YOU GOT FAITH?
We cannot "do good" to God, but we can desire to
please God. We can and must do good to our neighbor.
I just recently read
the poem by Joyce Kilmer "Trees," which concludes with the words,
"Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree."
Joyce became a Catholic at the age of 27. He was a sensitive, straightforward,
and simple writer who took common things, like trees, and brought out their
beauty. He was killed in World War I.
Kilmer's deeply
religious spirit found fulfillment in the Catholic Faith. He loved and lived
it. His letters to his wife, who was also a poet, to his children and friends,
were filled with spiritual insights. In one letter he wrote something closely
related to today's Gospel: "Pray that I may love God more. It seems to me
that if we can love God more passionately, more constantly, without distraction
that nothing else can matter... You heard that saying on a TV 'You got milk?'
Well you can say, 'You got faith?'"
How many of us have
ever asked God to help us love Him? To love God is a gift; a gift from God
Himself. Too many falsely think we can grow in the love of God by our own
efforts, that it is entirely up to us to learn how to love Him. To be sure, we
need to do everything humanly possible to carry out the command of Christ,
"Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God." But above and beyond our efforts
this gift will be ours when we truly want it from our heavenly Father.
What do we mean when
we say, "Love God?" Here is a working definition that has helped me:
To love God means to desire to please Him. Christ's command might read,
"Thou shalt desire to please God." Love of neighbor means the desire
to do good to our neighbor. We cannot "do good" to God, but we can
desire to please God. We can and must do good to our neighbor.
Jesus told us several
times in several ways that he who loves God will keep God's commandments. God's
commandments are a proof of God's love for us. The Collect for today's Mass can
be helpful: "Almighty ever-living God, increase our faith, hope and
charity, and make us love what You command, so that we may merit what You
promise."
Do You Got Faith?