Looking Up to Heaven

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

(Proofread)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

We're told in the Gospel of St. Luke that when Jesus was teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath, there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for 18 years.

She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. Without a word being spoken, Jesus is moved with compassion for her. He called her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity” (Luke 13:12).

And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight and she praised God.

But the ruler of the synagogue became indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath.

With his shriveled heart, he could not comprehend the majesty of the divine mercy that had freed this woman from so much anguish.

He was zealous for the observance of the letter of the law, but he was unable to grasp that God was well pleased with this miraculous healing.

His heart was cold and his mind closed. He could not appreciate the true meaning of what had happened.

The Messiah foretold by the scriptures was standing right in front of him. And yet he had no hesitation in rebuking Jesus and the people around him.

“There are six days on which work ought to be done,” he said, “come on these days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day” (Luke 13:14).

As on some similar occasions, Our Lord does not remain silent.

Our Lord answered him, “You hypocrites. Does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or ass from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” (Luke 13:15–16).

This woman, this daughter of Abraham, has far greater value in the Lord's eyes than does a beast of burden.

As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame. And all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

The woman was freed from the spirit of infirmity that had enslaved her. Now she could stand up straight and look at Christ. She could look up to heaven. She could see the world and everyone around her.

We can meditate frequently on these passages that reveal Our Lord's great mercy.

Our Lord shows this refinement and affection not only to a small group of disciples, but to everyone. To the holy women, to representatives of the Sanhedrin like Nicodemus, to tax collectors like Zacchaeus.

He shows it to sick and healthy people, to teachers of the law and to pagans, to individuals and to crowds.

We're told in Christ Is Passing By, the gospels tell us that Jesus had no place to rest his head. But they also tell us that he had many good, close friends, eager to have him stay in their homes when he was in the vicinity.

They tell us of his compassion for the sick, of his sorrow for those who were ignorant or in error, his anger at the money-changers who profaned the temple.

The prayerful consideration of these scenes in the gospel should lead us to have greater confidence in Our Lord, especially when we ourselves are in need.

May we struggle hard to lift up our hearts from the material world. We can never pass by pain or misery with indifference. We should react with the heart of the master and have compassion on our neighbors.

St. Augustine comments on this passage. This was how Our Lord, he says, found her after 18 years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.

She is a symbol of those who have their hearts set on the things of this world. Eventually, these souls lose the capacity to look up to heaven, to contemplate God, and to see him in the wonders of creation.

The person who's bent over is only able to see the ground at his feet. What is of here below does not recall at what great a price he was redeemed, says St. Gregory the Great.

In this situation, one forgets that created goods exist to serve us on our way to heaven.

In the end, the worldly soul is left with a thoroughly impoverished universe.

The devil prevented the woman of the gospel from looking up to heaven for 18 years.

Unfortunately, some people spend their entire lives just looking at the earth.

They have become bound down, said St. John, by “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16).

The concupiscence of the flesh prevents the soul from seeing God.

As Jesus taught, only the pure of heart will see God (Matt. 5:8).

Lust of the flesh is not limited to a disordered sensuality. It also means softness, laziness spent on the easiest, most pleasurable way, any apparent shortcut, even at the expense of infidelity to God.

St. John tells us that the other enemy is the lust of the eyes, a deep-seated avariciousness that leads us to appreciate only what we can touch.

Such eyes are glued to earthly things. Consequently, we can become blind to supernatural realities.

We can use this expression of sacred scripture to indicate that disordered desire for material things, as well as that deformation which views everything around us, other people, the circumstances of our life and of our age, with just human vision.

Then the eyes of the soul grow dull.

St. Josemaría comments, reason proclaims itself sufficient to understand everything without the aid of God. In this way, does our existence fall prey unconditionally to the third enemy, pride of life.

It's not merely a question of passing thoughts of vanity or self-love. It's a state of general conceit. Let's not deceive ourselves, he says, for this is the worst of all evils, the root of every false step.

These enemies of our soul will never triumph if we struggle to be sincere and if we place our hope in the Lord, he will lift up our eyes to heaven.

St. John Paul II says, our faith in Christ should be shown in the little details of our everyday life.

