A boy on his high school football team wants to sty in bed on Saturday morning. But he gets up, dresses and hurries of to practice. Why? He wants to remain on the team. A young girl thinks she would love to marry the guy she’s going with. But weeping, she breaks off. Why? He doesn’t want children.
Two examples of what Jesus is teaching in today’s Gospel. If you want the end, you want the means to achieve it. So, I ask myself: Why do I exist? Because God loves me; He created me to be happy with him for all eternity; He sent his Son to show me the way to achieve this goal; his Holy Spirit to give me the power to do so; our Blessed Mother to plead for me along with my Guardian Angel and the saints. Am I taking the means to achieve that goal or do I choose what is seemingly more attractive at the time?
Every day I have to make that choice in many ways. The soft pillow and the promising mate in various forms are presented to me. So, I have to love the one and reject, that is “hate” the other.
Resolve: I’ll make it a point to learn more about the struggles of St. Kateri and appreciate how, with heroic effort, she put into practice the lesson Christ gives me in today’s Gospel. I shall ask her to pray that he give me the same grace he was so generous in giving her.