In business, we are trained to plan. Then, we measure our success by how well we meet or exceed our plans. We have to let go of our plans to live in the present. And, we need to be present if we are to hear the Lord speaking to us.
Mass Readings Audio
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/18_07_15.mp3
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 15, 2018
Welcome to the sixteenth episode of By Your Life. Thank you for joining me. If you haven’t already, please subscribe on the right side of the page so I can send you notifications when each new episode is posted.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular, business world. It is my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace, and to trust that it is good for business. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we will reflect on the readings for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. There are a couple of related themes that run through all the Scripture readings from this weekend’s Mass. They could be summed up with the saying: “God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.” That is, we are chosen by the Lord, sometimes to do things we never imagined let alone planned, and God blesses us with what we need to accomplish these amazing things.
In the first reading from the Prophet Amos, Amos tells us that he was content being “a shepherd and a dresser of sycamore trees” when he was called to be a prophet. In the second reading, Paul tells the Ephesians, and us, that God “chose us” and “blessed us according to the intention of his will.” In the Gospel, Mark writes that “Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”
The message of being called and equipped was repeated throughout the Liturgy of the Word and echoes the Word of the Lord from previous Sundays too, when prophets and apostles revealed that it was not them who acted alone, but God who chose them and it was by his power and grace that they carried out their work. (See episode 012 Cooperating with God, 013 Living on Purpose and 015 Persevering through Obstacles.) This is as true today as is was throughout the past 2,000 years and the centuries prior to the birth of Christ. The Lord calls and equips us “so that we might exist for the praise of his glory.”
I’ve mentioned before in this blog that if something is important, God usually tells me twice in case I missed it the first time. Despite this personal theory, and therefore the importance of the message of relying on God to fulfill our calling, I couldn’t help but notice one small phrase in the Gospel reading. It appears as an insignificant detail in the instructions Jesus gave to the Twelve, yet it stood out to me.
Mark writes, “He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.” And then he quotes Jesus as saying: “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave.”
Why did Jesus say this? What did he mean by, “stay there until you leave”? It seems kind of obvious. They enter a house. They stay a while, then they leave. So, why did Mark specifically quote him?
Maybe he was instructing them to only stay in one house per town they were to visit. That’s possible because in other translations of Mark’s Gospel Jesus is quoted: “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there.”
But, did that detail deserve being called out in a personal quote when taking nothing with them for the journey didn’t?
I read all the readings, listened to them, and read them again multiple times and asked the Lord, “why did you say, ‘stay there until you leave.’”?
This is what came to me. “Be present.”
Could the Lord have been instructing them to be present, be in the moment, be with the people, while they were with them? In other words, don’t go into these towns and villages with your own agenda to seek out demons and sick people, or worrying about how you will heal them. Rather, go and be with the people. Listen to them, and then I, the Lord, will work through you and provide them what they need.
So much is written about “present moment awareness” or “living in the moment” as a better way to live. I read a lot about it over the years and I’ve struggled implementing the strategies.
In business, we are trained to plan. We are goal setters. Then, we measure our success based on how well we meet or exceed our plans. This is what I did for most of my career when I had a “real” job. I was a planner. But we have to let go of our plans if we want to live in the present. And, we need to be present if we are to hear the Lord speaking to us.
So, what are you saying, Lisa? Are we expected to just float from day to day, minute by minute and do whatever comes to us at the moment? How would we ever get anything done, let alone how could a team get anything done?
The only place anyone can get anything done is in the present. It resides in between learning from the past and visioning the future. In his book, The Pope and the CEO: John Paul II’s Leadership Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard, Andreas Widmer describes how St. John Paul II was able find the balance between pursuing a vision and being completely in the moment every day and everywhere. St. John Paul II was able to “see the big picture and the little picture, never losing sight of the importance of either one.”
See the big picture and the little picture, never losing sight of the importance of either one. ~ Andreas Widmer @AndreasWidmerBeing present doesn’t mean you abandon your vision for the future. It is a good thing to have a plan of action that you develop through prayer and contemplation, that is, with God’s help. Although it is focused on the future, even the planning happens in the now and a good plan is based on an accurate assessment of the current situation. You can’t figure out how to get where you want to go without knowing where you are starting from.
