Dear friend,
Many people feel cheated by God for one reason or another. Of course they feel this way because they begin with themselves, as if they are the starting point. But they are not. God is the starting point. Since He came first, He comes first. Our culture has forgotten this. We see life very, very differently when we begin with Him.
When we begin with ourselves, we tend to measure everything by how agreeable or disagreeable it is to us. We question God. If He is so good and loving, why does allow this and why doesn’t he stop that? We consider that He owes us some accountability. “How can He expect me to live a life as a celibate when heterosexuals don’t have to?” Actually, there are many, many heterosexuals that have not been called to marriage. He expects celibacy from them also.
When we begin with God, we measure everything according to what is agreeable or not with Him. We tend to take our existence for granted. But we could so easily have never been. He determined to create us. No one paid Him. It is a pure gift and a pretty great one. What is even better is that He gave us His life as well. The more we reflect on Good Friday, the more grateful we become. The more grateful we become, the less we are likely to think about what we don’t have. It is not always easy to live in a chaste way. All the more we will have to offer Him when we finally meet Him face to face. It wasn’t easy for Him either as He hung on the cross. But Oh what a great beginning of heaven it will be to have Him embrace our chaste bodies with His nail marked hands!
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
