Reflections from the Heart – June 2, 2024

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
by Fr. Ivan Olmo

Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all answered with one voice, “We will do everything that the LORD has told us.”  Relating to God in prayer is who we are. We are a relationship formed by God expected and hoped for – to remain in an ongoing loving dialog with God, sharing with him our daily encounters and experiences, the good and bad alike.  Lovingly receiving from God the many graces, blessings, and assistance God offers and we need, especially those the Lord graciously wishes to bestow upon us.  Offering to the Lord from the many gifts he lavishes upon us, the joys and joyous celebrations we celebrate, the gratitude and blessed thanksgivings he inspires, as well as offering to him the hurts and disappointments, the sorrow, loss and humiliations, all the heartaches and brokenness and even the failures and all of life’s impatient and frustrating moments.  This is a true friendship and relationship with God.  Our gracious God is relationship, and happily is in a loving relationship with us, always relating and communicating himself constantly to us.  God generously shares himself with us selflessly, honestly and most charitably, all that we need and all that is good for us.  He gives us peace always, eternal joy and happiness forever.  What God says, shares and relates to us, is always helpful and useful to us in obtaining the peace, joy and happiness we so long for and desperately need.  Listening as the Lord has asked is an important aspect of relating, forming and maintaining a relationship with God and with others. Listening to how God speaks to us, how we communicate and respond to him, and how well we respond or react to others is at the heart of relating.  Prayer is relating and relating begins with listening attentively, with abandoned surrender to the message being shared, then receiving what is said in a spirit of discernment, asking the Lord to help us to respond in gratitude to all that is good for us and humbly renounce and reject all that is contrary to God, his word and ordinances.  Have you listened lately, attentively to the words that have poured forth from your thoughts and your mouth?  Do you believe what you say in the reactions of your thoughts and in the responses from your lips?  Sometimes we say what is not true, what is not helpful or what we really don’t mean. God is true and truly means he loves being in a relationship with you.