“Let Him (God) make demands on you.” (Saint Josemaria).
Have you ever offered to help a family member or a friend and secretly thought to yourself, I hope they do not actually take me up on my offer?
When I was a little girl, my mother taught me that it was good manners to always offer to support others and to always make sure that people felt that I would be generous with my time and my talents so that I would be able to assist them.
And so, I learned, from a very early age – not only through my mother’s words, but also through her example, to be helpful to others.
This helpfulness could look like my asking my mother if she would like me to make her a cup of tea. However, inside my mind I was secretly hoping that my mother would not make any demands on me and would simply say, no thank you. Thanks for asking.
Now, this is the worst sort of giving – because it is a lie.
This sort of generosity is designed to bolster my pride and make me appear to be generous, without allowing me to sacrifice anything at all. This is the sort of hypocrisy that Christ specifically spoke against when He spoke to the Pharisees…
“Then a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth less than a penny. Jesus called his followers to him and said, ‘This poor widow put in only two small coins. But the truth is, she gave more than all those rich people. They have plenty, and they gave only what they did not need. This woman is very poor, but she gave all she had. It was money she needed to live on.’” (Mark 12:43-44).
Saint Josemaria would say, “Let Him (God) make demands on you.” Trust in the infinite love of God to demand no more than you can endure… And then give even to your last breath everything that God has demanded of you…
God wants to see us ready to give completely. He lives inside our Soul in the Living Holy Spirit. And that means that an outward show means nothing to Him. To give so generously with words while offering nothing substantial in my soul does not help anyone – least of all me.
And today it occurs to me that I need to pray for the Grace to allow God to make DEMANDS on my soul…
Enough of the hiding in terror behind a polite façade. If He asks it of me, then I will be able to deliver it. And the time for hypocritical half-hearted requests made behind a polite smile is done. These are the says of my salvation, and I am wasting them with good manners and an insincere heart.
And so, today I pray for the Grace to accept the DEMANDS. That is my prayer today…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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