But being present has a much more human element because all plans, in one way or another, are by people for people to serve people. A while back, I interviewed Mark Carr, CEO of Christian Brothers Automotive, one of the most successful automotive repair franchises in the country. One of the things he said really stuck with me. Their success model was built on Christ’s principle of loving one another. He said, “I made a list of 20 things people hate about getting their car fixed and I determined how I could solve every one of those problems. We looked at service from the customer’s perspective and treated them the way we would want to be treated.” You can’t understand the customer’s perspective if you aren’t present with the customer.
From the beginning, Christian Brothers Automotive followed a simple principle of treating others as you want to be treated. This principle was not just for their customers. It started at home with their franchisees and is reflected in their unique partnership model with their franchise owners. Unlike a typical franchise arrangement where the franchise fee is paid as a percentage of the top line, Christian Brothers Automotive allows the franchise owner to serve the customer, pay their bills, collect a modest salary, and then they share a percentage of the net profit. The model helped the company to truly be in the trenches with the franchise owner—to be present—and support their success. Mark Carr said, “We have wonderful families who are investing their life savings in a business called Christian Brothers Automotive. We want to treat them how we would want to be treated.”
Being present means being Christ to others. St. John Paul II understood this, and he lived it. In The Pope and the CEO, Widmer describes his first personal encounter with the future saint as he stood guard outside the papal apartments on his first Christmas Eve away from home. The pope was on his way to celebrate midnight Mass, yet he stopped to greet his homesick guard. Andreas Widmer writes:
“Here was the leader of a billion Catholics, at the height of some of his fiercest battles, occupied with the most overwhelming and impossible problems of the century, yet he was still sensitive enough to perceive the emotions of a twenty-year-old guard whose sole job was to blend into the background as he passed.”
John Paull II’s attentiveness to the human person allowed him to understand the human condition which in turn inspired his vision of the Church.
When through prayer you are clear about where you are going, being present provides freedom—freedom from regrets of the past and freedom from fear of the future. It allows us to confidently join the psalmist as he sings, “The LORD himself will give his benefits.” God provides what you need—not too much, not too little—when you need it—not a moment too late, nor a moment too soon. Through prayer, you grow to trust this truth.
God provides what you need, not too much, not too little, not a moment too soon, nor a moment too late. @lisahuettemanPrayer is only possible in the present. It is where God is, because God is. You can’t talk with God in the past, nor can you summon him in the future. You must be present to pray.
This is one of my greatest struggles. I start off strong and 15-30 seconds into my prayer time, my mind is mulling over something that happened yesterday or thinking about what is supposed to happen tomorrow. Random thoughts fly in and distract me. This is especially true in Mass. Every day I make a pledge to be in the moment during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and before you know it, the priest is praying “Through Him, with Him and in Him…” and I’m drawn back to where I should have been all along.
One day at morning Mass, the priest must have heard my thoughts because after Communion reflection he commented that we sometimes struggle with wandering thoughts when we pray. “Allow it,” he said. “God is an exceptional listener. He hears us, and he may be responding by placing random thoughts in our heads. Just be present.”
Applying present moment awareness to our work life means that we must invite God into this part of our life too. Most of us are not called to missionary life. Unlike the Twelve, we are not sent out to preach, heal, and drive out demons. Nonetheless, in our places of work, we encounter people who need the Good News, need healing, and are caught up in the lies of the evil one. When we are present with these people, we can bring the joy of the Gospel to them by our example.
A client of mine recently shared how being present made a big difference with one employee. This CEO has been working on his leadership style and his relationships with his direct reports. He mentioned that he noticed one of his employees really needs someone to listen to his stories, about his family, his weekend, or whatever is going on. In the past, my task-oriented client would want to shut this talk down and get to the point. Instead, he started to listen. What amazed my client was how it affected his employee. When my client asked him for a report—a request that he usually would have to repeat several times only to be met with excuses and complaints—this employee now got the information back to him by the end of the day.
Being present is more than active listening and you can’t fake being present. You can’t do it to manipulate others. Being present is being sincere. My client didn’t invest his time listening because he expected to get anything in return, he listened because the employee needed to be listened to.
Being present allows us to respond when He calls. It provides us with the ability to be aware of the needs of others, to hear His voice, to recognize His closed door, and to find His opened window so we can offer our work for the praise of his glory. As St. Augustine said, “He who labors, prays.”
“He who labors, prays.” ~ St. AugustineLet us ask the Holy Spirit to give us the grace to be truly present to others. Let every moment be a present moment and may our work be a prayer.
May God bless you abundantly and may you glorify the Lord by your life. Amen
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