The Next Step
Walking up to communion today, I looked down at my feet and saw the tile floor. The line was moving slowly and it gave me a minute to contemplate the steps I was taking.
God created the world out of love, redeemed humanity through the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and invited us to be “partakers of the divine nature.” CCC 460.
The next step is ours. Will we take it?
The past few weeks we’ve been journeying together into receiving God’s love in a deeper way. By taking the focus off of ourselves and placing it on God, being aware of disordered God images, and knowing our sins and wounds can be a barrier to God’s love, we have one more concept to ponder: our response to God’s love.
God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. CCC 1.
God is inviting us to seek him, know him, and love him. What will we do about it?
Fr. Mike Schmitz gave a talk at SEEK where he shared this idea: God has done everything to pursue and love us. The last step is ours. We can talk all day about how God is our Heavenly Father and how much He loves us. But it’s up to us to take the next step.
Fr. Mike gave two concrete steps we can take: confession and adoration. He asked:
Do you need to be healed? Go to confession.
Do you need to be held? Go to adoration.
I talked a little last week about the power of confession and how this Sacrament is a beautiful way to receive God’s love. In this sacrament, we are healed of the burden of our sins and our relationship with God is restored by grace.
Adoration is where we can go to be held by God. By gazing into Christ who is present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist, we are uniting our whole being to Him who loves us.
So my dear friend, the journey is just beginning. I hope these reflections have brought you to a deeper awareness of God’s love and the steps to take to receive His love more abundantly.
I invite you to make a goal this week of your next step. Will it be to go to confession? Will it be to visit Jesus in the church or Adoration chapel? Or maybe it will be to sit on your couch and find a moment of quiet where you can speak to Him in your heart.
We’re not meant to be on this journey alone. I challenge you to find a friend to support each other on this adventure. And if you’d like to explore how I can accompany you through one-on-one coaching, please schedule a discovery call here!
I am blessed to be on this journey with you!
