Are you aware of any sins in your life? What are you doing about them? How committed are you to getting rid of them from your life? - Daily Reflections December 8,2013

THE WINNOWING FORK

 

We all like to talk and hear about how God is a loving God and that His mercy reaches to the depths of the earth and to the heights of heaven. This knowledge of His love and care for us brings us comfort and strengthens us. However, if love is to be true love, there is always an element of choice involved — the choice to give on the part of the giver (in this case, God, so we can remove any doubts about whether or not He really wants to love us), and on the part of the receiver, us. It is here that Shakespeare, through his character Hamlet, would say, “Aye, and there lies the rub!” That is, here is where the problem begins.

       We all have to make choices in life for which we will be held accountable. We cannot avoid this assessment if we want to believe that we have free choice and, thus, we are not just a small part of a “wind-up universe” that God has started and which will eventually run down to nothing. In other words, for there to be truly free acts, there has to be responsibility attached to them. This is what John the Baptist refers to when he talks about the “winnowing fork” of the Holy Spirit.

       A time of reckoning will come for us — when we will give an account of our lives, the sum total of the choices we have made, to God. There is little to fear if we live lives of goodness as best as we can. But there is much to fear if we ignore the responsibility to do good and simply live carefree and irresponsible lives. The lives of the saints remind us of the costs that we are called to pay when we follow Christ. We will not all become saints, but that simply begs the question, “Why not?” Unfortunately, the simple answer is that most people are not committed enough to excising sin from their lives in order to become saints. Thus, we are reminded that at some time in the future such excision will have to be done if we are to achieve our goal of eternal life in heaven. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Are you aware of any sins in your life? What are you doing about them? How committed are you to getting rid of them from your life?

 

Holy Spirit, lend Your winnowing fork to my life and grant me the grace to allow You to show me how to get rid of all the sins that hamper my ability to grow as a disciple of Jesus.