“What have I done to you?” This is what Elijah asks Elisha when he calls him to be the next prophet of Israel. It is a question that I would like to explore today. What have I done to you? Of course, I am not talking about me personally, but what God has done to us. What has He done for us? He created us and created a world, a universe, for us to exist in and strive in. In this universe, He created resources and gave us the intellect and ability to use and unlock the mysteries. He made beauty and the inspirational aspect of the universe. He allowed it to be broken so we would have to become resourceful and learn. This is just the start though. From there, He gave us life and revelations. He sent His son to died in our place and He offered us adoption as His sons and daughters. He has given us the seven Sacraments and infused us with gifts to share the Good News with the world and to be perfected. He has done everything necessary for us to thrive in life. He daily offers us love and grace, grace which is God’s very power to work in us.
It seems odd that we do not thank Him more. He has surrounded us with beauty and love. So why is it that we do not thank Him more? I think it is because we focus on the things He hasn’t given and never promised to give. He never promised to make our lives easy. He actually promised that it would be hard but that He would be with us. However, the world tells us we should just be given everything. And it is true, in a sense, we are offered everything through grace but God knows it is not helpful for us to be simply given things.
Imagine if you showed up for practice and the coach said, “I am going to make this really easy for you. We don’t need to practice because I already have the trophy since you guys did an amazing job just by showing up.” No, you would think about games and practice developing human skills, becoming more. Imagine hearing that it is not necessary and the coach doesn’t want you to strive for anything. What is the point of playing sports? Good point. God is not going to let us have it easy because it is not good for us. When was the last time you thanked God for making your life hard, so that you could be perfected as a person and challenged yourself to be all that you can be?
This does not happen in easy times. I grew up thinking like this, that life should be easy. And it is not too surprising because our life is filled with movies and books of magical gifts that no one earned, they just got them and they made life easy. Life was handed to them. The older stories made the person have to seek these gifts but now you get them by accident. But that is not reality. Life is hard because we are meant to be great. We are meant to be saints. The harder life is, the greater saints we can become, the more we can profess our love of Jesus. The harder it is, the more we need to trust God and need miracles. We are not blessed when things are easy, we are blessed when they are hard. When they are easy, we must challenge ourselves even more to be better.
Today we are here to thank God for everything. Take some time today to take God for hard things, to journey with God through hard things. Thank Him for the miracles He is working. I had a miracle of faith recently. During Lent, I prayed each day a Chaplet of Divine Mercy that souls would come back to Confession. During Lent it happened. Many souls came back who had been away for many years. One that stood out was someone who was dying with an illness. Recently, I was called to hospice because someone had died and the husband wanted Last Rites. At first, I was annoyed because I am sinful and selfish and it was late. I wanted sleep but shortly, by grace, I thanked God for this opportunity. And there was this woman who God had brought back in the nick of time and now her soul was saved. It was a happy moment. Don’t be afraid if life is hard. God is good and wants to save us. He has surrounded us with many good things. Abide in His love, mercy and grace each day and give thanks.