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The Surprises of God

29 Wednesday in Ordinary Time


IN TODAY'S GOSPEL (Luke 12:39-48), the Lord disclosed to the disciples a characteristic of God's will--it comes as it wills, and without warning--in the same way that the Holy Spirit will, later on, behave towards the young Christian church.
 
Some people may understand such unpredictability as "unfair" because it does not allow enough time for a person to prepare himself to meet the Lord. It is like giving an extemporaneous speech, a minute or two before you have to deliver it before a crowd of critics.
 
But there is a beauty in the delightful surprises that the Lord pulls on us almost all the time. It puts our lives into unending excitements over limitless lack of expectations. It brings us naked before the Lord, free from all the masks and pretensions that adults have learned to acquire through the years in their dealings with fellow human beings. It allows us to tell the Lord: "Here I am, Lord, today. All that I have become today. And all of these are available to your disposal."
 
Above all, the surprises of God allow us to love God without expectations. It draws us to him pure and true. It inflames our hearts to love him all the time, every second of the day, always ready and in wait, for him to come to us and spend joyful moments in his Presence. It teaches us the way of authentic love, the only kind of love that can meet the Lord halfway.
 
LORD, thank you for all the love you have showered in me every moment of each day. Continue to surprise me as your will dictates, knowing that in doing so you allowed me to open up for the grace that can inflame my heart with love for you; knowing that only through the love you grew inside me I can respond to the overwhelming Love that is you. Amen.
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