“Our
properly informed conscience should ideally help us not simply to avoid sin and
do the minimum, but to act in the way most pleasing to God, especially in
valuing the privilege of participating in the most holy Eucharist in which Christ's
redeeming sacrifice on the cross is offered for us.”[1]
These words by Fr. Tim Finigan got me cogitating the extent to which we Catholics, in my
humble opinion anyway, seem to focus on ‘what we can get away with’ rather than
on what it is that will make God happy.
Many of us seem to have forgotten that we
are in a relationship with God. We haven’t joined some stuffy club full of
rules and laws that govern our behaviour. We have, in response to His love,
fallen in love with God and our life should be about the relationship that
develops, much like a marriage between a man and a woman.
I don’t live my married life on the basis of
what my wife will or won’t allow me to get away with. Neither do I live my life
considering what the minimum requirements are in order to fulfil my marital
obligations.
I live my married life trying to do what I
know makes my wife happy. I continually try to learn what more I could do to
make her even happier. And I focus on spending every single possible
opportunity together with her, or at least in touch, otherwise what’s the point
of being in a relationship with her.
Of course there are instances, even after 24
years of marriage, when I am not sure whether certain intended actions or
omissions on my part will make her happy or unhappy. Thankfully it is seldom of
such a nature that I am unable delay until I can first discuss it with her for
clarity.
Yet, despite 24 years experience and taking
time to discuss, I still often make my wife unhappy. Probably more than I even begin
to realise. Fortunately there is also the opportunity to reflect and, when
necessary, to make amends to show her how sorry I am, before relying on her
love of me to forgive me, which thankfully she has always.
Isn’t this what our relationship with God
should be like? How do I make him happy, not which rules am I required to obey?
Fortunately the Church has
given us a great aid to learn how we can show our love and make God happy.
It’s called the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Like the Bible, it should be
the tired dog-eared book sitting on the bedside table of each and every
Catholic: Our guide to a close and loving relationship with God.
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