A Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right

Over the last few Sundays we've recognized and considered the impact of our new President (HERE, HERE, HERE). We're wondering whether he may prove to be a refreshing, even invigorating change from the previous eight years. We also recognized, albeit in passing, the impact a Pope might have on our lives. But in our wondering, we've reminded ourselves that whatever impact for good or bad, we Catholics can't put too much stock in one man, whether that man is President of the United States or the Pope.

We've progressed in our discussions by referencing the writings of the Bishop Alban Goodier, S.J., a holy priest and bishop and one of our finest spiritual writers. With his help, we drew back from the political fray, and from any tendency to focus too much of our energy and aspirations on those who hold positions of power and influence in this world. Rather we recognized the need for

....our complete, unadulterated trust in God, which includes an understanding that He has a plan which we endorse daily as we pray, "Thy will be done."...

first by considering the solicitude of our Father in Heaven. But even as we re-set our minds and hearts towards God, we still need to overcome what may be the most difficult hurdle: ourselves. That self-centered life that keeps most of us at arms length from God has to change, as Bishop Goodier describes,

So that my own life does not matter
So that I do not matter to myself.

And so we turned to Him Whom the Father sent - the Way, the Truth, and the Life - as the means to overcome ourselves.

Today we avail ourselves one more time of Bishop Goodier's wisdom. We learn just what we need to do to put aside, as St. Paul calls it, our "old man" to become the "new man" a true, devoted follower of Jesus Christ. We do this by deepening our understanding of the mind of the God-man who humbled Himself to live amongst us. He revealed Himself to us when He walked the earth so that we could turn to Him as the greatest example of how we ourselves should live. Now it's our turn to better understand His Example and to follow it as best we can.

The Mind of Jesus

‘Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.’
Grant, Jesus Christ,
That I may know Your mind
That I may think with Your mind
That I may see things as You see them
The end You would attain
The means by which You would attain it
That I may feel about things
As You feel about them
That I may use them as You would have me use them
That I may be what You want me to be
That I may do what You want me to do
That I may endure what You want me to endure
Because You want it
Because I want what You want
In the way You want it, which may not be mine
As You Yourself would do and endure
Were You in my place
That You may have the fruit of it
Though nothing come to me
Because it is Your right. Because I wish to give it
Who have nothing else to give
To prove that I love
To prove at least that I wish to love
That Your joy may be in me
That my joy may be in You.
Of myself I can do nothing
In You I can do all things
Have a care of me. Or I shall offend You
Have a care of me. And I shall be able to give
Have a care of me. And my heart will never fear.

(Archbishop Alban Goodier, S.J.)

We close again on this blessed Sunday as we have in recent weeks, with these words of St. Francis de Sales:

“Trust the past to the mercy of God,

the present to His love,

the future to His Providence.”

Have a blessed Sunday!