In his book, Confessions, Saint Augustine wrote what is indisputably considered as one of the most quoted phrases in our Christian tradition, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” I tell you, I have read this quote in Catholic and non-Catholic literature. Why is this St. Augustine’s prayer so famous? Every Christian and I add non-Christians understand the stubborn fact that we are wired for God. Our hearts are truly restless until they finally find rest in God. Whether we know it or not, whether we realize it or not, God is the deepest hunger of the human heart. Nothing can finally satisfy this hunger but God alone. But if for whatever reason someone finds a phony rest in what St. Thomas Aquinas called the four false substitutes for God—wealth, power, pleasure and honor, the person is in the condition of what the Bible calls spiritual sleep or spiritual slumber. Spiritual slumber is dangerous; the cost is often abject spiritual poverty. When you are spiritually asleep, your ability to produce and yield the fruits of Christianity and be useful is significantly tarnished and diminished.
In our Gospel for today, Jesus says, “Stay awake!” (Matthew 24:42) What does it mean to stay away? It is to persistently and relentlessly find rest and refuge in God. It is to form the habit of resting in God. It is to see God as the Summum Bonum, the highest Good and the greatest pursuit of one’s life. Now, this does not stop you from living your ordinary life. This does not prevent you from having other interests like getting married, raising your family, going to work, going to the grocery store, shopping, going out with friends and colleagues for lunch or dinner, hanging out with others and playing Bingo game, being interested in entertainments (sports and movies), in politics, in community organizing, in advocating for justice and peace etc. Christianity is not a sad and depressing journey. As humans, we are definitely going to be interested in other things aside from going to church, but if the organizing principle of your life and activities is God alone, then you are spiritually awake. You are staying awake. If Jesus is at the center of everything you do, if he is the Governor and the commanding General of every aspect of your life, then you are an awakened disciple.
Is it possible to find happiness in the goods of the world? Sure! Worldly goods can give some excitement, some comfort, some ease, some pleasure, some confidence. But it will eventually wear off. With the passage of time, it will fade away. They are fleeting and transient items. There is no permanent rest in the goods of this world. Check this out! In the opening prayer of the Mass, for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary time, we hear, “O God, who cause the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.” Honestly, this prayer summarizes what it means to “stay awake!” Staying awake, therefore, is to finally realize that the true and lasting happiness is in God alone. It is to habitually fix your heart, mind, soul and being in that place and in God where true gladness is found.
What can help us stay awake? Forming the habit of going to Mass at least every weekend, making personal prayer the fulcrum of your daily life, using the sacraments, studying the Bible, reading pious, spiritual and theological articles and books, joining a society in your parish that can help deepen your relationship with Jesus, being a hearer and doer of the Word of God, surrounding your life with discipline etc. If something is so important to you, if fixing your heart on that place where true gladness is found is of great importance to you, if you really want to stay awake as the Lord exhorts us, you will surround your life with discipline. What does that mean? It means the formation of good character and habits. Even when you are tired of praying, you will endeavor to pray. When you are emotionally not in the right place, and it is Sunday, you will get up and go to Mass. If some friends are inviting you to an event that may jeopardize your faith, expose you to an intense temptation, or that may scandalize another, you say no. When you eat, drink and dance, you do them with moderation. Even your speech and thought-patterns will be trained in the Christian way. You will control the words of your mouth and the meditations of your mind and heart. Making these the habit of your daily life and having your eyes fixed on our Jesus Christ is what it means to stay awake.
God bless you!
Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR
Thursday, August 31, 2023
St. Alphonsus Catholic Church
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota
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