Daily reflection _ get on the right track

GET ON THE RIGHT TRACK
"How can it be," Paul wonders, "that when all I want to do is good and yet all that seems to come out of me are things I don't want to do?"... It is God who will make all the difference in our lives if we are only willing to allow Him to enter in and do His work within us!
Deacon John Ruscheinsky
How good are we at reading signs? Jesus expects His disciples to read the signs of the times accurately! While modern technology gives us greater accuracy for pinpointing troublesome tempests and quakes, our ability for discerning spiritual trouble and averting spiritual disaster seems to be in need of desperate repair, or at least improvement. Jesus used a vivid illustration to point out the urgency of getting on the right path with God. We cannot do this on our own. Each of us stands in constant need of God's mercy and love.
In today's first reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans, it is consoling to remember that the great saints, like St. Paul, and all those we honor during this month, were human like us and needed help from God to get on the right track, especially in their spiritual life. They struggled and became discouraged and confused, and ultimately had to depend completely on God's grace. Today's reading clearly shows a man who is struggling to be a better person. Paul is discouraged by his apparent lack of progress. Above all, he becomes confused.
"How can it be," Paul wonders, "that when all I want to do is good and yet all that seems to come out of me are things I don't want to do?" I suspect that the same happens to all of us from time to time. Perhaps we can see clearly enough to notice when we need to be more loving toward a particular person, or we when we must give up our rash judgement of other people and their motives. It may even be that we hate to have within ourselves a "holier-than-thou" attitude without being able to do much to overcome it. Why is it that we seem to make such little progress?
St. Paul cries out, "Who can free me from this body under the power of death" (Rom 7:24)? His answer is only implicit at the conclusion of our reading wherein he says, "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ Our Lord" (Rom 7:25)! From later parts of his Epistle, it becomes clear that he turns in praise to God because he knows that only God can help by the power of His Holy Spirit. The real problem is that we tend to depend too much on ourselves rather than on God. We have the attitude that we are the ones who must accomplish our progress rather than placing ourselves completely in God's loving care.
In the Responsorial Psalm we acclaim, "Teach me wisdom and knowledge, for in Your commands I trust... Lord teach me Your statutes" (Ps 119:66, 68b). Ordinary people like us become holy (saints in the making), not by their own efforts, but by being open to God's grace. It is God who will make all the difference in our lives if we are only willing to allow Him to enter in and do His work within us! God's light reveals what is in our hearts and His grace frees us. His call is urgent and His grace is available for complete transformation in Jesus Christ.
May we be ready for His grace and action in our lives!