Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today, being the feast of ten different martyrs who gave their lives defending their faith in Jesus, makes me think about my life. Martyrdom makes me ponder this question - if my faith was put to the ultimate test of life or death, which choice would I make. I pray that I would choose Christ again and again, but I cannot be certain. While God may not be calling us all to this same type of martyrdom, He is asking us each to choose Christ as our motivation, no matter the situation.
In the first reading, from the book of Haggai, Haggai the prophet speaks to the people and demands them to “Consider your ways!” or as I read this, “Stop and think about what you are doing!” Haggai is reminding the people that there is a deeper meaning to life. He challenged them to see that actions done in vain and without sight of God and His will and His glory are empty. I see this as a challenge to step back, look at our lives and analyze our motivations for why we are doing the things we are doing. Are we acting to please others? To please ourselves? To please God? These are questions we must ask ourselves each day.
There is a line in this reading, “you have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed,” that made me think back. While I was in college there was a fashion trend in which girls would wear miniskirts and warm, fleece boots. I would always laugh that this seemed completely impractical and think - if it’s cold enough to need boots, you should cover your legs too! These girls had dressed but were not warmed. Then I would think about the deeper implications of the fashion choice – putting on this outfit was not meant to provide warmth or comfort. Rather wearing this was being done to impress others, catch guys’ attention or to stay current with the latest trend. To really understand what was going on, you had to look at these girls’ motivation not just their clothing choice.
This is much like what the Lord is telling us here, through Haggai. When we act, we should have one motivation in mind – giving glory to God. No matter the action – eating, dressing, working, playing, even dying – all should be done for the greater Glory of the Lord.
- Amanda Grimm