“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you... love one another“ Jn 15:16
In our gospel Jesus is saying goodbye to his disciples and telling them to love him, and live like him in his Spirit, which he gives us and to remember him..
Remembering certain things can be painful—the loss of a loved one, the tragedies in life that continue to sting, or relationships that are not what we hoped they would be Yet, even at times of funerals people treasure the memories of a loved one telling stories that reflect the importance of life together, life as sacred. Remembering is also such a joyful gift– a sacred task. Families gather at celebrations such as Father’s Day, Baptisms, First Communions, weddings and share family histories and anecdotes.
This weekend we remember and honor mother’s in our special celebration as we pray for them; those who are with us and those who have gone onto the Lord and to be with our Blessed Mother. For most, remembering mothers can be a joyful time. My mom died 14 years ago last month at the Queen, and at times I can still smell her perfume or something reminds me of her and I smile. She had a great zest for life to the end and loved people and travel and different cultures. Of course, my sisters and brothers and I agree—we had the best mother in the world! Mom is now with the Lord, but we can still remember her voice, her laugh, her many ways she taught us how to live, how loved we are by God, and we all remember her unconditional love for us!
A discipline of remembering can begin when we get up and offer our day to God in thanksgiving for his love. Simple 5-10 minute quiet pause in our day and remember the Lord is with us, giving us the intimacy of His peace as we remember. Throughout the day try to remember Jesus, it can be as simple as internally saying his name. At the end of the day we can remember and offer the fruits of our day-any good we have done, to him before we go to sleep.
Our liturgy is also remembering God’s great love—the Mass of Remembrance. Jesus tells us whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup do this in memory of me. To remember Him and his love for us is a call to convert to that same love.
Such love is joy as we hear from the Lord in our Gospel: “Remain in my love…I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete.”
Joy is an essential spiritual practice growing out of faith, grace, gratitude, hope, and love. It is the pure and simple delight in being alive in knowing we are loved by God. Such joy leads us to want to share who we are in Christ.
Such a conversion calls us to abandon some of our pre-conceived notions of happiness that can be built on accumulation of stuff—quantified stuff-bigger-better-more. Some continue the bad habits of such accumulation and wonder why they can’t be satisfied and at peace in their lives. Such behavior of repeated misery—is self-sabotage.
We do things repeatedly knowing that the outcome will more than likely cause us problems or pain or the other person problems or pain and we do it anyway. That’s one definition of insanity that is credited to a few authors: doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results—I’ve had my moments of insanity to be sure. Another form of self-sabotage can be when people work like dogs to provide for families thinking that if they provide more and bigger it will bring love, joy and peace in the family. But more is never enough. So the treadmill to nowhere won’t shut off. Self-sabotage. People remain a bit restless with the lack of deeper peace Jesus promised to us through the action of Love. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.” (1Jn4:7)
We need to take the time to catch up with our life to feel God’s love for us and give that love—give ourselves to others. It takes a huge step to get off the treadmill and trust God to bring us peace and joy through giving of personal time. Rather than having less time with one another and spending more on stuff—try spending more time with one another living more simply with less—it does bring peace and joy.
The peace of Christ is in knowing just how much God is at work in our lives[Symbol]daily, in the small miracles that we have been conditioned to easily overlook and too easily forget. The peace in His love is present in the most ordinary of events of our daily lives[Symbol] miracles of a baby’s smile, the beauty of nature that surrounds us, a consoling hug to a grieving mother. It is in the miracle of life itself, and knowing God created the miracle of our life so we would know love.
Gratitude is joy, Fr. Gordon
On behalf of our Parish Staff and me, we wish all of the mothers in our a joy-filled Happy Mother’s Day