Ways of the Lord

12-08-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Bing Colasito

As the Parochial Vicar at St. Theresa in Phoenix, I did the Marriage Preparation or PreCana Program. One day, a couple came and said they wanted to get married in the Church. When I asked them to sign up for the program, they hesitated and questioned the rationality of preparing for marriage when they already loved each other and had known each other for years. I explained that whether they are aware of it or not, they are being prepared for marriage by the secular world. The mass, print, and social media often highlight broken relationships, infidelities, divorces, and separations as an expected occurrence, taught and subjected to erroneous ideas and values about marriage.

If you think about it, we live in a society where the culture promoted is the ways of the world and not the WAYS of the LORD. The ways dominated by prejudices, racism, sexism, disrespect for human life, promiscuity, competition, and domination of others devalue the intangible value of friendship, love, purity, joy, loyalty, generosity, kindness, gentleness, patience, and peace.

Often, we put the WAYS of the LORD on the sideline or dismiss it. When we miss proclaiming the Paschal Mystery in the changing of colors and seasons, the dying of leaves and trees, and the hibernating of animals, all are God’s way of teaching us to let go of our will to control; Let Be and Let Grow according to His Plan and Will.

In the ways of the Lord: Jesus heals; He is the Divine Physician who comes to heal the sick, strengthen the weak, forgive sinners, and seek and save the least, the lost, and the last. When the disciples of John came to Jesus and asked who He was, He said to them in reply, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the crippled walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them" (Lk. 7:22).

Prepare the way of the Lord invites us to pray that He shows us the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. It is saying; Lord, you are the way, teach me your way. You are the truth, enlighten my mind with the light of your wisdom and give me the courage to defend and advocate your TRUTH. You are the LIFE, help me to see that there is no other way of life that my heart desires except to embrace your ways, O LORD.

Every day, we are called by Jesus to reform our lives and to follow His WAYS and not our ways. When John the Baptist appeared in the desert, he proclaimed: REPENT, the Kingdom of GOD is at hand. Prepare the WAY of the Lord and make straight His path. Every day, the call is to reform our lives. To allow God to form us according to His ways. Today, more than ever, Jesus invites us to go into the room of ourselves, as in the desert, to pray for the Holy Spirit WIND to blow where He wants us to BE, GROW, and LIVE.