“Live for an audience of One.” These are the words Msgr. Kenneth Schwanger spoke to begin his homily this morning shortly after we prayed the responsorial psalm: “Blessed are they who hope in the Lord”.
Look at the different areas in your life – your home, your job, your friend groups, your hobbies – and scan the room. Who is your audience (people and things), and which of them have you placed your utmost trust and hope in? You think to yourself, “This person would never betray me or hurt me”, or “This item will fix all my problems,” or even, “This person will fulfill my deepest desires”. “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings”, says the prophet, Jeremiah. We have deeply failed to realize that we are speaking about mere people and things of this world.
A culture that has removed God will teach you that this is normal. Because God is absent, we have desperately placed people and things in His place. They are supposed to fill our wants and needs, but ultimately, they will lead to a dead end constructed by depression, anxiety, and overwhelm.
Look at Jesus hanging on His cross. This is the only type of love that exists that does not hold back. There were no “ifs” and “buts”; Jesus did not possess any fear of giving His life for us, even while knowing that we may not always choose to love Him in the same way. He went to the end to give us a new beginning and He does not seek anything in return. His love was and is for us. His love is unconditional.
If we can recognize that this is the type of love we should be imitating, and that He is the only One we should be investing our trust and hope in, then our dead end becomes a road glistening with the Fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Suddenly, we are capable of authentically loving one another purely because God has loved us this way first. When we love as He loves, our love flourishes.
This doesn’t mean that we won’t come across crosses and trials. But suddenly, our perspective on hardships changes. Our eyes are open to embrace injury and pain as a cost for authentic love. This is a pure imitation of Jesus’ love; He accepted His Passion so that we may be loved to our fullest worth. To Jesus, we were worth His Passion.
What happens when blood stops flowing in our bodies? We die. God is our source of life; He is our lifeblood. If we remove Him, and replace our veins with anything else, we will die. But by firmly placing our lives in the Lord’s hands, it is like digging our roots deeper and deeper into His soil, producing an abundant, healthy, life-giving tree that will bless others.
“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord. He is like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: it fears not the heat when it comes; its leaves stay green; in the year of drought, it shows no distress but still bears fruit.”– Jeremiah 17:7-8
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In Christ,
Adore Praise & Worship
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