this is the life
"This is the time of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the gospel!" —Mark 1:15
The goal of the rest of our lives is to displace the culture of death with a civilization of love and life. This will probably be done not primarily by popes, presidents, judges, generals, or billionaires. Of course, the lives of prestigious people are important in God's plan (see Rm 13:7). However, the Lord typically chooses to change the world through teenagers like Mary, carpenters like Joseph, toddlers like Samuel, weeping women like Hannah, loving husbands like Elkanah (see 1 Sm 1:5), and manual laborers like the early apostles (Mk 1:16ff). "God chose those whom the world considers absurd to shame the wise; He singled out the weak of this world to shame the strong. He chose the world's lowborn and despised, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who were something" (1 Cor 1:27-28).
God's way of changing the world is the "little way" proclaimed by St. Therese, the "Little Flower," and by many other saints. This means that the little things of our everyday lives are very important in God's plan. Because we are adopted children of God, the love and faith we show in the details of life will turn the world right-side up. Because we have been baptized into the body of Christ (see 1 Cor 12:13), everything we do has universal, everlasting significance.
Let us rejoice in our awesome dignity and consequent responsibility. Let us live earth-shaking, world-changing, simple lives charged with love.
Prayer: Father, I am Your child. May I build Your kingdom wherever You put me.
Promise: "They abandoned their father Zebedee, who was in the boat with the hired men, and went off in His company." —Mk 1:20
Praise: St. Hilary was the son of noble pagan parents. He received a thorough education, but his quest for truth went unsatisfied until he studied Holy Scripture. He converted to the Faith at age 30. As bishop, he was a staunch defender of the divinity of Jesus.
Rescript: †Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, April 2, 2019
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