“Listen Diligently!”

Isaiah 55:2
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, your labour for that which does not satisfy?

The story of life in the world. We often work tirelessly and diligently for what, in the grand scheme, is unimportant. Or is it really so? How do we know what is important and what is not? A bit like the young King Solomon in last Sunday’s first reading, asking God to give him the gift of right judgement. The ability to discern good from evil, to know right from wrong. Should I take the left or the right? The answer! Listen diligently to me… says the Lord (Isaiah 55:2).

I saw today, Tuesday and indeed all through the week, many students, their relatives and friends of students, who had been to graduation ceremonies at the cathedral. Those I saw looked mostly happy and well turned out. Deservedly so. They, the students, or most of them, had worked hard for their degrees and awards.

Is this a waste of time? I certainly don’t think so. Who knows where God will lead them? Including into doing God’s work. God could give them wonderfully fulfilling and exciting missions. God could also give them missions, vocations, careers that may seem relatively mundane to human eyes, but which God values, and in which they will be fulfilling His will.

For God to lead us we must listen to him, come rain or shine, when it’s convenient as well as when it is not. We do not always want to go where God wants us to go. Where we know God’s spirit is sending us. We, with our human eyes that can only see the here and now (even then with limitations), may seek something we feel is more exciting, fulfilling, rewarding, not forgetting status-building. God calls us sometimes to unexpected places. We initially may complain, deny, reject, but you will see that as far as it is God’s will, that is where you will be most fulfilled, most happy. Wishing you all well.

God bless and guide our young people.