What Has First Place in My Life?

Most of us know what it feels like to be pulled in many directions.

Family expectations, work pressures, personal hopes, financial responsibilities, friendships, community commitments, and the constant noise of modern life all compete for our attention. We can find ourselves trying to keep everyone happy, avoid conflict, remain comfortable, and still somehow live a faithful Christian life. Into that very human struggle, Jesus speaks words that are both confronting and clarifying.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus does not offer discipleship as a light accessory to an already full life. He does not present faith as something we simply add on when convenient. He speaks of priorities, crosses, losing and finding life, welcome, hospitality, and even the smallest acts of kindness done in His name. At the heart of this Gospel is a question we ask ourselves: What has first place in my life?

As Vincentians, we know, God should always be our highest priority. First, loving God requires knowing Him, and that knowledge begins with His Word. It may sound easy, but to know Him is to love Him. To love God is to praise Him. “It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” To love God is to put Him first. As we know, the number one commandment is to love God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” It is an undivided love. God is our highest priority. To love God is to desire Him, to yearn for, His righteousness, His word, and His grace. Finally, to love God is to obey Him. Jesus tells us, “If you love me, you will obey what I command”. As we naturally wish to please those in our lives that we love, so as we love God, we should want to please Him and obey his commands eagerly.

No one will say the commandment to love God and one another is easy, but it is certainly not complicated. It demands absolutely everything of us, all day every day, but the content of the demand is basic and clear. Today, we may ask ourselves: How strong is my love for God and how am I also following His commandment to love one another, to love our neighbors.

In our Vincentian vocation in our call to holiness, if we take to prayer our own thoughts on following our Lord, in our daily prayer this week, we may ask these questions to our Lord in our prayer time:

• Lord, what is my purpose as your Vincentian in how I best serve you?
• What cross might Christ be asking me to carry with greater love?
• Are their neighbors that need from me a simple act of welcome, kindness, or encouragement this week?

In our homes, workplaces, neighborhoods and Conferences, the Gospel is often lived in small moments. A phone call to someone who is lonely. A meal brought to a family in need. A kind word to a tired colleague. A welcome given to someone new in our conference.  A life more open to grace, service, courage, and love. To follow Jesus today is not simply to agree with His teachings. It is to allow His way to become our way as He calls us to our Vincentian vocation.

Vincentians, as we enter this week, may we strive to put our Lord first in every area of our lives, especially in our service to our neighbors in need.