Daily Reflection Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

I think of what Bill Barry a holy man, great spiritual director would often say to questions of this sort “There is the ideal and there is reality. God is not a God of ideals God is a God of reality.”

The Gospel text of today evokes deep themes concerning the sacredness of human life and vocation, especially within the context of marriage, against the backdrop of contemporary challenges faced by the Church and Christian life and decisions we face every day.

The reality is that we are not perfect people, and some cannot keep that commitment for so many reasons.

This involves recognizing the "hardness of hearts" that Jesus refers to, acknowledging that the human condition is often marked by brokenness and the need for mercy and understanding.

Moreover, Jesus’ continued remarks in the Gospel text extend to the sacredness of human vocation beyond marriage to include all aspects of life where individuals are called to embody God’s love and truth.

The first line Gerald May wrote in his book “The Road Less Traveled “is “Life is difficult.” I believe we all can attest to that truth. Ultimately, we need and are called to love God, love one another, and love ourselves. That is the grace that leads to respecting all of life as God commands us to which we must strive.

Question for reflection: Living in a world where human life and vocation is often obscured by secular ideologies, what are my responses to those falling outside the conventional frameworks, loving and compassionate or hard-hearted and insensitive?

We need to … get on with the holy task of loving God with all our hearts and all our minds and all our strength.  

“Praise the Lord from whom all blessings flow” (2 Corinthians 13-14)