My priority studying and reflections on "the Word" first thing to get thru day with

Faith, family, friends

Father Johnathan, I truly believe that it is easy to see what I (or anyone, for that matter) love the most, and what comes after that, in a pyramid of priorities. Just pay attention to what I devote most of my time to. That's where my heart lies. It's that simple. And after that, what is the thing that I pay most attention to? That would be the second thing I love the most. Where our love is, there will also be our time and attention. I've never seen it fail. I spend most of my days trying to listen to the voice of the Lord and understand His Will, so I can do it. Yes, I get distracted. But I get back to it, because He is what I love above anything else.

What things are important for our lives are those things which are needed for life. If you lacked oxygen and were struggling to breathe, that would be your number one priority. The same goes with other needs like water, food, shelter, clothing, protection from the elements, etc. When they are lacking, they take priority. Children need nurturing adults to live, so in a sense love is a priority as well. There are many other things we may want, but we don't necessarily need them to live, but in order to live well, the quality of these things is important. We seek things we want but don't need thinking they will enhance our lives, but sometimes the process of getting them might take away from the quality of our lives. In trying to enhance well-being, people can lose their sense of well-being. There are countless things we may want and busy or stress ourselves to get them, but there are relatively few things we need. Jesus told Martha that her sister chose the finer thing. Another question is what are the necessary or important things which are needed for eternal life? They should be a priority in our lives as well. We shouldn't compromise them when seeking the other things in this life or exchange the eternal for the temporal. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world in exchange for his soul? He who seeks to save his life in this world might lose it in the next if he acts unjustly or uncharitably to get them. As air or breath is number one priority in this life (since you can die in a matter of minutes without it), so the Holy Spirit or Breath of God is priority for eternal life. We tend to judge everything in life through the lens of whether it is good vs bad to us. This is like eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Some people judge what is good by its pleasure. Some judge what is bad by its pain. Yet, not everything pleasurable is good, not every good is pleasurable, not every pain is bad, and not everything bad is painful. Hedonists misjudge what is good vs bad based on pleasure and pain. To complicate things, not everything good or beneficial to you is good or beneficial to others. What's good for you might be unjust towards others and therefore wrong. So not everything judged as good is right. Likewise, not everything judged as bad or detrimental to you is unjust. It might be just. Another problem with judging by filtering through the lenses of self-interest is that we judge others, people with souls, like we judge things without souls. If someone is beneficial to us, we judge them as good. If someone stands (not unjustly) in our way of getting what we want, we judge them as bad. If someone is neither beneficial nor detrimental to us, we are indifferent towards them. This isn't loving one's neighbors as oneself. This is loving one's neighbors based on expedience or utility. It's as if we regard others as not having value in and of themselves put there by God. Sometimes we even wrongly judge God this way, as if God is good if he is of benefit. If he appears to be detrimental to us, he is judged as bad. If we have no use for God, we are indifferent to him. Imagine a creature judging the Creator this way. Can a clay vessel judge the Potter? God is good in and of himself regardless of what he can do for us. God isn't a useful means to our ends, but he is the End in and of himself. To regard God expediently or through an utilitarian lens as a means and not the End isn't loving God with heart, soul, and strength. It is sin against God. God so loved us that he sent his only Son for us. His Son is the Means to him. He isn't merely a means, but the Means, the way, the truth, the life. Being one with the Father, the Son also is the End in himself as well. He is the Means and the End, the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega. So, to judge Christ by what he can or cannot do for us is also sin against God, which by the way he can forgive. He prepares the faithful soul to receive his Holy Spirit or Breath of the Father for eternal life. The faithful soul's communion with the Father is through the Spirit by way of Christ. Christ warned the pharisees that judging the good Holy Spirit as bad or evil is the unforgivable sin since by doing so they can't commune with the Holy Spirit. You can't commune with that you are adverse, judged as evil. On the contrary, you repel from it. If you judge the Holy Spirit as evil, you are adverse to him, and separate from him. There is no communion with the Father, the good End in himself, without the Holy Spirit. The soul without the Breath of God is essentially dead. Communion with God for eternity should be priority number one like breath when lacking in this life takes priority over the other needs for life. Communion with Christ is eating of the Tree of Life.

Look forward to this 5 minute retreat everyday! Do you ever give weekend retreats? God bless you and all whom hear your words !