Please be welcoming to God

THIS should be the attitude to have in our relation with God. He always takes the initiative to come to us, to knock at our heart’s door. We should be welcoming to him, and more than that, we should be appreciative of his love and concern for us and learn to correspond by knowing, thanking and loving him better each day.

Toward this end, we may just need a few moments to touch base with this reality and to make it our guiding spirit all throughout the day. We have to feel this need for him, for without him, we can only do nothing, or worse, the only possibility left for us is to sin.

Christ spelled out this innate need for God when he said: “I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in me, and I in him will bear much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned…” (Jn 15,5-6)

Thus, we have to learn the art of praying, or spending a few moments of meditation, which is not only a matter of technique but more, that of learning how to be with God. A few minutes of meditation is like the refueling and the recharging that we need to make us going properly throughout the day.

Remember that God first created us. And upon our creation, he took the initiative to establish a personal relationship with us. He talked to our first parents, gave them some instructions. And even if our first parents, and then us, messed up the original plan of God, he did not sever that relationship with us.

Yes, there was and will be divine anger and punishment because of our sins, but he will never abandon us, unless we dare to abandon him. But it is his love for us, shown most especially in his gratuitous mercy he offers to us, that would contain all the aberrations we tend to commit.

Let’s take comfort in what a psalm says about God our Father: “His anger is fleeting but his favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.” (30,5) Let’s keep these reassuring words always in mind.

We should just try our best to be welcoming to him and to correspond to his will and ways, which is for no other reason but for our own good. We have to realize that the best condition we can be in any given time is when we are with him, actively and intimately corresponding to his will.

Let’s remember that more than us it is he who is shaping and directing our life. We should never dare to shape and direct our life by our lonesome. Not even with the help of many others on whom we can count in some ways. We have to remember that our life is a life of sharing with God. It is a life of communion with him.

We have to be wary of our tendency to do things on our own. Especially these days when we seem to be able to accomplish many things with hardly any reference to God, or when we are intoxicated by our own powers and achievements, we have to deliberately humble ourselves so we would always feel the need for God.

Praying is the most fundamental thing we need to do to keep that relationship with God. And it need not be a matter of saying so many vocal prayers. It is more a state of mind, a way of life where in our own very personal and unique ways, we are conscious that we are with God and doing things with him. We have to be men and women of prayer!