"Awake my Soul" by Mumford & Sons comes to mind today.
"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die / Where you invest your love, you invest your life."
These words have carried different meanings for me during different seasons of my life, but one thing they've always done is challenge me.
In my current season, these words—and today's Gospel, Matthew 13:44-46—invite me to examine the way I'm living each day. Not in a big picture sort of way (though I sometimes do that, too), but in a small picture way.
They ask me, Where are you investing your love today? What's important right now? and, Is this in accordance with what you value most—or is there disorder here?
By small picture, I mean that this song and Gospel make me re-think my day-to-day priorities and how I'm spending my time. They make me question the choices I make, and whether I'm doing things out of fear (which I do, all too often) or out of love and faith. They inspire a daily examination of conscience, to be more aware of how I'm moving through my life.
It's easy for me to live monotonously and to be less intentional and less aware of God's presence in my life, of how He's calling me, and of what that is that He's calling me to do. Then I get a wake-up call like today's Gospel or this song that literally says, "Awake my soul, for you were made to meet your Maker!"
Remember to focus on how we can meet Him today in the little moments so that we will ultimately be reunited with Him in the biggest one.
How can you practice this today, Sister? Making note of how you spend your day-to-day time before bedtime? A little prayer journaling about it before the Blessed Sacrament?
Annie Deddens is a writer and producer. She runs a prayer ministry with her husband, called Pray More Novenas. She has a heart for the sick & suffering, and she writes about living with greater faith (hope & love, too) in this imperfect world as a Catholic wife. You can find out more about her here.