In January, I wrote about my phrase for the 12 months: concord. Specifically, I wrote a couple of want to mirror on how my life was or was not forming a “pleasing and constant complete” in addition to a want to work in the direction of a greater mix of the assorted elements of my life so they might kind a extra seamless and delightful concord. Now, six months into the 12 months, I’ve to be sincere. I’ve made little to no progress on these two wishes.
I may blame the discord of the world round me. There are numerous information tales I may simply level to which have sown emotions of elevated division and discord inside me. I may additionally blame the busyness of the spring semester. In spite of everything, it’s tough to work on making my life a seamless concord within the midst of the standard chaos of the second half of a college 12 months. I may discover many extra fingers to level, however they’re all simply distractions from the reality. The reality is that naming these wishes in January was straightforward. The work I wanted to do to satisfy them was far harder.
Why was making an attempt to make my life extra harmonious so tough?
Maybe as a result of I used to be making an attempt, as soon as once more, to do it on my deserves alone.
Pope Leo XIV jogged my memory throughout his inaugural Mass that concord can’t be achieved by my deserves alone. Describing what occurred within the conclave, he stated, “Accompanied by your prayers, we may really feel the working of the Holy Spirit, who was in a position to carry us into concord, like musical devices, in order that our heartstrings may vibrate in a single melody.” Cardinal Prevost didn’t develop into Pope Leo XIV on his personal deserves. It was the prayers of the folks in addition to the work of the Holy Spirit on the hearts and minds of every of the voting members of the conclave that led him to be elected only a brief 24 hours after it started. It additionally won’t be his efforts alone that construct the sort of Church Pope Leo described in that very same first homily, “a Church based on God’s love, an indication of unity, a missionary Church that…turns into a leaven of concord for humanity.”
God planted the phrase concord on my coronary heart for 2025, and I instantly did what I all the time do. I crafted a plan for what it meant and the way I’d obtain it. Now, six months later, I really feel God inviting me to revisit my strategy. In response to this invitation, I hope to spend the subsequent six months placing apart my plan for concord and praying as an alternative for a rise in freedom so I could also be open to surprises the Spirit has in retailer.
Come, Holy Spirit, encourage our hearts and minds, and lead us all in the direction of a extra seamless and delightful concord.
Photograph by Marija Zaric on Unsplash.
