We are reminded that everyone worships, but only worshiping God fulfills the deepest longings of our hearts. In episode 2 of “Clearing the Clutter”, Deacon Paul Jensen and Denise Childs reflect on why prioritising God over worldly things is essential for true peace and joy. As Catholics, we are called to seek first the Kingdom of God. May this Lent inspire us to embrace the God who lovingly calls us by name and offers us eternal life.
Transcript
The second Sunday of Lent’s Gospel has Jesus with Peter, James, and John on a mountain, where Jesus is transformed and revealed as ‘the beloved, my son’. Jesus is then worshipped by them. Now, the idea of worship may sound strange to modern ears, but American thinker David Foster Wallace points out that everyone worships something the only choice we have is what we worship. The key is in choosing wisely. Worshiping material things like money or superficial traits like physical beauty leads to never feeling satisfied or always feeling inadequate. Worship power, you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay, and so on, you get the picture. Wallace suggests that a reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship is that pretty much anything else you worship will confuse and eat you alive.
Greetings, I have been asked the question, ‘why do I prioritise God over other worldly things?’ But first, let me introduce myself. I’m Denise, I’ve been married to Jim sixty years in a month or so and I am a mother, a grandmother, and a great grandmother. I have been involved in this Archdiocese for many, many years, employed at a variety of jobs including Catholic hospitals, schools, parishes and volunteering. The question, ‘why do I prioritise God over other worldly things?’ Because God is my life, every breath I breathe is God loving me into life. And it is only God, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit that the yearnings of my heart and soul can be satisfied. Sometimes though, I feel I live in a parallel universe. Spiritual and secular. How I can so easily become immersed in the futile, the practical, the externals, that I ignore my Spiritual yearnings for the Father and try to go it alone. That is when my life becomes chaotic and messy which can and does happen. I do need to be practical also though, to function in this world. To be at peace I need to ‘marry’ the practical with the Spiritual so that my yearning for the Living Water is my constant guide. ‘O God you are my God for you I yearn’, from Psalm 64. Consequently each and every ‘cross’ becomes a stepping stone back to the safe harbour of love, peace and hope. And in this year of Jubilee I am indeed, a pilgrim of Hope as God continually and gently calls me back, ‘come then my love, my beloved one come’, from Song of Songs. Being retired I am now able to spend much more time in prayer and reflection which is such blessing and helps me to hear my God with the ears of my heart and God tells me in Isaiah, ‘do not be afraid, I have called you by name because you are precious to me, and because I love you and give you honour’. Imagine God not only loves me, He honours me as well! Being so loved and empowered I continually return to my God through the Crucified One by the power of their Spirit. Amen.