Feast of Saint Robert of Newminster

Good morning. I love being Christian. I love it because the script for living is quite simple. Jesus offers us that script in today’s Gospel. “Love the Lord your God’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.” It just doesn’t get any simpler than that. We are not required to do anything extraordinary with our lives, we are simply asked to do all that we do with love. Regarding the Christian script for living, Mother Teresa noted "Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." In fact we meet these moments every day, every day we have the opportunity to make a difference. We can choose in every moment of every day to become closer to each other and to God, or we can choose to draw further away. When love drives our decisions, our choices, we find ourselves becoming closer. Did we do the right thing? We need only ask ourselves, “How close do I feel?” In choosing to do everything we do with love, we choose to be that person God intends for us to be. 

In choosing to love each other we choose to do all that we can toward helping them be everything God intends for them. And becoming all that God intends us to be is the ultimate purpose of our lives. So, if the ultimate purpose of our lives is to be the most of what God intends for us, then the ultimate purpose of marriage is for us to help our spouse to be the best of what God intends for them. This desire for becoming the best of what God intends is what distinguishes our relationships with those we love, and what sometimes tests our relationships, because we don’t always choose to be the person God intends us to be. There are times, as we see in the life of today’s Saint, Robert of Newminster, when others don’t support our doing what is best. True love calls us to do those things which bring the best out of our life partner. 

We read in the Gospel yesterday about what awaits us in heaven, that if we allow ourselves to transcend our doubts about something greater than worldly pleasure there awaits something “infinitely greater than human possibilities and expectations.” Gary L. Thomas, in his book The Joy of a Sacred Marriage, suggests that "God made us to find fulfillment in Him--the Totally Other. Marriage shows us that we are not all there is; it calls us to give way to another but also to find joy, happiness, and even ecstasy in another." The more we choose to love the more love we will find. It is often found in the smallest and simplest of things, in the simple presence of another, and in simple acts of kindness. Love is here to be found; it is found in loving, we find love by being love. Where will we find love today? Make a great day! 

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and work of Saint Robert of Newminster.