Life’s Priorities

God has but one will for us: that we should love and serve Him. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: ‘God, who is infinitely perfect and blessed in Himself, in a plan of pure goodness, freely created man to share in His blessed life. That is why, at all times and in every place, He draws near to humankind. He calls them, helps them to seek Him, to know Him and to love Him with all their strength. He gathers all people, whom sin has scattered, into the unity of His family, the Church. To this end, He sent His Son as Redeemer and Saviour when the fullness of time had come. In Him and through Him, He calls people to become, in the Holy Spirit, His adopted children, and thus heirs to His blessed life’. Every day, our daily routine should consist of living out this call. It is so that we may love Him more fully that He bestows His gifts upon us: life, health, family, material possessions, or even poverty that has not been overcome. But above all, He gives us His Son so that He may lead us to Him. He is the way, the truth and the life (cf. Jn 14:6).

If God cares so much for our lives, it is because they are of immense value and great beauty, despite our weaknesses. Yet most people prioritise their careers, wealth, family and beauty, whilst sometimes devoting only a little time to God. This is a case of misplaced priorities. ‘Where your heart is, there your treasure will be also’ (Mt 6:21). This confusion is the cause of many problems. Some people will say: ‘I’m confused, I don’t know what to do, I don’t know God’s will, my mind is always wandering.’ And others: ‘I can’t pray’ or even: ‘It’s impossible for me to spend an hour with God’. This shows that their spiritual life is unhealthy. For others still, this life is even as good as dead, since they say: ‘I don’t care about God’. In fact, we use God’s gifts primarily for purposes other than those for which they were given to us, or we do not use them sufficiently in accordance with His will, just like the servant who received one talent and buried it. Instead, we must invest in a truly profitable venture so that we never go bankrupt: the life of God within us. This is what the parable of the treasure in the field, which a man finds, teaches us. He goes and sells everything he owns to buy that field (Mt 13:44–46).

Why do some people act this way? Because no one has ever shown them the true path. There are people who have testified: ‘I didn’t know I could be so happy with Jesus’, or else they heard the warning but closed their hearts. If I fail to recognise the true priorities, it is as if I were blind. Often a blind person stumbles and hurts themselves because they cannot find their way. We must ask God for this experience: ‘Lord, help me to recognise you as my priority, once and for all’. If I fail to recognise life’s true priority, it is as if I were a fool. Such a person often fails to live in the reality of their own life; they are in another world. May we ask God for light and healing.

When one’s priorities in life are properly ordered, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are evident: love, joy, peace, and so on. How many people truly live with God and for God? How many listen to him and love him? It is not enough to devote just a few minutes to him. That would be like throwing a coin to a beggar and carrying on your way. ‘It is not your sacrifices that I want, but your love’ (Hos 6:6). Yet we prefer the company of other people to that of God. And yet the easiest thing in the world is to speak to God. ‘From the very beginning of his existence, man is called to converse with God’ (Vatican II, GS 19) because ‘God is not far from any one of us’ (Acts 17:27). He seeks us out and helps us to find him. Let us do everything we can to seek him, to go to him and to love him.

Henri Bayemi