Rise and Walk!

God loves us

The Bible is a love story, showing us God’s love for men and women. God loves us so much that he has a plan for us all. A plan of happiness and joy, which desires that we be like him. ‘Be holy as your heavenly Father is holy’ (Mt 5:48). And God does not ask what is beyond our reach. A good father cannot overburden his child with loads that crush him. So that we may be able to accomplish what he asks of us, God gives us talents, the Church, the community, the group.

Our weaknesses and inabilities

Each of us, if he is sincere, can acknowledge that God has placed within his reach the things that could help him to live his spiritual life well: Baptism, the Eucharist, priests, the sacraments, a community to help us love him better, brothers and sisters in Christ. In fact we are like spiritually spoiled children. Jesus said: ‘How many prophets would have wanted to see what you see, to hear what you hear.’ In the same way, how many people would have wanted to have what is spiritually placed at our disposal, but did not have it, or do not yet have it.

Handicaps

In spite of all the spiritual goods we have, we are still very handicapped in our spiritual life, in our relationship with Jesus. Sometimes we do not pray much. Perhaps for a time during the year I prayed a great deal, but today I am in a state where I no longer pray enough, perhaps because of spiritual dryness or of distractions I have allowed. Others, who do pray, are unable to have an intimate moment with Jesus each day. For still others, it is unfaithfulness to that intimate prayer they had resolved to make every day. And yet faithfulness is an important point in a relationship of friendship. Sometimes, instead of seeking to please Jesus, we do things that displease him. We know he will not be very happy with us, but we do what he does not like all the same.

As people spiritually filled with blessings, does our love for others move us to bring them also to love Jesus? Have I not lost momentum in my zeal for evangelization? Evangelization is an act of love. When I bring someone to love Jesus and to begin seeking to please him, I give that person eternal life. How many opportunities to share Jesus we often miss: invitations neglected; a friend, a sister we did not invite to a retreat, or to whom we did not speak of Jesus; a moment when we were ashamed of him. Sometimes, in the parish or in the community, we have let others do the work while we failed to make an effort in service. A vice that troubles many people in their spiritual life is laziness in praying, laziness in reading the word, laziness in being formed, laziness in pleasing Jesus, laziness in evangelizing, laziness in bearing witness. Spiritual laziness paralyzes. Many of the faithful today have a spiritual life that is sick and paralyzed.

This does not mean that everything is going wrong in our lives. But if someone is in good health and only one member of his body is sick, he will have great difficulties. Even if there is only one aspect of the spiritual life that is not going well, it can greatly handicap you. If it is deep-seated, your spiritual life may be seriously paralyzed. There are people who live for a long time spiritually paralyzed.

Making the effort to rise up

In the Gospel of John, in the fifth chapter, we have the story of the man who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years. It was Jesus who was able to heal him by his word: ‘Rise and walk.’ He took up his mat, he rose, and he walked. Jesus places his grace at our disposal. ‘God, who created us without us, will not save us without us.’ Let us look at the areas where we are spiritually lazy. Let us make the effort to rise up and to walk. ‘Be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election’ (2 Pet 1:10). ‘My friends, as you wait for this, make every effort to be found by him spotless and blameless’ (2 Pet 3:14). ‘Let us strive to know the Lord’ (Hos 6:3). May we make the effort to rise up and walk, so as to serve others better. Whoever refuses to make enough effort will remain handicapped, spiritually paralyzed, and either he will fall, or he will find that his friendship with Jesus has not grown enough. In fact, he will not bear much fruit.

Henri Bayemi