Matthew 22: 34-40
At any given time I seem to have at least three To Do lists going – one for family, one for household, another for work. Agendas for communications, agendas for meetings and agendas for the house are normally complex, and complicated to execute. This is life in the world today! But God’s agenda for my life is much simpler. And rather than To Do lists, our heavenly Designer has given us humans two simple directions: Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.  Undergirding each To Do list and Agenda in my life, loving God and my neighbor are really the only intentions I need have.  Am I letting societal norms and directives blur the real intention of my life as a beloved daughter of Father God? Will I keep my schedule clear enough to make love – of God and neighbor – the over-arching purpose for my every thought, word and action?  Holy Spirit of God, help me make holy love my whole agenda.
 
May you be filled with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding to live in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing -  in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God. (Col 1:9 -11)
 
Christian perfection consists in the union of our will with the will of God.
St. Maximillian Kobe
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei - Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 

 
Matthew 19:13-15 & Matthew 22: 34-40
Doing the will of God is always in-formed by choice.  When parents of Judea brought their children to Jesus “in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray”, they had freely made a choice to have their children receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit from Jesus.  Perhaps their children had had something to do with this – ‘Mom, Dad, when can we go to see Jesus?’ or some such badgering. For whatever reason, these parents did the will of God by bringing their children for prayer to the Lord.  Jesus’ disciples, on the other hand, the adults who had been journeying the countryside with him for several seasons, spoke sharply to the children and their parents and tried to tell them to ‘get lost’. Perhaps they knew how tired the Master was. Perhaps they had been pushed aside themselves as children and thought that impatience had it place with young families. Perhaps they thought there were more important things on the agenda for Jesus to do, For whatever reason, the disciples did not do the will of God, and freely chose to try to prevent the young families from seeing Jesus. Jesus sums up the will of God for each one of us by saying, “Let the little children (or the big adults) come to me, and do not stop them.. “ Why? …”for it is to such as these (those who humbly and honestly approach God and open themselves to his mercy) that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”  Am I like the disciples or the parents and their children when I am ‘doing the will of God’? Will I quietly seek the will of God and choose to do it, or am I like the disciples imposing my own will on life circumstances and ultimately preventing others from coming to Jesus for his healing Mercy?  Holy Spirit of God, teach me the path of your will, and help me to do it. 
 
The Lord loves the righteous [those who are rightly related to him and to others] but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.  (Psalm 145:6 )
 
Christian perfection consists in the union of our will with the will of God.
St. Maximillian Kobe
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei - Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca

Psalm 25
Doing the will of God is like riding a bicycle:  it is a way of life to learn and to practice. In May of this year, as soon as the trails were clear, I tagged along with my brother (an avid cyclist) on an off road trail through the forest. It was beautiful – until my rear wheel stopped turning. Giving it a cursory glance, my brother declared that my 70’s 3-speed CCM, had probably shot a bearing, and that I would likely need a new bike – maybe electric, like his. I sadly wheeled my bike the last 4 km home and put it aside, stymied by the lack of 3-speed models on the market, and longing to get out on the bike path once more.  Following the path of the Lord’s will is like that. God lays out the custom-made path for us that is His will for our life. When we trust someone other than the Lord to lead us along the path of God’s will, we find ourselves on trails that not designed for us, and we can lose our bearings, resulting in toiling along life’s journey with undue effort. This can lead to us not striking out to do God’s will for a time, and perhaps what seems forever.
 
By God’s grace, my summer biking story ends on an up-note ( I believe because my Heavenly Father has infinite patience and a sense of humor !)  When I asked him, my son, a master of all things broken, checked out my venerable CCM just a week ago. The bearing was not shot- only one screw on the fender had come loose and had interfered with the mechanism. A five minute fix and I was riding the bike path with joy!  Similarly, I have noticed, when I ask God for help, through the name of Christ Jesus, the Master of all thing broken, my ability to walk the path of God’s will is again restored, and I can walk along the path of our Father’s will, with great joy.  Father God, I need your wisdom to stay on the path of your will, and to help me take it.  Holy Spirit of God, teach me the path of your will and help me walk in it.
 
I will lead the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight.   (Isaiah 42:16 )
 
Christian perfection consists in the union of our will with the will of God.
St. Maximillian Kobe
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei - Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Deuteronomy 31:1-8 
 
Holy Spirit, help me have courage and find where the Lord has gone before me…
 
In Moses’ absence, Joshua had a huge task before him – to lead God’s less-than-perfect people across the Jordan River into the promised land. In a similar way the ‘assignments’ of lives lie before us. Yesterday, after weeks of dry weather a torrential rainstorm broke sending sheets of wind-driven rain pelting down. Praying this GMD and noting the cloud cover, I had driven to church, unafraid because I was going to where God was before me.  This mid-summer storm, like the storms of my life, drummed the roof of the church and roared and cracked around all of us who were gathered to receive Holy Communion, the very substance of Christ Himself, in the peace and light of God’s Mercy. Such peace and light and communion is always available to us when we take the time to mindfully choose to go where God has gone before us. Will I have the courage to head out on the day’s journey, despite the clouds? Will I have the wisdom to look for where God is, and then have the presence of mind to go there, no matter what storms of life are raging around me? Holy Spirit, help me have courage and find where the Lord has gone before me. 
 
Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually.  (Psalm 105:4)
 
The affairs of God are accomplished little by little and almost imperceptibly. The Spirit of God is neither violent nor hasty.  He does all things in his time.
St. Vincent de Paul
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei - Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca