What Father does not like to see His children loving each other and looking after each other…?
I have been thinking about all the different things I can do for God.
I do not mean the things that go without saying – those things like being good and trying to remain in a state of Grace. Those things are things that I do as much for myself as for God. You see, without remaining in a state of Grace I would be unable to enter Heaven.
I have been reflecting on that too. You see, the accounts of the Saints and Doctors of the Church indicate that it is the soul itself that chooses not to remain in the presence of God if it is not in a state of Grace. The accounts describe the soul’s understanding – after death – of the purity and goodness of God. This means that when a soul is faced with a choice of entering Heaven and standing in the presence of God, a soul marked by the stain of sin will not enter Paradise because that soul will understand that it is unworthy of being in the presence of God Himself.
And so, as I have been reflecting on that reality, I have been considering what I can do for God – not for me…
After all, being good (or trying to be) merits me in ways that I could rely on just for myself and without any regard for God.
So, as I was thinking I began to wonder how I would be able to do something for God and I stumbled across the writings of Saint Augustine who said, “Walking by faith, let us do good works. In these let there be a free love of God for His own sake and an active love for our neighbour. For there is nothing we can do for God. But because we have something we can do for our neighbour, we shall by our good offices to the needy gain the favour of Him Who is the source of all abundance. Let us then do what we can for others; let us freely bestow upon the needy out of our abundance.” (Saint Augustine “Day by Day” at page 144).
And I have been reflecting on how it is that I can help my neighbour. Obviously, I can offer food for the hungry and shelter for the homeless… But this is something that I rarely do in my day to day life as I generally feel that I have little additional capacity for that function. And so instead, I help my neighbour in other ways… I talk to my neighbour. Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta considered that the greatest illness of the Western world was loneliness – and I do not believe that she was wrong in this assumption. But there is yet another way to help my neighbour, and that is through prayer.
When I pray for the souls of my neighbours – of those people who I know and do not know and of those souls who live in this world with me, I please my Lord and God. Because my Beloved is my Father, and what Father does not like to see His children loving each other and looking after each other…?
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.