Click here to read the daily readings from the USCCB website.
There were two main ideas that stuck out to me in todays readings. The first comes, fittingly enough, from the first reading. Paul and companions are continuing their evangelizing travels, proclaiming the Good News far and wide. While they were spending some time in Philippi, they went out to pray on the outskirts of the city because it was the sabbath. There they sat and spoke with the women who had also gathered there to pray. This is what struck me:
"One of them, a woman named Lydia, ... a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying."
Friends, as St. Therese said, "everything is a grace." This line reminded me how even my faith is a gift from God. Without His grace, I could not have received His word and accepted His invitation to be His cherished daughter. As I learned the Gospel as a little girl and heard it anew during my college years, God was opening my heart to pay attention to the things He wanted me to hear. I was still free to accept or reject the Good News Jesus came to bring, but God is the reason I even have that choice. We must always remember that we can never initiate with God. God is always the one who initiates; we respond.
Often it can feel like God isn't there and we just cry out and cry out until He finally shows up, but no, that's not what's going on in the spiritual reality. God is entirely with us at all times and is constantly offering us grace to draw closer to Him, but we just might not realize that He's there. It can be really hard, but that's the lesson that Jesus seeks to teach us in Luke 18:1-8 (The parable of the persistent widow). God is always initiating, but sometimes He asks us to persevere even when we can't see Him so that we can become perfect. God wants us to seek Him for His own sake, not for what He can give us.
The second thing I noticed came from the Gospel, and it's somewhat related. Jesus said, "In fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God." Yikes.
By and large, I honestly believe that most people generally do what they think is right. Overall I think it's good to assume the best of people. Obviously there are times when the evil that they do can't even be justified by their good intentions, but that's not something I really have to face much.
The example that Jesus gives is one of those times where killing isn't really justified by good intent, but what if we replace it with "persecute?" In the face of awkward relationships, criticism, and difficulty, it is so much easier to assume the best of someone. It is so much easier to love someone when we assume that they are acting out of a place of love. That doesn't mean that what they're doing is right or okay, but it will help you to love them where they are and persevere in seeking to draw them deeper into the Truth who is Jesus Christ.
-Amanda Nobis, Director of Evangelization