I was talking to this woman, she told me that her little catering business was doing very well because her mother-in-law had blessed her.
Now, this lady was not a Catholic and was not a Christian. But I was very moved by her understanding and application of Christ’s teaching of loving one’s neighbour as oneself…
And I have been reflecting on that today. You see, that lady’s words in telling me that her mother-in-law had blessed her and that was why her business was working well, were a reminder about the Holy Will of God.
You see, some of the apostles were fishermen. And they were not just any fishermen, they were terrible fishermen. Pretty much every time we hear about the apostles in the Gospels we hear that they have spent the night on the lake NOT catching fish. Or we hear that they were caught in a storm and nearly drowned. In other words, the work that those apostles was doing was not working for them.
And then – they met Christ, and they chose to follow Him. And when that happened, He blessed them. And what did that blessing look like? Well, it looked like being able to preach to thousands of people who could understand them and their radical message – despite the persecutions and fear that surrounded them. It looked like being able to travel safely through unsafe places when there seemed no logical way that this could happen. It looked like being fed and clothed and housed while traveling without a rod or a staff or a change of clothes on the road…
And all of those things were signs that God was blessing the apostles. And today, when I consider what is working well in my own life and what is not working so well, it occurs to me to look for the blessings. Because if God wants it to be it will be. And it is simply as simple as that!
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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