“The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI).
I have been thinking about Christ’s question to His followers from two thousand years ago…
“What do you think? A man had two sons; and he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterwards he repented and went. And he went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’” (Matthew 21:28-32).
You see both sons were wrong. Once initially disobeyed the Will of the Father, and the other one eventually did the same.
And I have been reflecting on that disobedience. You see, disobedience was the Original Sin of Adam and Eve, when they were proud and decided to disobey the Will of God. And that disobedience and Pride (which was at its root) was the start of all the terrible things that followed.
Saint Paul wrote about this when he said, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate... For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Romans 7:15,19).And really, what that Original Sin means is that the Evil One can get to us. He can give me an opportunity – a temptation to give in.
He does not actually tell me to do the wrong thing – after all, I love God and want to please Him. Instead, he reminds me that I am tired and that my promise is too hard and that God is too exacting and that I am too weak. In other words, the evil one relies on my laziness to draw me into disobedience…
It is the omissions that become the problem. It is not that I am actually doing very much that is wrong, but the problem is that I am too lazy to be doing what I am really supposed to be doing, and that means that I omit the complete the Holy Will of God…
And it is exactly that greatness that the Evil One is seeking to destroy by tempting me to laziness. You see, all he really has to do is to help me to omit one good deed – for I was CREATED to do good in my Father’s image. And that means that I was NOT created to be lazy.
So, now – as the new year begins and I begin to get back into things again… I must remember not to be lazy. For there is work yet to be done and I have only just begun…
May God give me the Grace NOT to be lazy!
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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