In the course of our daily lives, he said, we must look up at the sky, at God, the supreme and final aim of all our desires and strivings.

When we look at God with eyes of faith, then we will be able to understand the eternal truths. Historical events and events in our lives will take on a new meaning.

Pain and suffering will become comprehensible. Our work will acquire a transcendental significance as an offering made to God.

Gaudium et Spes of the Second Vatican Council says the Christian should not run away from earthly realities. He can receive them from God and respect and reverence them as flowing constantly from the hand of God.

Therefore, the behavior of the Christian can be animated by this new attitude.

Grateful to his benefactor for these creatures, using and enjoying them in detachment and liberty of spirit, man is led forward into true possession of them, “as having nothing, yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6:10).

St. Paul says to the Corinthians, “all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's” (1 Cor. 3:22–23).

He said to the Philippians, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil. 4:8).

Thus the Christian acquires a true grandeur of soul when he becomes accustomed to referring temporal realities to God.

He takes advantage of the circumstances and events of his life to give thanks to God, to ask for help, to seek pardon for sins and failings.

Since he never forgets that he's a son of God 24 hours a day, he never gets overly wrapped up in problems. He sees the real value of things with supernatural vision.

In The Way, we're told, rush, rush, rush, hustle and bustle, feverish activity, the mad urge to dash about, amazing material structures. On the spiritual level, shams, illusions, flimsy backdrops, cheesecloth scenery, painted cardboard, hustle and bustle. And a lot of people running.

It's because they work thinking only of today. Their vision is limited to the present.

But you must see things with the eyes of eternity, keeping in the present what has passed and what is yet to come.

Calmness, peace, intense life within you, he says. Without that wild hurry, without that mad urge for change. From your own place in life, like a powerful generator of spiritual energy, you will give light and vigor to ever so many without losing your own vitality and your own light.

In our prayer today, we can ask Our Lord to cast his mercy upon us so that he might give us this gift, the ability to live by faith, so that we walk on this earth with our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Our Lord spent a lot of time in the cities along the shores of Lake Gennesaret. He granted countless miracles and favors to these people. And yet they would not be converted.

They did not know how to receive the Messiah whom they had heard so much about in their synagogues.

That's the reason of Our Lord's complaint. “Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. And you Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades” (Matt. 11:21–23).

Jesus had sown abundant seed, and precious little of it had borne fruit in these places. Truly incredible signs had been multiplied one on top of the other. But the people were not moved to penance.

Without this conversion and a life of sacrifice, it was unlikely that they would recognize Christ in their midst.

Tyre and Sidon were burdened with less responsibility because they had received fewer graces.

We're told in the letter to the Hebrews, “today when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Heb. 3:15).

St. Gregory Nazianzen said, God speaks to men and women throughout the ages. Christ continues to pass through our cities and towns, showering innumerable blessings upon us.

To know how to listen to his will and to fulfill it right away is of capital importance in our lives. Nothing is more important. We need to listen with great docility to the invitations Christ gives in the heart of each individual. God is not to blame when the faith fails to spring up among men.

The reason is to be found, says St. Gregory, in the unreadiness of those who have heard the divine word.

Scripture calls this resistance to grace hardness of heart.

Men sometimes pose intellectual difficulties as inhibiting their growth in faith, when the real problem lies in their lack of desire.

Possibly they don't want to abandon some bad habit. They may not be willing to struggle seriously to overcome some defect that impedes their friendship with the Lord.

The Curé of Ars says mortification prepares the soul to listen to the Lord and to follow his will. If we want to reach God, we will have to mortify the soul and all its powers.

Mortification can convert our souls into the good soil that will bring the divine seed to fruition. We have to weed out and burn those thorns that tend to flourish in the soul: laziness, egoism, envy, curiosity.

This is why the church recommends that we review our spirit of penance and mortification on Fridays.

This spirit will lead us to be more generous in our imitation of Christ on the cross.

Closely related to mortification is that happiness that we all find so necessary.

Anyone who attempts to live their Christian faith seriously needs to put off the old nature with all its practices.

One writer says this old nature consists in the variety of bad inclinations that we have inherited from Adam. It's the triple concupiscence which we need to control through the exercise of mortification.

