Today's readings, Proverbs 21: 1-6, 10-13 and Luke 8:19-21, give us profound teachings about those who surrender totally to the will of God, as did His mother Mary; those who listen, first of all, to the directions of the Holy Spirit rising from the depth of their beings, and, second of all, to directions coming from outside sources, viewing those from the perspective of Jesus' prayer: "May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me" (Jn 17: 21).
Directions coming from our Source are always about being in love with that which fosters union, promotes well-being, respects the integrity of the other and treats the other as one who is of God, created in the image of God and sent into our lives as God's messenger. To act out of love requires flexibility of us, not rigid conformity to external commands. "We are not machines programmed to obey God's commands 'according to the letter' of the law" (Word Among Us, September 2012, p. 45). When we force ourselves into robotic obedience, the soil of our hearts become hardened, rocky, and impervious to grace. Our heart, then, does not remain, in the words of Proverbs 21: 1, "...a stream...in the hand of the Lord." Consequently, the Lord, respecting our free will, is not able to direct our hearts wherever the Lord wills (cf Proverbs 21:1). May our prayer be: Lord, make my heart like "a stream" in your hands that you are able to direct in accord with Your holy will and which You are able to use to build up the kingdom of love, mercy, justice, and peace in a world filled with violence, hatred, and selfish ambitions.
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