Mortification is not recommended as a negative action. On the contrary, it's meant to rejuvenate the soul. It allows our soul to look up to heaven. It makes the soul better disposed to receive supernatural gifts.

It also helps us make reparation for our past sins. That's why we frequently ask Our Lord to grant us a time of true penance and reformation of life. Emendationem vitae. Spatium verae paenitentiae.

By means of the communion of saints, we give help and strength to other members of the mystical body, which is the church. There are three main areas for daily mortification in our ordinary lives.

First of all, there's the heartfelt and serene acceptance of the contradictions that each day brings.

In most cases, this refers to the very small things that crop up unexpectedly and that force us to change our plans or adjust our expectations.

One example might be a minor illness that interferes with our performance at work or that affects family life.

Other examples could include having to put up with inclement weather or heavy traffic or the difficult personality of a colleague at work.

These circumstances are beyond our personal control. We've got to see them as providing opportunities to love God even more.

None of these problems should take away our peace and joy.

If these small contradictions are not accepted for the sake of love, they only succeed in making people become frustrated and irritable.

The great majority of our frustrations come from small contradictions which we have not accepted, rather than from major disasters.

One writer says the person who lies awake at night, who is gloomy, who is in a bad humor, has often not suffered some great blow. He's simply been unable to turn a small setback into an encounter with God. Such a one loses many chances to grow in virtue.

In addition, when the soul gets into the habit of accepting small reverses as divine favors, it becomes better prepared to face more serious trials in union with Our Lord.

God came into the world to provide a healing remedy for the root of all our rebellion and misery. He destroyed many things as useless obstacles, but chose to leave pain intact. He didn't take away pain. He gave it new meaning.

One writer says he could have chosen a thousand different ways to accomplish the redemption of the human race, but he chose the cross. It was by this path that he has led his mother Mary, Joseph, the apostles, and all the sons of God.

Our Lord allows evil to exist, and he draws out good for our souls from it.

We can ask Our Lord to help us to convert setbacks into occasions of interior growth.

Another area for daily mortification lies in the conscious carrying out of our duties, a basic material in our struggle for sanctity. Here we find God's will for us each day.

We need to try to fulfill our duties with hard work, high standards, and much love. All of this will keep our souls looking up to heaven.

St. Josemaría said the mortification which is most pleasing to God is to be found in order, in punctuality, in care for the small details in whatever we do.

It has to do with faithful performance of the most insignificant aspects of our vocation, even when it hurts.

We need to struggle against the temptation to prefer comfort. We persevere in our work, not because we feel like it, but because we know it has to be done.

When we work in that frame of mind, we will work with enthusiasm and joy.

A mother of a family will find a thousand reasons to give her home a warm and cheerful atmosphere. The student will offer up his efforts to study well. In this way, tiredness will become one more offering to Our Lord.

We can examine our conduct to see whether we complain about our work, grumbling perhaps about something that should be leading us to God.

The third area of our mortifications consists in those sacrifices that we make voluntarily in order to please Our Lord, to make ourselves better souls of prayer, in order to overcome temptation, in order to help our friends come closer to God.

We should be looking for ways to help others seek sanctity.

In The Forge, we're told, bring out your spirit of mortification in those nice touches of charity, eager to make the way of sanctity in the midst of the world attractive for everyone. Sometimes a smile can be the best proof of a spirit of penance.

We can ask our guardian angel to help us to overcome our moods and weariness. We're told in The Forge a spirit of penance is to be found first of all in taking advantage of the many little things: deeds, renunciations, sacrifices, services rendered, and so on, which we find daily along our way, and we then convert into acts of love and contrition, into mortifications. In this way, we shall be able to offer a bouquet at the end of each day, a fine display which we can offer to God.

I heard somebody say once that it can be a good practice to repeat our morning offering many times during the day. It's a bit like telling Our Lord that I'm serious when I offered you this this morning. I offer this new circumstance, these hours. Even when we lie down on our bed at night, it can be a good moment that the last prayer that we say each day is our morning offering. As we offer to God the last seconds of this particular day and tell him that with the help of his mother, we have wanted to keep looking up to heaven in all the things that we have done today.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

EW